I am slowly putting away Christmas.
Not in a grand sweep. But just a little at a time.
We ate the last of Grandma Johnson's scones yesterday. Last night, we played the cheap version of Jenga, "Jumbling Towers" and ate our Christmas oranges. Not to mention the Symphony bar from the Spouse's stocking.
I put away the stack of books and dvds. Some of those, I'm happy to wait a year to see again. I'm gathering the Christmas music and CDs. Those will be put away today. Except the Carpenters Christmas CD. I need that for a few more days.
And I'm carefully taking a few ornaments off the tree every day and putting them away. I have a thing for stars, and so my tree has lots of them. When I lived in Switzerland, I fell in love with their tradition of putting stars everywhere at Christmas. America has stars on the top of our trees and a few ornaments, but in Europe, I saw stars everwhere. So I brought home star shaped Christmas light covers and sparkling star ornaments. Slowly, over the years, I've added to my collection. Dear friends have added to my collection. Now, my stars get a special box--all their own.
I'm putting my stars away today. Because, once I've let go of those--the rest is easy.
Christmas Withdrawal- I have never liked it. My unhappiest moment always comes a few days into january- I'm headed home after dark, and it's...dark. The Christmas lights are gone, replaced by drab little porch lights and evenly spaced streetlights, also boring and drab. In self defense I start planning valentines for my grandkids- it's the best way to divert my attention from the night-time sparkle that is so very missing. Christmas for us this year was very quiet- but i've just found that a toddler granddaughter is coming to visit with her mom and dad for new year's. Merry Christmas everybody!!!
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time letting go of all of the pretty things we've enjoyed for the Christmas season. The decorations, lights, music, food....
ReplyDeleteI have a special box of snowman stuff that isn't "Christmas" that I put up when I take down Christmas things, so the poor house doesn't feel so naked.
But this year I'm not using it. Because it's almost the END of January and I still have Christmas up. The tree is fake, so we don't have to worry about the house burning down (well, I haven't lit it in a couple of weeks because it's in the front window and I wouldn't want the neighbors to think I was some kind of freak). But I just couldn't let go of it yet. Then we got sick, and now it's time to take it all down.
Because the Valentine's Day boxes are READY to be unloaded! I'm a holiday nut too.