I hate my garage!

Usually by now, my family is ready to celebrate Christmas, with the only thing left to do is last minute shopping and gift wrapping. Our tree is up, the stockings hung carefully away from any heaters and Eli's sword range. (Yup, it's big danger in our house. Eli and his plastic sword collection. Please... no more gifts of plastic swords!) This year we have had serious delays, mainly caused by our garage. 

Our garage isn't used to park our truck, mainly because I don't think it would fit with enough room to allow Matt or myself to get in or out of said truck. It's used to store the things that have fit in our past homes, but have no prayer in even seeing our front door in this one. And this year, the garage is committing the ultimate garage sin. 

It's hiding my Mama's Nativity. Not the stable, but the figurines. Again.

Last year, we discovered we had accidently buried them with the china. Issues between me and Matt that hadn't been totally resolved last Christmas led me to not push the unearthing of the box with the figurines in it. I think after finding me in tears one night, he realized too late how very important having my Nativity out was and he bought me a gorgeous Nativity Snow globe instead. Later, I made the garage give up the location of my box in anticipation for this Christmas. I'm beginning to think the garage had other ideas.

It tried to hide the tree, but Matt prevailed. Then it tried hiding the ornaments, stockings and porch decorations. Again, Matt prevailed. But after almost two hours fighting the great pile of... JUNK (not really junk, but I'm mad, so today it's junk) out there, we gave up the fight. Matt's afraid if we move the wrong thing in the wrong direction, something will fall and destroy the box. Or one of the huge pieces of the bed frame falling and crushing HIM.

See we knew where it was... until we bought the couch and put the day bed out in the garage. Then we bought the new mattress, and while putting the old one out there, I found the figurines. And then the kids broke the bed in July.

Don't make that face I know your making. The one that's a cross between "EWWWWWW' And "Yeah Right!". The kids really did it! They had an annoy habit of jumping off and climbing up on one corner and after almost 8 years of one, if not both kids putting pressure on one set of screws, the screws gave way. I will tell you this though... the look on Matt's face as the bed collapsed while he was still sleeping in it was PRICELESS!!!!!!

Sometime while trying to cram the box springs and the rest of the bed frame out there, we moved the box of precious Nativity figurines. I think the garage wanted a snack. I did however find the box with the decorations we lost last year... and the stockings we've had since I was pregnant with Elizabeth that Grandy gave us. 

I would go out and help him, but one of our neighbors is painting a car in his garage and the paint fumes have been giving me migraines for the past week. And since some of the boxes in the garage consist of boxes, that combined with the mattress is absorbing the smell and Matt's afraid I'll pass out.

So now, after I've made fun of my mean spirited garage and our pile of boxes and furniture in it, I think I feel better. I'm going to help my kids decorate the tree before I have to find the humor in one of them maiming the other. But I am giving my mean spirited garage a warning... I've already made my New Years resolution.

Get ready for an introduction to the mighty Hefty Trash Bag and the Recycle Bin!

SMOOCHIES. (picture of the tree to come later)