Greetings HaQ fans – I hope your holidays are warm and bright. I’ve told a lot of truths over the months, a lot of them having to do with my house. So – here’s another truth: My holiday gift to myself was two sessions with a crack team of local organizers, my house ninjas. I hired two lovely ladies who blew into my kitchen and dining room with the force of a very polite hurricane and took no prisoners. None. And then they left me, after two four-hour sessions, limp and happy in the corner of the battlefield to sort out what remained.

What remained was: I kid you not, TWENTY TWO bags of trash to haul to the corner bin. I didn’t know that was even possible. I was both horrified (Oh my goodnight, that was in my house!!!) and relieved (Oh thank heavens, that’s gone!) at the tally.

So now I also have: 1. A kitchen with horizontal surfaces I can work with (floor included!) This means I have counters and tables that have seen the full light of day for the first time in … well, let’s not go there. And that my holiday baking has been a pleasure and a breeze. (Yes, I gave the ninjas treats – they surely deserved them!)

2. A dining room with open floor space, including the space in front of my pantry doors, which can now open unobstructed. And I can WALK INTO IT. Holy ninja-moly.

3. A huge box of items to donate. I had a whole host of useable items I wasn’t using – including duplicates of things I bought because I couldn’t find the one I had. I can now. (Thank you, ninjas!)

4. Several baskets and boxes of items I still needed to sort through. I sorted through three more a day or two ago and began filing things, sending things to their proper places, and for some of them that was not in my house. More relief. There are just a couple left. This is what it’s like to breathe again.

After losing all the “stuff” I gained a LOT – spaces that feel functional and clean, spaces that feel like they are reflective of how I want to BE in my home. Spaces that are easier to keep clean because the clutter isn’t blocking everything I try to do. So much nicer.

I’ve learned this is a process and it is not “done”. More stuff comes in (the postal service being a daily thing). The pets know how to make a mess or two. And – truthing still – so do I … I started the ninja process in my office all on my own by dint of a decorative, but tipsy, coffee mug that went over onto a pile of papers. Uh oh. (Luckily, most of that paper was either disposable or replaceable. Whew.)

So I gifted myself breathing room. Room to cook. Room to enjoy. Room to watch my pets play – they love their new roomier space. Room to learn some more. That is a gracious plenty.

Wishing you many gifts this holiday season – the lightness of peaceful living, space to work at what you love best, those you love to share it with. Blessings!

Stay tuned for more on the Here’s a Quarter blog next week! As always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome – they are moderated (I know – adulting again), so they may take a little while to appear, but I read them all and appreciate that you were here. Thank you!