Christmas is Over

While I was out walking today I noticed that most of my neighbors had taken all their Christmas decorations down. After it got dark, it seems that I am one of only three people who still have their Christmas lights lit. Guess it's time to take everything down and put it away.

I enjoy decorating for Christmas, and pull out all the stops. Every room has some sort of decoration. It makes me feel so festive. There are so many decorations that I've accumulated over the years that it takes a week to put them up and another week to take them down. So much work, but it's worth it.

Then, there's the issue of the tree. It's an artificial one and so far I haven't had to worry about the cats climbing it. I learned my lesson about real trees about 10 years ago. The boys went back to their homes after Christmas and there stood the slowly dying tree in the corner of the living room. The needles fell off as I was dismantling it. I tried taking it out of the stand without spilling the water, but kept hitting the ceiling. Then I realized it was too heavy for me. Fortunately, we had a lot of snow that week and some young men were looking for sidewalks to shovel. I told them I liked shovelling, but I did have a tree they could put by the curb, which they did, leaving a trail of needles behind them. Cleaning was such fun.

Now, I just have to squeeze the tree into its box, put the box on a blanket and pull it into the garage until next year. But, there are no needles to be cleaned up.

But then, when everything goes away, the house will look so bare. Maybe I'll get more houseplants.