Christmas and New Years are both
history again after all the feverish making and planning and mailing. It did
keep us going before Christmas, but it was fun and we surely made several
somethings out of quite a lot of nothings. We still have our decorations and
Christmas tree and I think I won’t take them down for a few more days. – Shirley Dobson, 1933
I’ve dismantled
the tree since getting back and feel like I can settle down to just living
again and enjoying my gifts and memories of a very happy Christmas to which you
added a great deal.
– Ina, 1938
I’m just a bit wistful today with the realization that Christmas is over. The displays and decorations that lightened
my heart as they popped out here and there now begin to disappear rather
rapidly, and we are powerless to stop it. But after all, it’s no one’s fault.
It’s just the way it is. The holidays pass and now it’s time to “settle down to
just living again,” as Ina says.
I took our
tree down yesterday (Jan. 1), and the good part is that I had both the tree and
the ornaments packed away in less than an hour. I have a nice collection of
ornaments, but they’re in storage and were unavailable this year. Many haven’t
been used in years, and I shudder to think of what’s happening to them. Then I
remember that time marches on, life changes, and it doesn’t matter. As it
happens, the ornaments available to me at this house were antiques from my
mother’s collection and others that I gathered from here and there. Some are
very old and tarnished, but daughter Hallie said that now you can buy
“pre-tarnished” ornaments, so I proudly hung them anyway. And – as I looked at
our tree, I never thought that it was anything but lovely. KW
4 comments:
I figure that if an ornament makes you happy, it doesn’t matter if it’s tarnished. We love the beautiful ornaments that we received from Aunt Harriet and Becky.
While I didn’t think I’d be ready to the holidays to pass, it happened. The tree will come down this weekend and I will be glad to have the light of the front window back. I will keep some exterior lights up through the month, I think. We need the lights in dreary Seattle.
As I recall, you plan to take the green outside lights down and leave the red and white, and that's a nice lead into Valentine's Day. As you know, I keep a festive string of lights in the kitchen window at the farm.
At some point we ARE ready for the holidays to pass. The phrase that comes to mind is "tired of he drill." At least, that's what I tell myself.
Yes, there comes a time. It's cold, very windy and rainy here. I need the lights! But I agree that there comes a day that it's time to finish up and it feels mostly good, if just a little empty.
The place where the tree stood does seem empty. I'm just glad to have a small spot where a tall slender tree could stand. But I want the light, too, so I light candles and keep the Dept. 56 houses up for a while. And a silly lighted vintage snowman replaced the silly vintage choir boys in the kitchen window.
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