Don't Be Looking For My Dyson

You won't find it in my coat closet anymore..

Since today is Sunday, what with it being a day of spiritual reflection and all, I've decided that I should probably come clean about something. So to speak.....

Over the last six weeks or so, I've done a fair amount of blabbing about how far I've come in my ability to ask for and accept help. I've put up blog posts and pictures of my friends helping me to clean and organize around the house, and I sat on my big old duff while others dusted around me (Seriously. I did.) and scrubbed my floors and made beds. And as a result of all that activity by others and in spite of my IN-activity, we've had several impressive and delightful Thanksgiving and holiday parties at my house.

I am sincerely grateful to everyone for this, really I am.

But I have to be honest. I am never going to celebrate the holidays this way ever again. Because if I have to ask my friends and family to provide slave labor just so that I can have a good time......I've decided that the price is just too high to justify.

I know. I know. I SAID that I was learning to accept the fact that I need help and that unless something changes drastically with my health, that in order to throw holiday bashes with tons of food and the house filled to overflowing with family and friends, I just simply can't do everything anymore.

I did say that repeatedly. And at the first pantry-cleaning incident, I really truly was OK with accepting help. But as the weeks went by and the help began to include things like scrubbing my floors and cleaning my bathrooms......I began to get pretty uncomfortable with the whole concept.

I think somewhere around the time that my friend's husband spend a couple hours vacuuming was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Let me say here that my friends and family really did not mind doing all these chores and told me so repeatedly. The tasks were completed with lots of good natured laughing and joshing around.

But I minded more than I would ever have thought and I resolved that even though I was incredibly grateful for everyone's efforts.......that this just simply couldn't be an ongoing event here at my house, "this" meaning cracking the whip over my loved ones in order that some of my pre-conceived notions of holiday celebrations could come to reality. At least not to this extent. Sigh. I'm a ridiculously stubborn person sometimes. Something just has to give.

We're going to kick back and just relax for Christmas. We'll still have fun and family, but gee. We're going to be using paper plates. And I'm going to actually BUY some of the treats that I usually make, or even forgo some of them altogether. I'm going to become re-acquinted with the housecleaning company that I used to employ.

And I'm hiding the vacuum cleaner from my guests.