Every Vacuum Tells a Story

It’s two days after Christmas. Actually, if you want to get technical, it’s only December 21st. My kids and I celebrated early before they left to spend the week with their dad. This year it’s his holiday and whenever that happens we celebrate before they go.

I sit on the floor surrounded by opened presents, cardboard packaging, leftover twine and shiny Christmas bows. Stockings and their contents spill out all over the rug and couches. Despite my best efforts to keep up, I continue to find remnants of beautiful Santa wrapping paper, sheets of colorful tissue paper and a stray gift bag. I return most of the gifts to each of my kids’ rooms noting each small pile and reflecting on the influence minimalism has already started to take on my life. There isn’t any “junk.” My kids have had a wonderful Christmas and are thrilled with their gifts but there isn’t an excess. There was nothing purchased “just to have something to open.” I was very careful to be intentional about each item we brought into our home this year and encouraged my children to select their gifts to each other carefully. Now that I’m seeing everything out of its packaging, I’m satisfied. We were successful. 

Michael has spent the last two days figuring out his 3d printer and making builds for everyone in the family. Grace has been over the moon with her iPhone and FaceTiming me to hear the echo of both phones being used in the same room. Hannah has been listening to the Wicked soundtrack on repeat, singing along to all of the songs and playing with her new Glinda and Elphaba dolls. She switched their outfits only to realize they are clearly not interchangeable. Black is simply not Glinda’s color! I enjoy watching all of them play. Of course these were not their only gifts but there’s no unmanageable “pile” to have to deal with. They got some art supplies, games, craft sets etc. and Michael got an air gun set with orange and blue foam balls. That has been a favorite. 

Now I sit here in an empty house. I miss my kids and it’s so quiet. I sing some of the Wicked songs as I tidy up and soon it’s time to run the vacuum. I haven’t used our vacuum since our last apartment and I need to clean it before it touches our brand new rug. I grab the Clorox wipes and scissors. It’s time to give our vacuum a haircut.

Carefully I lay the vacuum down and begin wiping the bottom with the Clorox wipes. It’s already looking so clean! Snipping at the hair tightly wound around the roller, I find a couple of wire ornament hangers from last Christmas. Our vacuum hasn’t been used in a while. It’s sat untouched in my parent’s garage most of this year. 

When you have girls in your family with long hair, regular vacuum hair cuts are a necessity. I continue to pull the hair away from the roller and am happy to see how new it still looks under all the debris. A light green piece of Easter grass takes my breath away. I’m excited for Easter. 

As much as I love Christmas and celebrating the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, there’s a stress and franticness that doesn’t accompany Easter. Both have been commercialized but Easter is much more laid back, there’s the newness of spring and I love all of those pastel colors, the chirping of birds…..

I’m getting ahead of myself. We just celebrated Christmas! But I’m already getting butterflies thinking about Valentine’s Day and looking forward to spring. It’s okay to look ahead. There are great things coming and nothing is wrong with being excited about the future. 

As I return to vacuum our soft new rug, I’ll be thinking about the new year and what lies ahead for our family, what our theme for the year might be and what my goals are. Each vacuum tells a story of the past. It’s time to write our story of the future.

Merry Christmas to all and a very happy New Year!!!!!