Togetherness: The Dark Side, aka Maia’s Hatred of Re-Packing

Jan 21, 2021

Earlier this month, I got semi-inspired to attack? tame? Together? the annual holiday aftermath. My love for sparkly lights, monogrammed stockings, and industrial menorahs is very well-documented, after all. Add to this our dual-religion-triple-household-blended-family and, well, there’s a LOT to whip into shape.

Maia’s Family

Contrary to popular opinion, I’m NOT a take-it-all-down-on-New-Years-and-repack-it-immediately-into-labeled-tubs kind of gal. I like to play it a little looser. One day I asked (forced) the kids to de-deck the tree. Another day I asked (implored) my partner to carry the tree out of the house. I waited for warm weather to climb ladders and pull down the lights myself. And maybe, just maybe, a tiny tree with pink bulbs (Valentine’s Tree?) remains in place. So, when I sent this photo via text to two members of The Together Team the other evening…

Maia’s Dining Room

…the response I got was. . . amusing. And full of links and recommendations.

Together Group Text

And guess what? I OWN that wrapping paper wrangler, and I do have SOME labeled stuff, but overall, THIS IS SOMETHING I JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT. Togetherness is interesting that way. I really hate wasting time, and my calendar is no joke. And maybe I have some sections labeled in my refrigerator because I hate wasting food and my fridge is small. And I don’t like forgetting things, so I make packing checklists. But holiday storage never quite makes it to the top of the important list.

It IS important to me not to freeze my butt off hanging lights next December, so I did a little bit of Ziploc action on indoor versus outdoor lights.

Bags of Lights

And yes, I know about these, but again, I don’t care THAT much.

But I don’t really mind which ornaments are in which boxes, and it doesn’t really bother me that all of the items have migrated (again, child labor here) from the dining room to the dark basement hallway. And I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t sort things out until February. And I’m cool with that.

Similarly, I can spread my clothes out all over a hotel room in 5 minutes flat (as my partner marvels at my Tasmanian Devil-like space claiming), I can exist with a suitcase still packed for weeks, and if soccer balls fall on my head when I open the shed, that is okay with me.

What about you? Do YOU have a dark side of Togetherness? Do tell! (Maybe I will get REALLY vulnerable and tell you about my beloved, and admittedly covered in goldfish, Honda Pilot!).