Taking Down Christmas

We all have to do it.  We all hate it.  We all know what it means.  Christmas is over.  The one reason to eat too much, drink too much, party too much, spend too much is gone. 

Don't get me wrong.  I love Christmas for more than the reasons listed above, but, for me the decorations represent the festivity of the season.  Each little trinket is a ticket to fun.  There is a history to each piece that evokes memories of friends, family and spectacular sales at Macy's.  Some of my decorations are so old they were made in Japan instead of China!  The Asians, in general, must think we in America are insane to spend money on a fluffy snowman holding a birdy instead of something like . . . food or shelter.

Putting away decorations are a much different process then getting them out.  When you get out the boxes of decorations (or when your husband gets them out) you provide direct and careful supervision, making sure each box is handled with ultimate care.  You open each box with the bright eyes of a child reveling in the unwrapping of the first gift on Christmas morning.  You screech with delight at the sight of the first of 27 nutcrackers.  You dance around the room with it like you just got the lead in Tchaikovsky's ballet.  You dust it off, wondering how it got dusty in a box and carefully place it in the same spot you have put it for the past 20 years.  Your nutcracker is home!

Now I face putting the decorations away.  My nutcrackers and snowmen have been out for a month now collecting dust.  This is always a mystery to me.  I thought Christmas was so magical that dust didn't exist during this season.  I was wrong.  Heck, I'm not dusting these things again . . . ohhh!  That's how they got dusty in the box!  I digress.  I wrap each piece with as much strength as I can muster now that I'm on a carb free diet, shove it in the closest box and repeat until I can see my dining room table again.

I stop and pause and wonder is this too much?  Should I have been spending my time and money on wiser, more nobler pursuits?  There are definitely wiser and more nobler pursuits out there, but bringing a little joy into the home, watching the wonder light up in your child's eyes, that's kind of noble.

As every inch of my dining room table was filled with 40+ years of collections, I thought "too much?"  Nah!  There's still room on the kitchen table! 



Explosion on 34th Street