The jumble after Christmas

Well, I have eaten, drank and played endless games of Heads Up as I make my way through Christmas week.

As was to be expected, the day itself was grand: the goose was not overcooked, the desserts divine, the sides sublime.

Good Lord, it had a long neck....

Walking around the house on boxing day I was met with utter chaos.

The remains of the day....

It seems I embrace Christmas chaos.

the piles of chocolate pushing up against the Amaryllis!

our newest game?  Find the top of the sea captain's chest?

I know there are some, like my lovely friend Jen, who are happy to toss the tree on the day after.  I understand that sentiment, But I am not in that camp.  I will likely keep mine up till at least next Saturday and Sunday, and perhaps even till the Epiphany.


I like the homeliness of the Christmas mess - the odd piece of wrapping paper jammed under a cushion, the socks left in a jumble (those are mine in the corner above).

Very rarely do I feel so queen-like, lying about in my robe, eating chocolates until my stomach is distended, reading a smashing new book.

Gin, John Wayne, and an Indy toy, cheek to jowl
with a batman action figure and Mr. Bean.
Really, it's like a fantasy, isn't it? 

Of course, now it's the 28th.  The in-laws have been visited, we are picking up and cleaning a bit, as the beloved GetFresh arrives tomorrow for our next night of frivolity (God I hope she likes Heads Up!).

I've waited over a year for this and it did not disappoint!)

In one of my favourite Christmas gifts, Novel Interiors, author Lisa Borgnes Giramonti says:

Don't tidy up too quickly.  "The table, strewn with napkins and wine-glasses, had a derelict air as they left it." So writes Virginia Woolf in The Years about the scene after a particularly fabulous evening.  I whole-heartedly agree.  When your guests have finished eating, let the dishes linger.  Oftentimes, when you clear the table, you sweep the mood away right along with it.

And thus it is with the jumble of Christmas.  January will come soon enough, with its pale newness, its promise of tidiness, its resolve towards all things organized and possible.

In the dying days of 2014, I live in shambles, my own version of Miss Havisham, seeing the old year out in the flotsam and jetsam of the year past!

Where's my iPad?  I need to play Head's Up!  Pip!!!!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!  xoxo wendy