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How to Tackle the Christmas Mess

Christmas is over – everyone received a bunch of great presents. You have basked in the glory of excess food, family, and gifts. Now what? For me and a lot of others – its sort of like a hangover. You feel so good and excited and happy and now its a big let down. Christmas is over and you are left with a ton of trash, boxes and new things to find homes for. Keep reading for my attempt at how to tackle the Christmas Mess. My ten step process is sure to lead to success!

Look around at all of the gifts received – think about starting to pick up. Get distracted by the peacefulness and sit down and read a good book while the kids play happily (mostly) with their new toys.
Get up to referee a fight and look around – put one toy away and realize the puppy is awake and needs to go out.
Rescue a toy from the puppies mouth – pick it up and realize the one toy you picked up previously is now on the floor again.
Have the kids try on their new clothes to make sure they fit. Make piles to take to their dressers and get distracted by the puppy and play with her for a half hour.
Make a list of new storage items you need to hold the new toys – get really excited about how clean and organized everything will be. Put the list on the counter for safe keeping until you get to the store – find out Hubby threw the list away.
Look at the pile on the dining room table – organize – put three or four things away. Walk into the kitchen to make dinner and see a bunch of stuff on the counter and move it to the table. 1 step forward – three steps back.
Have hubby take out the jumbo box of broken down boxes and realize there was a whole additional pile of “stuff” hiding behind it. Look at it and go play a game with the kids instead.
Sit down to dinner and slide all of the piles to the back of table (just pretend they aren’t there and they will go away!!)
Wake up ready to tackle the mess, realize you planned a playdate. Put away three or four things and get ready to head out.
Realize that you won’t be able to fully tackle the mess until the kids are done with school vacation. Give in to the mess and become one with it. Drink a beer or glass of wine (your choice) and relax.