Christmas Clean Up

I've now made a start to letting go for Christmas. Does that make sense? Probably not.
What I mean is, for the past six months at least, I've ignored the fact that this house is a home and treat it more like a factory cum warehouse. That's what happens when you run a business from your home and there is only the two of you left to worry about. It was different in the days when the kids were small, as it was important to maintain the homely feel. But of course they're off making their own homes now and we just slipped into being workaholics.
HOWEVER..... Christmas is almost here!!! The time when I do as big a clear up as I can (be bothered to do) and clear away as much evidence of work as possible from the sitting room before putting up the tree and decorations. That's the signal then to LET GO of work for a couple of weeks at least and have just the most relaxing, cosy time with our family around us.
There is still the small hurdle of a new boiler to be installed on Wednesday so the tree will have to wait until after that, which does give me a bit more time to tidy up and sort out. What a good feeling - to put things away in their proper place which have been aimlessly lying around for weeks, and tackle the grotty corners where the spiders have taken over.
I have this (unattainable) image of myself as temporary perfect housewife with my apron on, baking wonderful treats and serving them up on a gleaming table while a roaring fire reflects off the newly polished floor and the house smells of lavender and vanilla......dream on!
There is still work to do - orders are still coming in - in fact the phone has been fairly constant all day today. Twice I had my bottom wedged in the tiny cupboard door of the eaves, scrabbling about in the dark for Christmas decoration boxes, when the phone rang with an order. Both times I had to wiggle out backwards and make a dash for the phone before it stopped. Not a pretty sight.
So today, the windows were washed and the upstairs cleaned. It's a start.

Since I don't have the tree up yet, here is a flashback to last year..

And proof that the roaring fire does actually reflect off the newly polished floor, sometimes.
I have a growing pile of orders waiting to made up so that I can post them on Monday, so I'd better make a start.
Til next time....