Hahaha...my cousin Jo wanted to know if I crept back into the closet. Isn’t that funny! No, Jo, I am still here! She is, of course, referring to my email statement to family and friends that I had come out of the closet – blogging closet that is! When I embarked on this adventure, I wasn’t too sure about it and so did not tell anyone at first. Then I made the announcement that I had come out of the closet! Jo hadn’t seen a post for a couple days so she was worried I had shut the door and crept back in.
Coming out of the closet. Now isn’t that just the funniest of terms. It is an old term that dates back even as far as 1869. Today, it is most commonly known (especially to those who are very conservative and/or are old-fashioned or not open-minded) as a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people disclosing their sexual orientation. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out is described and experienced variously as: a psychological progress or journey, decision-making, risk-taking, a strategy or plan, a matter of personal identity, liberation or emancipation from oppression. (Mama, I’m not oppressed anymore – I’m speaking out).
In political, casual or even humorous contexts, it means "by extension the self-disclosure of a persons’s secret behaviors, beliefs, affiliations, tastes and interests that may cause astonishment or bring shame" (i.e., coming out as an "alcoholic, "conservative," "liberal," "atheist," etc.). You get the jest! I’ve come out as a "blogger" and whoever doesn’t like it, well the heck with them. I am who I am, so don’t try to change me.
People should never judge another by what closet they are coming out of because they are still the same person, they just like themselves better once they have identified what it is they were hiding. And, you should like them better for it! Besides, maybe they should just check their own closet to see what might be hiding there. Well, I’ve come out and I feel much better about it.
Speaking of closets, boy have I got a few to clean out and fill up. It started this last weekend. I’m trying to get all my Christmas decorations down and put away. (Yes, yes, yes, you heard me right...my Christmas decorations!!) Spending most of my time at either the hospital or the nursing home with my aunt, I have had very little time left over after working and general cleaning and laundry at home to attempt this great feat. And, yes, it is a great feat. I think when I last counted I have about 20 large tubs for just my Christmas decorations. (There, now I have just come out of the "Christmas decoration" closet, too!!)
I’m obsessed with decorating for Christmas. It means about two weeks of tubs scattered all over the house, Bob growling at me, me ignoring his remarks and then abracadabra, Christmas is up and will stay that way until at least the end of January (sometimes February!! LOL!). But this year it is much worse as I have had not time to deal with it. I have vowed, though, that I will not have them up for St. Paddy’s Day! Plus, my sister Suzi and her family from Minnesota are coming to stay this weekend and if her girls (ages 8, 7, and almost 3) see I have my Christmas stuff up, they are going to be tearing my house apart looking for presents. We wouldn’t want to confuse them, now would we! Santa would be mad at me! [Sidenote: That is Suzi (in the Thanksgiving pic) on the end of the second row holding the youngest Tabitha (Tabba for short) and her hubby Greg behind her with their other two "little blondies" in the front row to the Kailey (in the glasses, to the left of Casey) and Autumn (the second to the right of Casey).]
Anyway, I have pulled the tubs out and everything goes into piles. Gold decorations here, red there, silver here, blue there, burgundy here, white there; Santas here, reindeer there, snowmen here, big Xmas tree decorations there, medium Xmas tree decorations here, wreaths there, garland and roping here, and miscellaneous there. The tubs (which have already been marked) are set out to be filled by the piles scattered about.
Then the trees are taken down. I have three main large trees. The largest one is for the main living room which is my red and gold tree; then there is the medium tree for the medium living room which is blue and silver; then there is the "boys" tree which goes in the rec room upstairs and contains all the ornaments they have received over the years from Grandma O’C along with all their collectible sports ornaments they have received from Mom and Pop each year. In addition, I have about 12 alpine trees (that also gets decorated) that are scattered about which range in size from 2 feet tall to a couple that are about 5-1/2 feet tall. It takes a long time to put everything up and it takes a long time to take everything down. But I enjoy it immensely. Every year, I change things up a little, but one thing never changes. No one helps me and that is the way I want it. In fact, Bob stays out of my way and the boys (when they were home) would usually scatter. No one wants to be there when the transformation (one way or the other) is occurring.
The same goes for when I put up my Winter Village. It goes above my kitchen cabinets and covers an area that is in the range of around 30 feet long (broken into two sections). I have around 25 houses plus tons of trees and people, etc. That takes me two days to put up and a little less time to take down but all gets stored in two large appliances boxes. But this will stay up until I know Spring has sprung. Some have commented why not leave it up all year round. Nope, that would be too depressing – especially after this long Winter. So, I’m not looking at doing anything with that yet.
When the winter tubs come out, so do the other tubs that contain my spring decorations (and/or the other non-winter decorations). When the buffets, sofa tables, end tables, etc., are cleared of the Christmas stuff, they are polished up and on go old and new photos and decorations. New photos are added as well as some new decorations.
The other closet that is getting filled is the one that contains all my out-of-season clothes. In it, this weekend, went my wool blazers and jackets. I’m tucking them away until next year because -- did I mention this before -- I’m sick of winter and want some warm weather. Of course, though, I'm leaving out my sweaters!
That brings me to my shoes. The spring and summer ones are stuck in the closet wanting to come out. I just know they are. I hear them giggle at me when putting on my worn out winter shoes. Now they want to come out of the closet. And having come to terms with the fact that I just can’t stand winter anymore, I might just let them. That goes for the capris, too. They can all come out of the closet for all I care. They have nothing to be ashamed of. If I am comfortable in them, I would not be ashamed. My ankles and toes may have different thoughts on the matter. But then again, if people find that I might appear a little different - to heck with them. As I said before, if I am comfortable in my own skin, and happy to be me, then they should all just get over it and be happy, too.
Besides, I’ve always got plenty of more closet doors to open to see what just might come out . . .
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