I spent several hours yesterday matching Christmas ornaments to boxes and labeled bags. This is what my living room floor looks like this morning. These ornaments don't have boxes and are stored in labeled bags.
These are the ornaments that have boxes and have been safely wrapped and placed in the storage box. I layered the bottom of the box with quilted stockings to add an extra measure of protection.
I stood in the living room this morning staring at the yet to be packed ornaments trying to decide the best way to package them individually and then the best way to load them in the storage bin.
This coming summer will be move number thirteen for us. Movers will come in and box up all of our belongings, load them on a truck and move them back to our house in Georgia. Why am I taking such care packing these ornaments if the professional movers are going to do the work for us? If I pack this box, the movers will agree to not unpack and repack it. In all of our moves we had never had the amount of damage we had with our last move. There is always the occasional crack or ding regardless of how much care is put into the moving process. However, the last move was so bad we actually filed a claim. The movers didn't put the care or common sense into packing that we have come to expect. For example, my teapots were just placed in a storage bin with no extra packing, but we found plastic lids wrapped.
I'm already telling myself these are just ornaments and if one is broken it really doesn't make a difference in the greater scheme of things. I'm telling myself the ornaments are just material possessions. I'm telling myself the ornaments are a secular part of a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of Christ. I'm reminding myself of images of extreme poverty that I have seen and how the replacement value of one of these ornaments would feed a poverty stricken family in a third world country for at least a week. I'm telling myself all the cliche things we say in such moments. So why can't I just wrap them up and put them in the box without worry?
I think my thoughts are going a bit beyond simply packing away the Christmas ornaments. There will be big changes in our lives this year and I know they are coming. Although we are moving back to a familiar house, familiar church and familiar schools, there are still unknowns. The kids are sad about saying goodbye to their friends they have made here. Rachel will be staying here with a friend in order to remain at the same school for her senior year. Next year when we are ready to decorate for Christmas, she won't be there to hear the story behind every ornament. There are ornaments on the tree from when PK and I were in college. There are ornaments that were gifts to us the first Christmas we were married. The kids have been given ornaments each year that reflect something of their lives from that year. There are many ornaments that were gifts from friends from many of the different places we have lived. Each ornament tells a story and they are all wonderful. I don't want one of these precious memories to be damaged.
I know before we unpack the ornaments next year our family is going to add many new memories. I think what bothers me is that I can't bubble wrap the family. As much as we are looking forward to seeing old friends in Georgia, there are going to be some adjustments that are difficult and our hearts are going to hurt. There isn't enough bubble wrap to protect us from that. By the time we bring the Christmas boxes out of storage next year, we should be through the hard part of moving, but I am not sure I am ready to wrap up this home.