Christmas in May

I had to move a huge clear plastic box of all of my GOOD Christmas ornaments from the computer room (which is being turned into a room for treadmills and such) into the garage, which means I will now harass the husband until he moves them into the attic. In the 20 minutes between the boys getting home from baseball practice until dinner was served, they opened and unpacked every single ornament in that box( The good stuff... Radko, Fitz and Floyd, Waterford... You get the idea), scattered them around the room, and ALSO plugged in AND unraveled every strand of Christmas lights. I was exhausted already from a very long and productive day, and seeing this about made me burst into tears. But as I sat down to repack all of these beautiful things, I realized that I hadn't seen most of them in years... As in 6 years. I have not put these lovely decorations up at Christmas since BC was a 3 month old, because I have always been scared one of them would get broken by one of the ever increasing number of little kids in our family. And that's a shame. A ridiculous waste. As lovely as they are, they're just THINGS.... Meant to be enjoyed.... And not hidden away for some perfect "safe" unknown, mythical date. So I resolved to actually use these things next Christmas. As I sat down to repack everything, I was flooded with memories of the people who gave them to me... Many of whom have now passed on. A Holiday shower was given in my honor as an engaged girl, so the majority of these things came from that celebration. This was a true case of serendipity .... I was not looking for a sentimental hour when I stumbled upon this mess.... But it reminds me to look for the joy even in seemingly bad circumstances. And that's the attitude I've got to hold onto to fully enjoy life with my Herd.

This is the huge Plastic box AFTER I repacked it... I was too distraught to take photos at the discovery of the attack !