I love almost every part of the holiday season – the food, the company, the merriment – it’s my favorite time of the year.  So what’s the “almost every part” for?  The part I hate the most is digging out my big box of Christmas decorations from the attic.  First of all, it’s an uncomfortable space because it’s really more of an alcove than an attic.  Secondly, to get to the box I want, I have to clear everything else out that’s in the way.  It means taking a day to pull everything out, reconfigure the boxes and then cram it all back in when I’m done. 

What I did this year though, was a bit different.  This year, I made the decision to really go through my holiday things.  I found that the great big box of decorations that I pulled out every year was bulging with many items that I had fallen out of love with.  While I had always taken the time to throw out the broken things each year, I had been ignoring the growing collection at the bottom of the box.  Turns out I was holding on to a lot of ornaments and decorations that were just taking up space.  Some were from my grandmothers’ tree and others were silly things I picked up through the years that I hadn’t used but once.  So why was I keeping them? 

As I went through the box I thought about each item – did I truly love it? And was it still useful?  To many of these questions, the answer was no.  When that was the case, I took a digital picture of the really special ones as a reminder of the person or time they were from.  Then I took these now orphaned things and packed them all up and delivered them at the local donation center.  There, they will find a new home and become special and useful again.  And I am left with a smaller, less awkward, box of decorations that is not only easier to store but makes me feel somehow, lighter.  And that makes me happy.  Will you make this the year to clean out your holiday decorations?