Post Christmas Thoughts

I love Christmas. It's my favorite season. I start thinking about it the beginning of November and start decorating and baking right after Thanksgiving. It usually takes me about two weeks to finish. I enjoy decorating so much that each year I buy more decorations. Some become traditions while others only come out occasionally. I even have Christmas dishes, coffee mugs and wine glasses.

You may wonder why I'm writing about Christmas now. I'll tell you why. I've just discovered that there is a downside to all this decorating. Here are some pictures that will show you some of my efforts. I'm sorry about the quality of the pictures, for some reason they didn't come out so well.

This is a shelf about seven feet long. I put seven tree shaped candles along it.

This is my coffee table with more candles.


This is a gingerbread house which I painted about 25 years ago. This is one of the traditional pieces.

This is one of four Christmas trees throughout the house. I have one large tree in the living room and small ones in each of the bedrooms and this one in the entry.

More candles.
Still more.
My Nutcracker collection.
As you can see, I like candles. Of course, they're all flameless which makes candlelight safe around the cats. Some of them are on a timer which is convenient. Otherwise, it takes quite a long time to turn each candle off at night.

Now, in case you haven't guessed, here is the downside. All of these decorations have to be collected and put away. Each tree ornament has to be dusted and wrapped and carefully put in the box. Each Nutcracker also has to be carefully wrapped and put away.

Decorating is easy. I'm filled with anticipation of the big day, but now, everything is over and it's time to dismantle it all until next November. I have to take two weeks work and put it away in a day or two. Every year I vow, never again. But when the time comes around, I can't resist the urge to play with all my decorations.

No wonder I'm tired.