If I Waited For Things To Be Perfect I'd Be Waiting A LONG Time

You may know that I suffer from a bit of extremist type behavior and thinking. Well this can really rear it's evil head during the holidays. I have a very hard time letting myself *enjoy* simple things like decorations if I haven't set the stage (ie have everything unnaturally clean & organized). This typically results in a lot of family stress... that... um... takes away from the enjoyment (right Mr F?!). It means we have to have a major clean the night before decorating and do all the decorating at once. It can be so overwhelming and bicker producing that we'll kind of put it off.

Well not this year. In part because our storage system is easier to get at I've decided to enjoy our decorations from the beginning of December without all the fuss. I've just brought out what I can a bit at a time. Why should I not be enjoying a snowflake on the window just because the toys aren't picked up? Why should it be less meaningful or joyous? We are not clean freaks... we do not insists the kids pick up each toy as they move on to another (and never will). Just like we will NEVER be able to keep a horizontal surface from collecting mail, broken things, tools, etc. This is us. So as the ever evolving human that I am this year I'm not punishing myself for it.

Just because this living room looks like this:

Doesn't mean the windows can't look like this:

Just because the counters look like this:

Doesn't mean our table can't look like this:

Just because the playroom looks like this:

Doesn't mean the mantel can't look like this:

Just because the stove looks like this:

Doesn't mean the oven can't look like this:

You get the point.

And NO our house doesn't ALWAYS look like this... it gets cleaned up every night (ish). The point is that is DOES look like this (more or less) every day because we are real. And we have real kids. And we put an outdoor slide in our house. And we suffer from Horozontalitis (thank you Emily) for which there is no cure.

At the end of the day it really comes down to allowing yourself to enjoy life where you are at. Do I still have that nagging voice in the back of my head whispering "But things aren't clean! You FAIL!" ? Yes. (hmm... that sounded a lot creepier than I intended it) But I am enjoying the holidays. I think I might even enjoy the decorations more this year than in the past because I'm not also freaking out at Mr F every time he "messes it up" by putting his loose change (or what have you) on the counter. I'm sure he enjoys it more too.