Holiday Cleaning

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My mom is flying in tonight and we are having my in-laws and my aunt and uncle over for dinner. Yes, dinner at my house! The husband and I spent all last night cleaning, getting to bed at around midnight. I must say, it's the cleanest our house has been in a very long time. I always bust my butt to get things just so before company comes over, I think its a throw-back to my childhood. Besides, it's one thing to wallow in your own filth, it's a whole different thing to wallow in someone else's filth. It's amazing how much crap we can accumulate in just a month. The last major cleaning was in Oct when my son's birthday party was held at our house. I love lists, so here is a list of clutter that bugs me the most.

1. Mail. Junk mail, real mail, invitations, announcements, bills...I never know when to throw something away. Obviously you throw away invites after the party has come and gone, but what about all that other mail? Cards from birthdays or other holidays. Someone took time out of their life to pick this card out for you and then you read it and throw it away? That is sort of callous don't you think? Junk mail you think is junk, you throw it away and all the sudden your credit card company says "we've raised your rates because you didn't call to tell us not to.(?!?!?) We sent you a letter about this." (me) "well, you send me about 5 letters a week and 99.9% of them are trash. How can I decipher the trash from the important stuff?" Needless to say I cancelled that card.
2. Random crappy toys. You all know what I'm talking about. The crappy toys you get in Happy Meals or the ones that you get a kids birthday party. My son seems to think that these are way better than the $20 toys he gets from his birthday...I think for Christmas I'm getting him a wooden spoon and a cardboard box. Imagine the possibilities!
3. Empty CD cases. I usually try to re-purpose these for CD's with pictures on them or what have you, however, the majority of mine are cracked (from hiding underneath clothes and getting stepped on). Do I save it? A sub-point to this one is also the random CDs that you didn't mark...are they precious day of birth pictures or is it an empty CD? Who has time to sit there and read all the CDs?? From now on I mark all the important ones!
4. Paper DVD covers. Why????? Why to companies put that crap on their DVDs? The plastic cover isn't good enough? Inevitably I always find about 3-4 of them underneath my TV table...I've relinquished to just throwing them away.
5. Random nails, paper clips, broken wheels, and other such crap. First off, let me say, I love having a junk drawer. This drives my husband crazy! He shudders to think of an entire space dedicated solely to crap (drawers are limited in my house so I have a "junk shoe organizer" hanging on the back of my closet door). I, however, feel comforted by it. When I need just one nail, I don't have to wade through his tool box to find it, I can look in the "junk rack" and find it just as easily (and less dirty). I can also throw crap in there that doesn't have a specific home...it's great. I feel like Monica on Friends. Did you all see that episode when Chandler found her secret closet? I am by no means as much of a neat freak as she, but it's still funny and so true.

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a very happy holiday season. I also hope that at least some of you have to clean your house for relatives and you will know exactly what I'm talking about!!