What I do on Christmas

First, I enjoy seeing my kids open their presents.
Then, I eat a big breakfast of egg/sausage casserole and gourmet muffins.
Finally, I spent the remainder of the day flipping out in a futile attempt to find new homes for all the stuff that has become a part of my world.

It seems this year my organizational anxiety has come early.   Perhaps this is because for the past 2 and a half months, I have been living in the baby-induced world of crap just flung everywhere.

Basically the first year of a baby's life is a near constant rotation of baby items throughout the house.  There is a crib, but for the first four months baby sleeps in a bassinet or bouncy seat or swing or some combination of these.  There are at least 2 baby carriers either in the car or in the main living area.  There are receiving blankets in every room in case one needs to lay the baby down.  Pacifiers are littered all over, as are burp cloths.

And once the baby outgrows this early infancy stuff and begins sitting up, you breathe a sigh of relief that you have your "house back," but then out comes the teething toys, the exersaucer, the johnny jump-ups, and the never-ending parade of plastic playstuffs which lasts until.....

Well, I don't know how long it lasts.

Since M doesn't have his own bedroom, I don't have the luxury of dumping junk in his room.  His clothes are in a laundry basket in my living room.  His diapers and wipes are on top of my dresser, and on top of a bookshelf in the living room.  I can barely get my laundry done because most of my baskets are being used for daily storage of baby-related goods.

But back to Christmas.  Sorta.

Today I cleaned everything off the dining room table, which had become my work-space for MOMS Club binders, N's school book orders, Christmas card preparation, bill payment, etc.  My to-do area is now in the kitchen, at the desk, where it should have been all along.

N and I also cleaned out all the Halloween candy from the pantry.  And by cleaned out, I do not mean we ate it all.

Awhile back I bought an Ikea storage cabinet from my neighbor, with baskets in it for storing the kids' toys in the basement.  It was missing two baskets, so last night I called and begged her if she could scrounge around to find them (ya know, since she doesn't have enough to do with getting ready for Christmas).  Because I am preparing to convert a whole bunch of living room toys into basement toys, as any new stuff will become living room toys.

I know that one day I won't have kid stuff strewn far and wide throughout my house, and I suspect I will kind of miss these days.

Naaaaahhhh.  I will most certainly miss their childhood--the innocence, the laughter, the cuddles-- but not the stuff everywhere.

Of course, I will then have to address the fact that I have 10 trillion baskets and nothing of mine to put in them.