Magic Turns to Clutter

So last Friday, after unpacking the suitcases from our trip South, I finally got to the business of taking down our Christmas tree and decorations.  I unloaded the crawl space under the basement stairs where we keep all of the Rubbermaid boxes.  Hubby carried the heavy ones for the living room back upstairs for me, while I sorted the ones in the family room area in the basement, in preparation for their ritual exchange of their contents.

Before getting down to the full on business at hand, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to reorganize the shelves in the closet under the stairs so I swiftly took everything off the shelves and began sorting through, placing some items in a "Good Will" pile (seriously, how many glass serving plates does one really need?), while other items were quickly tossed in the trash. The rest of the stuff was methodically placed back on the shelves.  I had gone earlier in the week to pick up a couple new Rubbermaid bins for Spring/Fall seasonal items (as opposed to my former plan of shoving them on an already full shelf and hoping I can find them next season) so once my closet was clean, I was ready to tackle the rest.

Box by box I replaced the year-round decorations that had been placed in the plastic bins in November with the seasonal treasures that seemed past their due.  Hours later (and I mean HOURS later), with a sore back and bins overflowing with holiday cheer inside, I couldn't help but wonder... how is it that all this stuff is so "magical" up until December 26 (or Jan 1st at the latest) but then all it becomes is one big pile of clutter?  Anyone?