Sunday, November 15, 2009

Cleaning Can Be Fun

Anyone who knows me also knows that's virtually my mantra. I love to clean because I find it relaxing. But I don't get to clean as often as I'd like (or need to) because of commitments.

So when we decided to spend two Saturday mornings cleaning my Mother's house for the holidays, I saw two mornings of relaxation in my future.

But for those of you who aren't quite as enthused as I am at the thought of rubber gloves and pretty blue Windex, my family has other ways to make cleaning fun.

For instance, as soon as we stepped into the door of Mom's house the scent of chocolate chip cookies greeted us. Yep. Tammy was at it again. Using up spare ingredients she had in her cupboards she'd made chocolate chip, toffee, pecan cookies. They melted in your mouth!

Our big goal for the day was to clean the family room, and replace what we thought was a drop down ceiling...It wasn't. It was one of those tongue and groove things. So Helen recruited two brothers (John and Brian) and two brother's-in-law (Steve and Charlie) and created a team that got the supplies and put up the tiles. She was right in there with them, handing tiles, stapling, and cleaning up!

Feeling in the way, Janette and I left the family room and headed for the dining room where we washed windows, dusted curtains and walls, cleaned the China closet and buffet. As we worked, we chitchatted about our kids.

Cleaning the room divider in the living room as niece Jessica washed walls and niece Amy dusted above windows and cleaned nicknacks, we talked about raising kids and good books to read to unwind at the end of a long day.

Miss Lainie (Tammy's almost 2-year-old daughter) examined everything I took off the room divider so I could dust it. Miss Maddie (Tammy's 5-year-old daughter) brought the new kittens to the screen door, one-by-one, so I could be properly introduced.

Jake and Owen (Tammy and Jessica's sons) watched "Uncle John" as he burned old newspapers and boxes that had accumulated throughout the year.

We stopped at noon for ham sandwiches with hot peppers. (And another cookie...or two) Then began to disburse because most of us had errands to run and our own cleaning to do, but we also knew we'd be back again the following Saturday morning to finish up.

My sister Janette said she doesn't really look at cleaning at Mom's as a chore, but more like a social event. She should have told me sooner and I would have dressed better! LOL

But next weekend is also the calendar making party. We'll finish Mom's cleaning on Saturday morning, rest up, then meet at Janette's on Sunday afternoon with pictures taken this year so that we can create next year's family calendar.

I'll blog about that next week, with details (that may bore you! LOL) but it's always fun for us.

The saying is that the family that prays together stays together, but it's a little different for us. We pray together, but we also cook and clean and eat and chit chat, look at pictures, make calendars, buy gifts, go to jewelry parties and go to the games of whatever high school niece or nephew happens to be that year's player! This year it's Zak. His team's in the playoffs. They won yesterday...not that I'm bragging!

susan

Oh and by the way...for those of you who live in my area THE MAGIC OF A FAMILY CHRISTMAS has sold out in our Walmarts, but it's still available in Giant Eagle and a few of the drug stores that still sell books.

If you miss it there, there's always eHarlequin, Amazon and Borders!

2 comments:

Denise said...

I'm glad you had a great day with your family, although how anyone can love cleaning is beyond me...

Anonymous said...

Hello Susan, yesterday I discovered your website and then I ordered your new book "The Magic of a Family Christmas". Can't wait to read it. Thanks for the nice cooking recipes.
Take care.
Best Regards.
Patricia
http://pattymaeva.vefblog.net