i don't really know why i put off taking down the christmas tree. it was easier to do so this year, because it was set up out in the brewery and so it was a bit out of sight, out of mind. but today, as the sun shone through the windows, i got out the boxes and began the task of dismantling. i was thinking that it should feel like a sorrowful activity somehow, a reminder that all of the festivities are over. but i couldn't really make myself feel badly about it. i think i had the same enjoyment removing each ornament and packing it gently away in the boxes as i had getting them out.
i was thinking that i should have made sabin help me, but she was a friend's house, and really, i found that i enjoyed that it was a solitary activity. it gave me a little moment with each of the ornaments and i found myself remembering back to where and when they were acquired and pondering how many years some of them have been on my tree. it was fun thinking of those trees of christmases past. i had some quiet, happy moments of reverie tucking away my little fish and the precious bouquet of flowers that started me on my way down the purple ornament road, clear back in 1990. if sabin had been here, i wouldn't have been able to have my own internal monologue in the same way and it was what i needed today. it left me feeling happy and satisfied.
now all of the bright baubles and strings of lights and even my purple tinsel (i lose some of it every year, but try to pick most of it off and tuck it into a zippy bag to be used again next year) are tucked away neatly in their boxes, waiting to come out again next year.
the only moment of sadness was for the trees themselves, the sacrifice they made to brighten up our dark december days. since we cut them down ourselves, they are actually still green and fresh and hardly even beginning to drop their needles. but they served nobly and we enjoyed them, so it wasn't all for naught. we'll use them once again in the wood burning stove when they've dried out sufficiently, so they will serve another purpose and be useful and enjoyed one more time.
and already today, where the welcome sun shined most of the day, we could begin to see the return of the light, it's still light enough to be outdoors doing chores at nearly 5 and just a week or so ago, you'd better be out there by 4. so it was time for the tree to come down and the ornaments to be packed away until we need their shining warmth again next year.
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52 places to go in 2014.
4 comments:
I agree about de-decorating the tree.
One of the foibles of Christmas ornaments is, all the different sized boxes that accumulate as ornaments are purchased. After awhile it becomes a puzzle of how to store all the boxes. And it feels wrong to toss an antique box in favor of an efficiently large modern plastic storage container.
i've solved that by packing the assorted boxes away inside of a big plastic tote. :-) what was strange is that this year, i got the stacking really right and they fit perfectly. some years that's been a struggle, but not this year.
i de-decorated on sunday, and it was indeed oddly pleasurable. i was alone with my beauties. and somehow they all went back with room to spare - how that happened, i don't know, because i only broke the one old tree topper... :(
this is just to say, yes, yes, yes.
I really enjoyed de-decorating. It was a little sad to lose 5,000 twinkly lights in my living and dining room (can I keep them in the windows until summer!?) but I like sweeping out the decor to start the new year fresh. (For me, "new year" means "sometime in January" not "January 1.") :)
xox
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