A Walk In The Park...

... was required by mid-afternoon. It had been a tough day up to that point and I needed a break... 

This dismantling of all things Christmas is exhausting!  The decisions that have to be made, the problems that need to be solved...What to take down and what to leave up...

Basically, for me, the tree is off limits for as long as possible..For the rest of the decor?  If it screams Christmas, it has to go...BUT.. if it just quietly says "Winter", then it can stay..Then, the next issue?  Do I really need all these Christmas items? Which ones can go to the Salvation Army? None? Geez... Then where am I going to put it all?  Oh, the dilemmas....

I made a good start though...I took down three of my seven wreaths for being too Christmassy... cleared away all reindeer, stored all red candles and jingle bell napkins rings, removed any table-top decor "trees" if they had stars on top (the starless ones stayed) and any greenery resembling holly. Slowly, table tops and surfaces were emerging, becoming visible again.. ... progress was being made....But ...already, the effort had taken its toll. 

I decided to take a break and head for the lake.. I didn't stay long. It was rather chilly, to say the least, but picturesque - crashing waves on the beach and lots of ice in the harbour.. Too cold for hands-out-of-mitts though, so taking photos was a bit of a challenge... but it was refreshing and energizing ... well, sort of... I went home all energized - but to get a hot chocolate and curl up with my new murder mystery!  

And there went the rest of the day...

Tomorrow I will have to pick up where I left off with the Christmas de-cluttering and try to be a little more ruthless...or this will go on forever...