Now is the time to enjoy your home
We’re coming on to Thanksgiving, the time of the year where
thoughts turn to the blessings we have received. Even in times of
trouble and stress, there is much to celebrate. Each day brings
gifts if we take a moment to appreciate them. The fog wafting in
soft gray waves above the green fields, a smile from a stranger, an
act of kindness from a loving friend, the warmth of the autumn sun
in the late afternoon.
Now is the time to enjoy your home
We’re coming on to Thanksgiving, the time of the year where thoughts turn to the blessings we have received. Even in times of trouble and stress, there is much to celebrate. Each day brings gifts if we take a moment to appreciate them. The fog wafting in soft gray waves above the green fields, a smile from a stranger, an act of kindness from a loving friend, the warmth of the autumn sun in the late afternoon.
This year I’m particularly thankful for my husband Tim’s returning strength after cancer surgery. I am grateful for all the meals, cards, calls, and gifts to encourage him. We live in a caring community.
Today I urge you to be grateful for your home, whether rented or owned, whether palace or shack, whether designer-decorated or, like mine, a ramshackle wreck in serious need of remodeling. Love your home, and make use of it.
Being a Realtor, I have the privilege of seeing many, many homes. I have seen large, stately homes in ruins where unhappiness cries out from every formerly well-appointed room. I have also seen very modest homes where warmth and love have filled every corner. It doesn’t matter what our home is, the value is truly in the quality of the life we lead within the confines of its walls.
Perhaps it’s time for you to use your home. Invite some friends over and have a party. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. No one cares if there are dust bunnies under your beds or cobwebs clinging to the corners.
Here’s an idea. Get a sack of fresh harvest nuts. Give your guests a nutcracker and a nut pick. Go to town! It’s a messy job, and you might as well only trash one house! Conversation flows when hands are busy. There’s no social awkwardness when you’ve been given a task to complete. Give each guest a bag of shelled nutmeats to take home for their holiday baking.
How about a White Elephant party, where each attendee brings something they were given which is very nice but totally useless to them? I’ll lay odds everyone you know has stored in the back of a closet a beautiful throw blanket that just clashes with their decor, a scented candle set totally designed to set off their particular allergy, an appliance they’d never use but someone else would adore.
You get the idea. Use your imagination and use your house.
The opposite of use is abuse. I got to experience this firsthand this last month, and it’s no fun at all. A rental house I own was in-between tenants. One family had moved out and the other family was preparing to move in. The house had been painted inside and out last spring. Some hooligans broke out a side window and gained access. They found the spare paint in the service porch. Imagine the fun they had. Every wall was defaced with gang signs and slogans. All the appliances were treated to paint rollers. When they were done with that they poured out the remaining paint on the carpet and linoleum throughout the house. Melted lighters littered the floor. I don’t know if they were smoking something or trying to set the house on fire.
Of course the house is insured, but no amount of repair will fix the sadness in my heart. The family moving in is seriously inconvenienced. I also feel compassion for those who committed this crime. How little they must value themselves! Imagine if the energy and effort they spent vandalizing this structure was focused on some positive activity for themselves.
Let’s move on to something brighter. The holidays are coming! For some of us this means a season of fun, for others a season of too much work, too many expectations, and too much stress. I have one word for you in the latter category: Simplify. You don’t have to go to every party, get the perfect gift for everyone, bake a billion cookies, decorate your home like Martha Stewart.
Clean your house now. Get rid of clutter and “stuff” you don’t use or love. Then use your home! Invite a crowd in to wrap packages for a few hours. Get a group together to bake casseroles, and have everyone take home a few for the freezer, freeing up valuable time in the busy holiday rush. Call your five favorite people to sit together while addressing the holiday cards. Doing onerous chores in groups cuts the tedium in half.
Use your home. Turn off the TV and invite friends over for board games or Pedro. Gather your kids’ friends and read aloud to them. Have a tree-trimming party.
Use your home. Gather your family or special friends in the kitchen and prepare a special meal together…just for you and them. Use your best dishes, the lovely serving pieces that are “too good” for everyday use.
Use your home in the way that reflects your authentic self. No matter how humble, there’s no place like home.
And be kind to your Realtor.
