I can think of few things that are sadder to me than packing up Christmas decorations.

You know the feeling. That wonderful, bustling, sentimental holiday season is behind us, and it's time to put it all away again. Every year I reconcile to not let the process get me down. Every year that doesn't work. I sigh heavily as I pack the boxes. And nothing is worse than lugging a Christmas tree carcass out the front door.

I hate January. The weather is rotten. The fun times are over. The house is a mess, as is the credit. This year we had power outages, snowstorms, windstorms, and heck, I haven't had phone service for two weeks. So not only am I cold, in a messy house, with no Christmas decorations anymore, and in debt, but I can't even use my phone to call people to talk about it.

What an island-bound, Christmas-debt-ridden, decoration-packing mother to do?

My solution? Get busy living.

For me, the only thing worse than packing up all of those decorations is to be here in the house, hearing the wind blow and just being hit by the whole Christmaslessness of it all. So I decided long ago to make the months of January and February our busy time.

Are my kids signed up for basketball teams? Check. Saturday morning practices? Check, and bring coffee. Then I get my kids in Youth Chorus (check), pottery class (check) and add a little science class here or there. Throw in a musical for the family and we are set. All of the sudden, what was a bleak and cold time becomes a time of seeing friends, laughing and playing, and staying busy together.

As I reviewed my winter schedule, some friends of mine commented that families nowadays are too busy. They are in too many clubs, have too many hobbies, and are always gone from the house. It is leading to the collapse of the family structure and all that.

Well, I would say that the very business of my life is what makes January and February doable. In fact, each year, my oldest child deals with Christmas just as I do. When Christmas was over this year, she asked me, "What's the next thing to look forward to?" If you get busy living, you don't notice the bleakness of January quite as much.

Of course, there are other skills I have used to avoid the January blues. We are getting back on a fitness regimen, which should kill some of the holiday food guilt and make us all feel a bit better. I am spending time thinking of how to live a better life for the coming year, and renewing my yearly pledges to not get caught in gossip circles and to make sure and watch my kids play at basketball practice, rather than just talk to friends.

Of course, this year was harder than all the rest. The wonderful vacation days my kids got from school meant my clients didn't get their work done in time. The power outage killed some projects, as well as my daughter's entire tank of fish. The kids were cold, bored, and frustrated by the end.

But then there were moments of beauty. We had friends who let us stay with them. We managed to pick up the house. Clients understood. And after a brief mourning period, my daughter now has the hamster of her dreams.

Weather notwithstanding, in the end, my "get busy living, or get busy dying" credo works for me each year. Jumping back into life with gusto can dull the pain of a Christmas gone cold.

And by the time you do those classes and musicals and sports, you open up your eyes, and it's time for spring. And that means Easter egg hunts, softball, and many more things to do. But somehow, I find all of those things easier to do when the sun is shining.

Feel free to let me know if you need ideas for how to get busy living. But don't call me since my phone will probably still be out. A carrier pigeon will do.

Lauri Hennessey runs a public relations business and is the mother of three. You can reach her at Lauri@hennesseypr.com