Monday, December 8, 2008

Tis the Season


Housemate John, his dog Tonka, and the almost finished tree.

At Christmastime, we bring the forest into the house on Tennessee. With the tree comes inevitable clutter, a condition that is unusual in our household. In every room, every surface is covered with creche scenes, plastic snowpeople, poinsettias, evergreen branches and ornaments. Strings of pearls and beads are draped from the light fixtures.

In my room there are stacks of potential gifts, Christmas cards strewn everywhere, wrapping paper, ribbon, boxes, bags, scissors, tape ... it's utter chaos.

Everyone in our house prefers clean, uncluttered living. Well, most of the time. At Christmas, though, we blow off our usual aesthetic in order to celebrate the season. Why not?

14 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

I think "litter" is a term used to describe all the stuff on a forest floor. Appropriate term, oh yeah

lacochran said...

You don't have to clutter up your space with a gift for me.

I'll take cash. ;)

mouse (aka kimy) said...

gorgeous tree!!

I might prefer uncluttered living, but unfortunately none of the being at my house (including myself)seem to be constructed to maintain such a state!

Steve Reed said...

How funny! And I just decided NOT to put up my usual strand of lights this year. (For a variety of practical reasons, but mainly because I don't want to be electrocuted.)

Squirrel said...

We usually move some items out (like a bookshelf so the room doesn't feel suddenly too full when we have a tree. I think my parents did that too. The kids being here are the biggest Christmas clutter with all their gear. laptops and so forth and little piles of books and so forth. We don't own any creches or holiday knick- knacks. I let the kids decorate the tree.

Deborah said...

kathy goes crazy--she believes that every single thing in the Christmas bins needs to be out, so we spend time shifting plastic and tin trays around in order to cook and dice

crazy mixed up ornaments and angels appear on doorknobs and surrounding basketball goals

i haul out latka town and three menorahs and tons of candles and cards

our usual clutter looks so festive with all the unusual colors and singing santas

i love the holidays
and i love you more

A Concerned Citizen said...

That is an awesome photo collage. Are you sure that's Tonka the bottom, though? Having only seen the Tonkster at full-tilt, I am skeptical. (: )

Reya Mellicker said...

He does actually slow down sometimes. It must be strange to see him at rest!

Deborah - Manuel is the Kathy of our household. It is he (certainly not John or me) who collects the creches, etc. And he is the master conductor, the one who figures out where everything goes. John and I used to argue with him, especially about the super religious stuff, but over time, we've surrendered.

It is festive!

Tess Kincaid said...

I've spent the entire day de-cluttering (to a certain extent) the aftermath of "the putting up of the tree"...boxes, tissue, old decor I've labeled as vile, yet can't part with.

Merle Sneed said...

Beautiful, Reya.

Gary said...

Wow, when I clicked over to your blog I my heart actually jumped with excitement when I saw the color and light of your picture. How festive!

Happy Holidays!!

tut-tut said...

What a beautiful space you have there, Reya. And what a great tree! Maybe I'll shake off my bah-humbugs because of it . . .

Lynne said...

Great collage of photos! I envy you someone in the house that actually likes to decorate for the holidays. Here it's up to me and I just can't get in the mood this year. Normally I love it, but as the years go by I get less and less enthused. I think it's the prospect of taking it all down and packing it back up that bothers me the most!

lettuce said...

i've been find the christmas spirit a bit elusive, but this gorgeous picture helps

might get some decorations out this weekend...