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The Boxes Were Placed in the Attic with Care, But That's Not the Point

Friday and Saturday, we finished taking down the Christmas decorations, and we put the boxes in the attic!  Let me tell you, it is so much easier to bring boxes down from the attic, than to heft them up there.  John was super sweet and single-handedly (well, OK, he used 2 hands) carried up box after box after box of decorations. 

Did I mention that this occurred before January hit double-digits (speaking of days of the month, not temperatures)?  It's silly to take Christmas decorations down before Christmas break is over.  The first days of the new year we were practically wiped out with colds, so this past weekend was really the first chance we John had to put things away. 

But the real thought isn't that the decorations are in the attic:

If your Christmas decorations are still up, or in boxes waiting to be put away, that's OK!  Where the boxes are is a little thing in the big picture.  Do not let little things become annoyances. 

When I was in high school, my parents started building a house--while we were living in it!  Talk about a long-term project.  We moved in when the exterior walls were up, the bathroom walls were up, and each bedroom had one finished wall.  We stapled up brown packing paper to use for the remaining walls. My patient, patient mother did without traditional cupboards in the kitchen.  A gorilla rack shelving unit, along with a cinder block and wood plank number held the pots, pans, and cooking supplies.  A table saw sat in the living room.  Tension rods held up homemade curtains, which served as interior doors.  Never did I hear one complaint from my mom (or my dad or siblings, for that matter) regarding the house's state.  I don't remember what year the home was finished; I had long since grown up and moved out. 

The house is beautiful now, but it was also beautiful then.  Living there was an adventure; a shared family project.  Actually, living anywhere is an adventure and a shared family project.  The list of projects is never done.  There are always repairs or improvements to make. 

The point is to celebrate the completion of tasks on the list, without dwelling on, complaining, murmuring, or whining about what isn't done.  In the big picture, the unfinished items probably aren't  important. 

Thankful thought:  Thanks to my parents for their great example of how to work together on long-term projects; and thanks to John, for putting the Christmas boxes up, as well as for all the other little (and big!) things he does.

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