Why Spring Cleaning Should be called Winter Cleaning

Right now it is freezing outside. I am a person who would much rather be cold than hot, and even I am having issues with this weather. Oh, and the forecasters say that an Arctic blast is heading our way for the weekend. Huh? It's not already here???

A couple of my kids came home from school this week and asked to put on their pajamas. At 5 pm. !?! There's no playing outside when it feels like 5 or 10 degrees. The bikes are tucked away, the swing set looks lonely, and the neighbors' trampoline still has snow on it from the big blizzard of '09.

NOBODY WANTS TO GO OUTSIDE.

This is the time to be in the house. When the trees and flowers bloom in the spring, who wants to be cleaning the cobwebs? Or the 7 inches of dust that have made their happy home under the bed? Or my favorite, the ring around the honey that seems to be crazy glued to the pantry that needs brute strength to remove it, you think you have definitely taken some of the shelf with it.

Another big deal - this is the Jewish Happy Home blog. Have you noticed what has been noticeably absent these past 2-3 months? And what's not going to be here for almost another 2 months?

The holidays. The Yamim Tovim. The Chagim. Whatever you call them - they are not here. While it makes some sigh with longing and others leap for joy, this is our reality. This is the time that we have to be doing things other than dipping apples, building sukkos, polishing menorahs, frying latkes, covering counter tops, and whipping up cheesecakes and blintzes.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT PESACH CLEANING.

This is about doing the things we stress about doing at the time when we should be doing real Pesach cleaning and preparations. We've heard it a million times - dust is not chametz. Yet, we all (myself included) often forget that as we stay up until all hours of the nights preceding our Festival of Freedom. To become slaves to projects that could have been done at a much quieter time of the year.

This is about getting our houses together. We need to start now so it can be done in a manageable way. Fine, we'll start after the kids go to bed...