and then there was just garland...

The kids were so happy playing with new toys that I took all of our Christmas decorations down except for Theo's garland and that is only because our recycle bin is completely overflowing!  I tend to clean up Christmas stuff really early for three reason's, one is that my birthday is December 31st and I never like to have Christmas stuff up for it and the few days after Christmas the kids are so content and quiet that it gives me plenty of time to get the house back in order without many interruptions, and third I am get very anxious when things are out of order or messy and although I love real Christmas trees the pine needles drive me crazy!