Stop and Smell the Christmas Trees!

My task list during the holiday season is much like anyone else - insane, and likely impossible to complete without breaking the space-time continuum. Somehow, though, I muddled through as always and ran smack into the post-holiday blahs during which I go into anxiety mode about plans and projects for the new year and then start to ignore my usual task list (which I'm pretty sure has acquired sentience and been adding it's own items just to see if I notice).

I guess it shouldn't have been any huge surprise when I came home this weekend in my typical tunnel vision haze. It was, however, for my poor dear husband who'd had Friday off work and was waiting for me to notice what any normal non-writer crazy lady should have noticed. He finally broke down Saturday night and asked:

Hubs: "Did you notice ANYTHING different about the living room?"
Me *popping my head out of my Snuggie reading fort*: "Huh?"
Hubs: "Um, the Christmas tree?"

That's when it hit me. Our Christmas tree, wreath, stockings... all of it was gone and neatly put away. Our teeny living room - which had just been over-crowded with Christmas decor - was suddenly half empty and I hadn't even noticed. I'd let myself get so focused on projects to get us through 2017 that I just completely stopped paying any attention to anything around me, and consequently overlooked a tremendously nice thing my husband had taken care of for me. (Yes, I'm a terrible wife!)

So my advice for this Monday morning is this:

No matter how much we think we have to prepare for tomorrow, we still need to stop and smell the Christmas trees before they're gone.


P.S. - This is not advocating anyone to come and rob me because you think I won't notice anything missing. Because I totally will. Eventually. Maybe.