Taking Down Christmas

Take THAT, Christmas!

No, this isn't about me tackling Christmas head-on and coming out the winner - though that would be fun, wouldn't it?

No, it's about removing all the bits and bobs that made their way into our house and onto our walls and every other surface in the month of December.

It's at this time that I'm reminded of a few things:
- What goes up must come down
- Pine needles stick to *everything*
- My house is going to look rather barren and pathetic very soon

I'm looking around at all the things that, while putting them up, seemed like such a fun and festive idea. And they were - it's been a blast decorating our new place for Christmas for the first time, finding spots for things and getting a lot of new things to adorn the shelves and knobs and window sills.

But now... I have to take them all down and put them away, and they seem to have multiplied in the past few weeks! Do you think I can get away with leaving up everything red and silver, and calling them Valentine's Day decorations??

I also have to resist the urge to organize everything. Once I get in that 'clean up, clean out' mode, nothing is safe. I'm going from room to room, pulling things out of closets, going through drawers finding things to purge,basically making a big mess and not getting any further ahead. Meanwhile the Christmas decor will still be up. So instead I will resist the organizational purge and just get rid of all the red & green I see everywhere. And it is *everywhere*. Here I go. Any tips for me?? (Besides forget it, get a glass of wine and put my feet up - because I tried that and it didn't work!)