De-Cluttering for Christmas (Keeping Music, Candlelight, and Jesus)

December 8, 2018 by JoAnna 23 Comments

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is…. “musical.”

The first thing that popped into my head was the musical, The Sound of Music. I learned to sing listening to that vinyl record album. Funny that I don’t have a copy of it now. But I hope to watch it on Christmas or around Christmas time. Seems it comes on one Sunday night around Christmas time.

I think know we’ll be in the house that was my parents’ for Christmas and who knows for how long since we have to get the regular house re-wired. Yesterday, my husband informed me that the electricians want everything out of the Wilmington house. Everything? I kept asking that, being overwhelmed to the point of almost tears. I keep telling myself I’m thankful to have the house that was my parents’ to stay in. Many people don’t even have a house.  I don’t want to whine. But I share this to also share my coping strategies. One step at a time. If I think about moving everything – knickknacks, art supplies, papers, books, and random objects saved for some art project some day…..  that’s too overwhelming. But David and I talked about our strategy, and I can just take it one step at a time. We’ll move some things here and rent a storage space. Can you believe the PODS people wanted $400! No way! I’m thankful David has a truck. Plus, I have been saying I want to de-clutter the Wilmington house. Be careful what you say you want. Now there’s going to be some big de-cluttering going on. It’s my life. But not really. There’s Christmas.

I don’t want that big old tree anymore. It can be recycled. I don’t think we’ll have a tree this year, but I want music. The sound of music. Christmas songs. I’ll sing them at church and to myself if I want. I was just singing “The Sound of Music” right before I started writing this. And candles. I LOVE candlelight, especially at Christmas. So I’m going to make some candle arrangements with an advent wreath and all sorts of other candles and watch a Christmas movie. It’s a Wonderful Life, maybe. That is enough.

Maybe I’ll even become a minimalist. I’m already there as far as buying presents. Everybody gets one of my mom’s angels or my dad’s ties this year. We never really have been much into buying Christmas presents. I think it was yesterday afternoon, just an hour or two after I heard we were going to have to move “everything” (well, I’m not moving the stuff in the closets. That’s ridiculous) that I heard John Lennon’s “Imagine” come on the radio. “Imagine no possessions,” rang out loud and clear. I’m still going to have plenty of possessions, but imagining no possessions kinda puts things in perspective. It goes back to the old, Christmas is not something you buy in a store. Christmas perhaps means a little bit more. Or a lot more. For me, it means singing Christmas songs and lighting candles and celebrating Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

“Every who down in whoville, the tall and the small, was singing, without any presents at all.”

 

For more Stream of Consciousness posts and more information, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-8-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!