Does anyone really like moving? Moving companies, I suppose. It gets easier the more times you do it but I haven’t done it in a decade.
Packing is all about strategy: what will I need first? Which things will sit in boxes for a while? Where are the forks? Why didn’t I mark the box with the forks?
In the past, I’ve hired movers who also pack your stuff. This time, that wouldn’t have been practical because we moved in stages. As of yesterday morning, we are full-time Wallaceburgers. (Derek prefers to call us Wallies!)
I did the cleaning myself and my lower back and wrists are screaming about it as I write. Please tell me how a fridge ends up looking like the soy sauce had a fight with the Catalina salad dressing?  As much as I loathe it, that fridge and freezer sparkled when I left the London house.
Unpacking and nesting are the fun parts. Figuring out where stuff should go and making sense of the new environment. That was Miss Sugar’s task, too. We hope our little round mound of meow will get a little – shall we say – fitter, with another set of stairs to climb. She settled in quickly and seems well-adjusted.
A lesson I thought I’d learned was to write the contents on each box – every time. I still haven’t found our pillows!Â
We will host our little my-side-of-the-family Christmas dinner but I don’t feel pressure to make everything perfect. We just moved in: this is our reality! As long as there’s turkey and warmth and it all ends with a little crumpled wrapping paper, it will be a success. The countdown is on!
We feel your pain. The movers brought in the big stuff on Friday, we are still moving small stuff. Our living room is piled with boxes which we are slowly working through emptying. The one thing we’ve discovered is that we have too much stuff. We’re working on fixing that.
Enjoy Christmas with the family and here’s a tip. Rent plates, cups, glasses, cutlery and serving dishes. I know you have your own, but the great thing about renting is, no dishwashing. After dinner everything goes back in the box, gets returned the next bsiness day and their industrial strength dishwashers do the rest. I did it when we had Peter’s entire family for lunch to celebrate his brother’s 60th birthday and it was the best decision we ever made.
Each time you move it becomes a little more chaotic for you then realise how much more stuff you’ve accumulated since the last time. If your moving to a bigger home, that’s not a problem, but if it’s a smaller home, where are you going to put everything. Good thing you started shedding stuff leading up to your move.