I love this picture of us...(above)

...the "banner" at the top of this blog, that is. It was taken last year... ChristmasDay-Night...you know, when it's all over and everyone is mellow, finally. There's some family movie on...I think in this picture it was "School of Rock", and everyone is just tired enough to finally SIT, even the baby...yes, it's a great memory... yet I remember what comes the day after this picture...and it's not so calm and content...
...the next morning, after about 2 hours of straight organizing all the CRAP...there is this moment when the mini-breakdown begins...when I can't get up off the floor for fear of finding another chore that I have to do that leads to yet another ... (example: you go to put some kids new Xmas plastic JUNK away but first have to make space so you go into the garage to get one of those storage bins but first you have to wade through the Xmas garbage and boxes in front of it. So you try to do that but you need a box cutter which sends you back into the kitchen where the dryer buzzes... and on... and on...)
It seems that this is the moment I just run out of steam and enthusiasm... after weeks of shopping (I hate everything about shopping) and wrapping. Also the cooking, smiling, singing, decorating and adding more and more stuff the an already full house, an already maxed out to-do list... It's just TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the funny thing is that I love Christmas, I really do. Annoyingly so, to my husband. I love it so much that I have raised the bar way to high for the kids...cocoa nightly during the season, walks around the block before bed to look at lights, Christmas lights in their rooms for gods sake(!), gingerbread houses, and on and on...I just squeeze out every little bit of holiday goodness I can and since I am not that fond of "consuming" insanely, this is done by the giving of TIME. My Time. Well, on December 26th the good times are OVAH! It's time to hide from mama. QUICK!
Anyway, I am trying to figure out ways to avoid this horrible post-holiday feeling this year. Really the only thing that would totally eliminate the "pain" is 6 straight hours alone to do this massive clean-up by myself, with Mary Poppins booked for childcare. But since that won't happen I have decided to take another approach. I think I will leave the day after Christmas. Just leave the house altogether. Go to the beach, go to the library... somewhere... and leave it up to Matt and the kids. I am sure they would do a good enough job especially if I am not around to watch the progress and comment on the speed or the ordering of tasks. AND, after a day of rest, I am sure I would be back to normal and, yet again, able to organize the rest. Maybe.
So, its a bit early...but anyone want to go the movies the day after Christmas?