Today is Boxing Day and, no, that does not mean you get to beat up your brothers and sisters. It is also St Stephen's Day and both days are lodged in my December memory bank. Heaven only knows why I remember St. Stephen's Day and all that I remember about him is that he was stoned to death. The whole martyr thing is beyond me but it was hammered into our psyches as kids and so he lives there.
But Boxing Day? Boxing Day really lives! But, in reality, it should be Boxing Month. Boxing Day originated as a time when the wealthy in England gathered up boxes of things to give to their servants. The month after Christmas seems to be the perfect time to sort through, reduce, and reorganize all those things that surround me in the house. It's cold and foggy out there and warm and cozy in here. I am surrounded by the detritus of Christmas Day and, oddly enough, look forward to making order out of chaos. The fact that I still have 14 days off from work means that I can do this at a leisurely pace and that is always pleasant. Clean a little, read a little, clean a little, write a little, organize a little, nap a little. You get it.
Son who lives in San Francisco but visits in our town regularly had a brilliant idea yesterday. It entails reorganizing both my studio space and my gallery space (funny how what used to be the kids' rooms got renamed). He was gung ho to make the reorganization happen and gleefully announced that moving stuff around is fun because you get to go through things and reevaluate their usefulness in your life. I agree. There is something refreshing about weeding out things and taking donations to the library and the local thrift store. I guess it is the antithesis of Christmas gift giving and I like it.
I always wondered what Boxing Day was. I like it!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love clearing out and starting fresh for the new year. (I also wish I had a "gallery space".)
ReplyDeleteYes, the price I pay for having a studio space and a gallery space is that I raised the two children and they have fled the nest. The studio space is a 10x10 room that is jammed with painting work space and paints - and has a lovely front window. The gallery space is really just the other 10x10 bedroom. It has two wires hanging across one wall so I can have about ten paintings displayed at one time. But it also has a bed for said son, his sister, or friends who are in town.
ReplyDeleteA few months ago (yes, a testament to the degree of the mess), I was working in this direction in my home "office" which I share with my online-schooled seventeen-year-old daughter. She is significantly less enthusiastic about helping out than your son is. Boxing MONTH sounds like a great idea. :)
ReplyDeleteIn our home, the boys' bedrooms are now ironing room and quilt-backing rooms respectively, while our bedroom upstairs became the long-arm quilting room. What happened to our bedroom? Easy. It moved to the old living room. Ever hear of the Domino effect?
ReplyDeleteI laughed at your first sentence. I wrote something similar last year (well... technically 2 years ago now! :) )
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