Le sigh

[icewolf]

Because I don't want to jinx things, I haven't said much about the house torberg and I have a rental application in on. But there is one thing for sure: no Christmas in my house for me again.

See, our lease is up on Dec. 31. We need to move because between the two of us, the impending kidlet, and the housemate, we are plumb outta room. And so, we move. In late December. Again. (Don't worry: since it's only 0.7 miles between where we are now and the place we hope to be going, we're pretty sure we can afford movers this time.)

Which means there's absolutely no point in hauling out the Christmas tree, putting garland and lights around the windows, digging out charlotteb_'s menorah, nothing.

Pooh.

Comments

[shadowcaptain.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers against sleet that day, because, been there, and MAN is it teh suck*

i simply *must* be missing something here. why leave the tree in the box between now and the 31st? okay, so you lose a few hours on each side of things for the sake of decorating and then undecorating. but doing it will make you happy and not doing it will make you blah, so . . . why not?

[findingjuliet.livejournal.com]

i second this. if nothing else it will bring some bright light into your home as you take down everyting else. while the rest of the place looks chaotic, this may be the one refuge you have for some normalcy. DO EET :) and no picking up large heavy things though I'm sure you knew that already :)

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

First, because I don't generally have time to decorate until finals are over and grades are in, this year that's the 19th.

By that time (this time around) the packing will be in full swing. Theoretically, we'll be living on take-out and out of our suitcases by Christmas. I am determined that this shall be so, especially since last year's move was so woefully, poorly, prepared for.

Yeah, moving is kind of a big angsty thing at our house. And I'm being a whiner because it's icky and cold and gray and I'm hungry but don't feel like eating.

On the other hand, I LOVE the icon. There needs to be one of Schwartz with his tongue stuck to the flagpole and the caption "Double Dog Dare."

[shadowcaptain.livejournal.com]

thanks . . . yeah, it took a lot of work to get it all down to 100x100 px / 40k.

as for the rest . . . i don't think you're being postmodern enough.

[caveat, here: i'm a professional troubleshooter and i'm still trying to solve what you may prefer to leave unsolved; take this for what it's worth and feel free to ignore it.]

fig. 1: unattainable, unrealistic, setting yourself up for failure, and an angst-generating ideal about as harmful to one's psyche and self-image this time of year as an airbrushed model with an impossible physique on a magazine cover:


fig. 2: making the best out of less than favorable circumstances:

(not pictured: pretzel sticks, popcorn, jelly beans, buttered toast and sundaes)

the single greatest holiday decorating in the history of the universe took place in the fall of 1989 in first left caroline, st. mary's college of maryland.

(it was the fashion back in the day to decorate the doors with album covers or other designs, so the bicyclist and the jimi hendrix and the jesus christ superstar pics were already painted on the doors; everything else was added on in one extremely productive evening of improvised collaboration.)

construction paper, cotton balls, scissors, glue, scotch tape, a few bucks at ames (ames. god. the county didn't even have a jamesway yet.) for gift wrap and ribbon and string lights and fake frosting, and a decidedly un-ecologically-friendly deployment of hand saws and knives in the nearby woods for some decidedly un-artificial pine garland. and this was all done on something like december 9th for a dorm that was closing up for the holidays around december 16th. we didn't care, we just wanted some decorations for finals week. in spite of all the stress, every time we came down the stairs and rounded the corner and took it all in, we couldn't help grinning. it was pure, undiluted magic.

don't let yourself get overwhelmed by what can't be done -- instead, focus on what can be done, and the fun therein. if you get hung up on needing every single traditional decoration being hung in the ceremonial Doing Everything At Once bunch of hours you're just not going to have until the solstice, then, yeah, it'll be stress you're better off without. instead, just go open one of the boxes (well, okay, make yourself a sandwich first ;-), pull out a string of christmas lights, plug them in somewhere, and throw them over something. that's step one. not twelve things, and not thirty things. start small, a bit at a time. put a plastic candle in the window. even if you do nothing else, this time tomorrow there'll be a candle in the window and a bookshelf or a chair with xmas lights thrown over it.

note: if you're still internally trying to pass muster for a relative's or an in-law's or your own self-concept of what a well-decorated ideal christmas is all supposed to look like, YOU WILL FAIL. the goal's not to achieve the norman rockwell painting. the goal's to stick just enough shiny bits in the window and up on the wall and in the corners to make the last few weeks you have in your old place something less than an antiseptic temple of cardboard. the takedown should involve two grocery bags and a brisk walk-through.

plan b: leave all of your more traditional, beloved stuff in boxes and go to target (or, even better, a dollar store or $5 below). give yourself an absolute ceiling of $10 or $20 or something, and shop for completely different decorations. disposable, cheap crap that has no emotional investment whatsoever. use your imagination. treat the space as a sheet of paper that's getting ripped off the note pad forever in four weeks, and draw whatever the hell you want onto it.

just a thought...

[strawberrykaren.livejournal.com]

Chanukah is early this year.

[noncalorsedumor.livejournal.com]

First day is the 4th, isn't it?

[strawberrykaren.livejournal.com]

Technically, first day is the 5th. First night is the 4th.

[noncalorsedumor.livejournal.com]

That's a bummer. I couldn't decorate for years due to construction and it got very depressing. Personally, I think it's worth decorating even if it just lasts for a little while (I put my tree up on Christmas Eve last year), but YMMV, of course.

[ladylonglocks.livejournal.com]

I love the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree idea. If I lived closer I'd bring you one.

Maybe the "unpack one or two meaningful things" will feel less taxing on Saturday. Or I did like the "buy some cheap stuff and put it up" and would add that you could donate it to, say, a women's/children's shelter or nursing home after Christmas if you'd rather not move and store extra stuff. If "solution mode" is pissing you off, I beg forgiveness--I just got all excited by your friend shadowcaptain there!

I moved the last weekend in December about 10 years ago, just after Minneapolis Nationals. It snowed. It sleeted. The driveway and front porch of both places were covered in ice. It sucked. My dad, who basically would cut off his left arm to help me (or anyone, really) looked deep into my eyes and said, "We are NEVER doing this again." All other moves have been at more temperate times.

Yay for movers, though!

[torberg.livejournal.com]

Well, we seriously lucked out when we moved into this current house on 6 Jan. It was about 70 degrees with clear skies and dry ground. Crossing fingers for this go.

[karmaflouge.livejournal.com]

I had that happen two years in a row for me. I hate that. It made me feel like all the christmas happy was sucked out of my house. The regular happy was still there, sure, but the christmas happy was nowhere.