You know what I highly recommend? Moving across the country over the Christmas holidays.

I’m 100% serious about this.

(Think I have enough boxes?)

Also, if you can manage to do it during an El Nino year so it’s 5 degrees and snowless on the Saturday when you are cleaning out the garage, so much the better.

Now I’m not trying to suggest any of this is *fun*. Oh my, no. There’s a whole lot of grossness that comes with moving. It’s exhausting and messy and definitely not Friday-night-let’s-just-relax-and-watch-Netflix-and-eat-tacos friendly.

(An aside: Anyone else frustrated that “Netflix and chill” doesn’t mean what you think it should mean?)

However, while moving isn’t fun, there is a lot that *is* good about it. First, you have to touch All.The.Things in a very short period of time. Those of you who’ve fallen under the Kondo spell will know the theory that the slow-but-steady approach to decluttering is doomed to failure because you never get any kind of payoff and instead constantly feel like you’re trudging along. Well, there’s nothing like an upcoming move date by which you have to have EVERYTHING out of the house to light a bit of a fire.

The other good thing about having to get everything out is that you can’t do that thing where you declutter the dining room by putting the crap in the laundry room and then you declutter the laundry room by putting the crap in the basement until it’s just clutter musical chairs. Nope, every room has to be clear, so I’m forced to make all those decisions of keep vs. toss vs. re-home immediately.

The whole cross-country aspect is also super helpful. When you’re paying by the foot for your moving trailer, you can really determine how valuable your stuff is to you. Is it worth paying to transport this barely-used (because middle-schooler) percussion set across the country? No, it is not. Craigslist that bad boy. It is also not worth transporting the box of financial records from 1998-2000 (which in our case is mostly Dairy Queen receipts and student loan forms) that you’ve carted around with you forever because…well, I’m not actually sure why.

Finally, the benefits of moving at Christmastime are two-fold. There’s nothing like having to touch every single thing you own and decide its fate to make you realize that you have TOO. MUCH. STUFF. You suddenly see that things that you don’t use are actually a HUGE liability. That old bike that’s just forgotten in the shed? Doesn’t really affect you until you have to get rid of it and suddenly you’re trying to figure out what the heck to do with it. (Again, Craigslist. I have met so many random strangers in parking lots over these past weeks.)

And then there’s celebrating Christmas itself. The decorations need to be packed up right away, so no point in going all out. Presents need to fit into the car, so there’s no big aquarium under that tree. The freezer needs to be cleaned out, so no need to fill it with baking.

In fact, this is probably my best Advent since the ones when I was pregnant (because nothing says “anticipation” like a big ol’ belly full of baby). This one is about waiting and preparation and feeling unsettled and uprooting and getting ready…exactly how we’re supposed to feel but all too often we forget when we bury it under concerts and to-do’s and oh-crap-we-need-to-get-Aunt-Matilda-something-since-she-got-us-that-tea-cozy-last-year.

So yes, by all means, move over Christmas if you can swing it. But I’d caution against the kind where you are the only adult in the house and have to do all the packing/moving logistics/final doctor appointments yourself while finishing up your 2015 projects at work while selling your house while paying enough attention to your kiddos to keep Family Services from showing up – that’s advanced-level moving. You’re only allowed to attempt that if you’ve already moved eleventeen times and you know exactly how this all works. Fortunately, this isn’t my first rodeo.