I am about halfway through toting the 66-qt Christmas decoration boxes down into the dungeon. The stairway is narrow at the Kitchen landing and it is colder than Antarctica out there. I had fourteen boxes up here from early December and neglected to take them down once I finished decorating the tree and the house. Lazy, I guess. But one trip is better than three.

Every time I open that door I have to fight four cats who love exploring the basement. I don't like them down there. They bring up cobwebs and floor dirt.

The tree has been dismasted since New Year's Day. It looks good still.I will probably remove it tomorrow and then clean up the cast iron stand, oil the screws and take that down, too.

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Tomorrow I will begin the process of shipping some artwork. It requires boxing, with lots of safe padding, addressing and getting the weights and measurements done so the shipping people can do their job when I take the boxes to them.

One is already packed and will probably go via the USPS. It goes to our MyBloggerstown friend, Cat. Karen purchased it long ago and we tried to get a meeting near here several times so we could meet in person... and I could give her the painting. But that never quite worked and so I am sending it per her request. It is a nice painting.

Another one is the first of my barns series. It goes to California patrons. They will hang it in their Palm Desert second home.

The third one is going to Italy. More about that later, but the California patrons bought it as a gift for friends who live near where the painting was inspired.

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My American football season is over. Ohio State won the Rose Bowl. Good game. Today my Cleveland Browns won their final game, and that was four-in-a-row. The first 4-in-a-row wins since 1994 (The "old" Browns, before they moved to Baltimore and became the Crows.) The Browns suddenly developed a running game in early December, something they haven't had at all since the early 1990s. That and the great special teams play won those four games.

Although a 5-11 season is awful, to win the last four is a superb sign of improvement. And with Mike Holmgren taking over this week, I am looking for better things ahead.

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There is such a thing as post-Christmas depression. I suffer from it every year because I dearly love the holiday, the decorations, the spirit and having a tree.

I get through it by doing a thorough housecleaning after everything is put away. I also take the time to rearrange furniture, wash the drapes and throw rugs, change the paintings on the walls and eliminate the piles of paper and magazines that have collected.

Busy hands make depression vanish.

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This will be a busy month. I have a one-man art show at the library in February. I teach a four session class beginning on Wednesday January 20 at the Tiffin Art Guild. I am going to the TAG gallery tomorrow afternoon to change the front window decorations. On Tuesday I will install the Featured Artist of the month's work in the window. On the 11th I have a meeting at the Humane Society about the web site (which my Internet friends and I saved from being abandoned.) In between all these dates I have other commitments to numerous to list. A web site to create. Another one to makeover. Etc.

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Take heart! It is a new year (it isn't a new decade yet. That doesn't begin until you count the years to ten. Next year will be the next decade's first year. No matter what they tell you, it's a fact.)

And our taxes are due, darn it!