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in Blog on December 15, 2020 by Meagan Francis

Meagan’s Holiday Help, Day 15: It’s not clutter, it’s holiday life.

Raise your hand if any of this sounds familiar:

  • You’ve put out your holiday decor, but in the meantime, you have to figure out what to do with all the “regular” stuff that took its place. Or, perhaps there are still a few decor items you haven’t put out yet, and they’re just sort of hanging around in bins waiting to be employed.
  • The wrapping paper and tape and tags have been purchased, but you haven’t started wrapping anything yet. And when you do get around to it, you are pretty sure it won’t get done all at once. Or in one place.
  • You’ve got a few craft projects in varying stages of completion dotting the scene; glitter and glue and paint and cotton balls scattered around several surfaces. (Maybe your kids assembled a gingerbread house but you have no idea what to do with it. Pro tip: you never really will.)
  • And all the while, packages keep piling up at the door.

If you don’t happen to live in a huge house with a dedicated Christmas Staging Suite, your living space is probably looking pretty cluttered right about now.

And even if you have plenty of room, it’s amazing how all this stuff can infiltrate multiple areas of the house. I moved from a tiny 1200-square foot home to a sprawling house about three time that size in the past year – with the same number of kids and decorations – so you’d think I’d be patting myself on the back due to the relative tidiness this year. But instead, it just feels like the clutter is more spread out, which doesn’t make it any easier to keep under control.

No matter how often I pick up and how much I move things around, we’re just sort of stuck in this in-between place I think of as “Emerging Christmas.” (Which, after December, will be followed by “Vanishing Christmas”).

Here are four things I’m trying to do to feel a little better about what’s currently happening in my entryway. (And on my counters. And my kitchen island. And the dining-room table…)

Remind myself that “Emerging Christmas” is a legitimate phase of the holiday – okay, it’s basically the entire holiday – and it does not allow for a perfectly tidy space.

For every pristine Christmas tree photo you see on the Internet, remember that seconds beforehand, a mom was shoving bins and boxes out of sight. All that stuff is still there, just outside the frame. Let’s not hold ourselves to an impossible standard; pulling off this much magic is hard enough without also trying to erase all the evidence.

Think in terms of consolidating and grouping, rather than cleaning.

Unless I want to be constantly running up and down the basement stairs or freezing as I dig through bins in the garage, having some “stuff” around is just part of the holiday experience. But I can make things a bit easier on myself by putting like with like: for example, any decorations that haven’t been used yet can go into one bin that stays in the main living area, while empty ornament packaging, bubble wrap and other things that aren’t going to be useful again until we pack everything away will get stored together and can go back into the basement until after the New Year.

Create staging areas for different holiday activities like baking, decorating, gift-wrapping, and crafting.

Grouping items that work together functionally reduces how much time I find myself wandering around asking if anyone has seen the ribbon or ornament hooks, and it just looks better and more intentional, too. Some years, when I’m feeling particularly motivated, I try to artfully arrange each station so it almost looks like decor. Other years, I just put all the glitter and glue in a box and shove it into a drawer in the corner. (That would be this year.)

Remember that evidence of holiday merriment isn’t clutter…
…it’s life, happening right before our eyes.

With a mix of a little proactive organizing and a lot of giving myself a break, I’m putting my focus on the fun all those piles and bins and boxes help create, instead of fixating on the wrapping paper tubes leaning against the wall or the ornament bins scooted up between the sofa and chair.

Soon enough, they’ll all be gone again, back in the hidden-away places they inhabit 11 months of the year. For now, all those ingredients for a festive holiday are making themselves known: not just the photo-op-ready finished product, but the “stuff” it takes to get us there.

And that’s worth celebrating too, don’t you think?


PS – A couple of weeks ago Sarah shared the mess-behind-the-magic in her house. If you missed it, here’s just a snippet of the typical Christmas-in-progress scene you don’t always get to see…

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Holiday Help 2020

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« Meagan’s Holiday Help, Day 14: Give yourself credit. This is hard (and you’re doing it.)
Remembering Holidays Past: Episode 291 »

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Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

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One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refresh One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refreshed for 2022! Click this image at the link in our bio to read the just-structured-enough approach Sarah took during those long AZ summers at home when her kids were 6, 4, and 1.5. 😎 

#stayathomemom #preschoolers #summermomlife #arizonasummer #summerschedulefortoddlers #summerscheduledforpreschoolers #samplesummerschedule #summerdaysathom
New episode! Most of us enjoy having a clean and New episode!

Most of us enjoy having a clean and tidy home, but have you ever kept track of how much you do throughout the week to keep it that way? In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah share what seven days of real-life housework looks like in our homes. We reflect on the tasks we knew went into running a home, and some surprising ones we never thought of as housework before (like picking plums and chasing chickens!). Whether you prioritize deep-cleaning on a regular schedule or tend to tidy as you go and hope for the best, it’s eye-opening and gratifying to acknowledge the work that goes into managing a home full of kids.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #endlesscleaning #housework #cleaning #tidyingup #
Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes per day while away at school 7 hours per day, how many additional dishes will they dirty while home all day for summer break?

67. The answer is 67. Yes, I’ve checked my work! Maybe someone who passed calculus can explain? 🤪 -M

#mommath #drowningindishes #summerbreakisnotreallyabreak
Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June spons Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June sponsors! Every month, we like to take a little time to shoutout our partners who help support the show + remind our listeners of some of the great deals our sponsors are offering. For more info, specific promo codes, and links, just search the brand name on our website, and they'll pop up in our episode show notes. We also collect ALL our active promo codes (even the old ones that are still working!) in our email newsletter - which is full of other great things we want to share with you, too. Tap on this image at the link in our bio to subscribe today. 

Meet our NEW partners this month . . .
🗣️ @connectspeech (early language support!)
💙 @appahealth (1st month of mentorship free!)
💄 @thrivecausemetics (15% off your 1st order)

And welcome back to . . .
⭐️ @paireyewear (15% off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @autoapprove ($100 when you refinance!)
⭐️ @outschool ($15 off your child's 1st class!)
⭐️ @mindandchild ($20 off Parenting 101 course!)
⭐️ @flowkey_com (20% off subscription piano app!)
⭐️ @stitchfix ($20 off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @publicgoods ($15 off, no minimum!)
⭐️ @scholasticinc (books for kids of all ages!)
⭐️ @hiyahealth (50% off 1st order!)
⭐️ @kiwico_inc (30% off your 1st mo!)
⭐️ @ritual (10% off 1st 3 mo!)
⭐️ @athleticgreens (1yr of Vit.D + 5 travel packs!)
⭐️ @vionicshoes (free shipping on cute shoes!)
⭐️ @project_wren (10 trees planted when you sign up!)
New episode! If you travel with kids, it’s just New episode!

If you travel with kids, it’s just a matter of time before a trip goes off the rails in spectacular fashion. Maybe it’s a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, or an expensive vacation spent sick in a pricey hotel room. Today Sarah is joined by @catieparrish @stacybronec @emilyeroark and @lisaapayne4 – regular contributors to the show and seasoned travelers with a combined 13 kids – who share their most memorable travel mishap stories. (Full disclaimer: there will be puke-talk.) In sharing these stories, we hope to normalize that travel with kids doesn’t have to go perfectly to be “worth it” and remind you that you’re not alone if this summer’s adventures go awry. Plus, one of the only perks to surviving stories like these is that we get to laugh about them later.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #travelingwoes #travelingwithkids #familytravelmishaps
New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learn New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learning About Juneteenth, As A Family.

"Like many families, mine is still figuring out how to teach our children about Juneteenth, as learning the history wasn't part of my education or my husband's when we were kids. The good news is, books written for children and families are a great way for the whole family to learn (and there are a lot of them!)."

Click this image at the link in our bio to read Kia’s book recommendations and more ways to start the conversation at home with your family.

#juneteenth #history #blackhistory #parenting #juneteenthbooksforkids #summerreading
New episode! As moms, we can be hard on ourselves New episode!

As moms, we can be hard on ourselves…and sometimes we just need to hear the simplest, oft-repeated pieces of advice and encouragement to remind us that it is all going to be OK. Join Meagan and Sarah for a reflection on eight pieces of wisdom that have carried us through motherhood struggles at every age and stage. We are offering them to you, to ourselves, and to all of our future selves in Episode 369.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #momtruisms #momtruths #parentingadvice #motherhoodstruggles
Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 minutes moving 25 chickens by hand from their home to the new chicken yard, because they refused to go on their own. And then an hour moving them back, because same.

It reminded me a lot of mothering a toddler, and got me wondering: what’s the most ridiculous thing mom life has brought you in the past week? -M
New episode! Have you ever fantasized about atten New episode!

Have you ever fantasized about attending a camp-like environment for grown-ups? Much about the classic summer camp experience is appealing to us (though not EVERYTHING--we could certainly do without the bugs), and the idea of simply showing up for a perfectly curated experience without any responsibility, or planning, sounds AMAZING. Listen to this fun More Than Mom to hear all of our must-have activities (like food and wine tastings, yoga, personal style consults and more!), things that would be a hard no (like swimming in the gross, murky lake or participating in corny, guided crafts) and our daydreams about creating a Mom Hour Retreat (maybe someday?)!

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #summercamps #womenretreats #momretreat
New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBT New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBTQ+ Resources For Parents (And Anyone Who Wants To Learn!). 

"The fact is, none of us will get it right every time. Not with each other, and certainly not with our kids. But it’s important that we keep showing up and having the conversations anyway."

Click this image at the link in our bio to access Jayme's roundup of resources.

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