#80. Have all of my Christmas decorations down, organized and put away by January 15th.

Let me just start out by explaining some things to those who may not know me well. I'm sure some people saw this on my list and thought, "Well, that would be EASY!" I'm certain that for most people it probably is, but for me, it's a monumental task.

I can't even blame my tardiness in tidying up on having a front yard bedazzled with holiday cheer or a 9 foot Christmas tree decked with every ornament known to man! Now, sometimes I do put up two trees and really do up the back room of my house because that's where everyone is when they come for our holiday dinner. But even that doesn't require days to set up or take down.

No, it's much simpler than all of that..... I just get bored VERY easily and there are MUCH more interesting things to do once all of the frivolity of the season has passed. It's also bad that I'm a bit of a perfectionist and there have been several years when I have taken everything down in such a hurry (once in April before I threw a baby shower (YIKES!)) that when I went to take it all out the next year, I was appalled at myself! My vision of my Christmas storage was always neatly labeled boxes stored on sturdy shelves so that the next year when I went to deck that halls, it would be an experience free of broken ornaments and taggled strands of light.

Well, for once Christmas of 2008 may bring the joy of the season that I seek! All of my Christmas decorations are (finally) neatly stored in labeled boxes on sturdy shelves in my basement! Yeah! I even had the forethought to seperately box up all of my miscellaneous Halloween and fall decorations as well. (I usually find those in March or April when I'm putting away the Christmas decorations.) Perhaps now I'll be able to put them to good use as well.