Packing it all up

For being supposedly "organized", it's sure taking me a long time to get everything packed away. I do have a few semi-good excuses. First, we've spent a lot of weekends out of town. With elderly parents (and a very dear brother) in one direction, and a son with his wife and 2 kids in another direction, we've been on the go a bit. Plus, we've had some extremely abnormally cold temps. Because the cost of gas is so dear, we've kept most of the house pretty cold ... and sorry, I just can't bring myself to be packing up boxes and lugging them upstairs when I need to wear gloves in the house!
Several things happened this weekend. We passed a payday, and got a bit more gas (still have to be careful with it), so turned the heat up just a bit. The weather and other conditions finally allowed my dear little friend and I to have a "play-day" ... which means she helped me. A LOT!! :) She completely dismantled and packed away the big tree, which had seemed to be a sticking point for me.
Today the sun came out, and even though I didn't have help I got a lot done. I have 2 more large boxes to carry upstairs tonight and that will be it for today. I haven't finished clearing the clutter from the living room; but the dining room is mostly cleared now; and I do have Valentine decorations out.
We'll be going out of town again next weekend. Hopefully the one after that I'll finish getting all the Christmas upstairs. Well, possibly except one or both of the white trees that are still up. I'm really enjoying them! LOL! But if I can get everything else done, I'll be satisfied. It may still be March before I get the "regular" decorations back out, but that's ok. Last year it took me until September! LOL!
Next post, a few pictures upstairs.