I have never been a part of an intervention before. I have only ever seen them on TV sitcoms. Usually a bunch of friends gather at the person’s home who needs help, accuse them of a bunch of stuff and demand they change. Sounds awful.
I need one.
I was the person who would have coffee with my best friend and tell her our friendship would be over if she didn’t take her Christmas lights down – because it was February for crying out loud. To be fair, it is always -gazillion degrees F and no one wants to be on a ladder in a blizzard. Yet I judged her and everyone else on the street.
I was the person who mocked people when they confessed that their Christmas Tree didn’t come down by January 7th – I gave them a week after New Year, I was being kind. You see, I grew up in a home where the Christmas Tree came down on Boxing Day (December 26th for those who don’t celebrate it) Because my mom always said, “when Christmas is over, it is OVER!” Sometimes she would take it down right after Christmas Dinner because…say it with me…”When Christmas is over it is OVER!”
Well…
Guess what?
Karma is real and present in my life.
Today is January 31, 2013 and my Christmas tree is still in my living-room in all her Tiffany & Co glory. She is still beautiful. I No longer light her up because THAT would be wrong, it is January 31st for goodness sake.
Not that excuses are okay, but I have a few. School is nuts, I started my own consulting business and THAT has kept me super busy. Lets face it people, I also have a life! I read, I run, I go out for coffee, I am a busy girl!
The good news is, my daughter is just like me. She will pick up odd jobs and hoard her money away. I may have to hire her to take it down. I know, I should just TELL her to do it, but that will only work if I help. Typically she has a host of other chores she must do because to live in THIS family, one must contribute to keep the house running. The Christmas tree is not part of that…or is it?
My home has fallen apart. I have laundry drying in the kitchen, clean dishes sitting in the drip rack, the vacuum sitting at the front door, dust bunnies lurking in corners, and here I am blogging instead of doing something about it.
The solution? I could invite people over, that usually motivates me to clean up. I could hire someone – but that costs money and I am cheap. I could ignore it – I am AWESOME at ignoring, or I can rely on my friends to come over and give me the stink eye and shame me. It may come down to that – SHAME ME INTO TAKING DOWN THE TREE!
Wow, and just when I thought I had it all going on, clearly I am delusional.
Please, this is my cry for help, save me.
Musings of The Edmonton Tourist 
Love it! I love how we are better at giving advice than taking our own. I always say I am my own worst client! I like the idea of inviting people over because for me that always does the trick until the next time. Good luck with the tree, maybe things will slow down enough to spending an evening taking it down soon.
Hahahaha! Yeah, I’m judging you. 😉 My tree came down on January 1st because that’s my absolute limit. To be kind, though, that’s five days later than it has in the past because I was too busy making up for my major sleep debt, and my daughter loves, loves, LOVES Christmas trees. We won’t talk about the state of the kitchen counter (which I swore would always be cleaned after EVERY meal), or the state of the bathtub (it’s my husband’s job, it’s not my fault it hasn’t been done), or, um, well…. You’re right. I should have some people over. Problem solved.
No shame, dear. Ours just came down and only because my husband got some random burst of cleaning energy. I started thinking those sad thoughts about just leaving it up until the next Christmas.
I am surprised to hear just how many people still have their trees up! 🙂
Don’t feel too bad, our tree just came down this past weekend. That’s a record for us, it’s usually up into early February. In our defense we typically don’t put it up and decorate it until about a week before Christmas… so, you know, we have to get our money’s worth. Definitely a fire hazard by the time it comes down though. You are right, having people over is THE solution for a mess. Only time our place really gets cleaned up!
I am learning there are many MANY people like me who need outside motivation for mundane tasks. It’s nice to belong…or at least I keep telling Karma that.
Funny. I read this, and I didn’t think it was about the tree at all. (:
Is it down now?
Yes Dear, two weeks now 😀 YAY ME!