Some people can't wait to be done with Christmas. As soon as the new year comes, they are packing it up and putting it away. We always wait until early January. In many ways I am done with Christmas also. The rushing around and buying and wrapping and all of the things that I wish I could do and give, but can't afford. I was ready to be done with Christmas in many ways. When Cara left to go home last weekend, Alyssa and I did a mass clean out of junk food. It all looked and sounded so yummy at the beginning of December...but one month later...we felt fat and guilty....and out it went, with promises of healthier diets.
Still, there is something so sad about taking Christmas down and packing it away...and I never look forward to the task. It has been a really good Christmas...and though in some ways I am done...there is a part of me that doesn't want to let the spirit of it go.
On Monday, when I got home from work, I lamented that I should probably start de-decorating the tree....but I just didn't have it in me. When I got home yesterday, the tree was all de-decorated with all the ornaments neatly packed away. I remarked that we should probably take the tree out to our burial spot for trees of Christmas past...but it was so cold, we would wait until today. Today, I got home, and for reasons which I can not understand, I was just used up. The thought of hauling the tree outside to the woods, was not a thought I relished. I walked in and looked around and the tree was gone and all of the other directions were taken down, packed away...ready to be lugged to the basement where they will sit and wait patiently to be part of our Christmas next year. "You took that tree out all by yourself?" I asked Alyssa? I must have asked several times...I couldn't believe her little 5 foot self managed it alone. But she did...and apparently, her much taller, stronger brother stood in the window, watching her.....shaking his head in sadness and disgust and denial....that Christmas was truly over.
A couple of years ago, we had to reconfigure our routine a little bit,as our old practices were no longer necessary since all three kids had become..........enlightened. Our practice now is, that the kids take turns.... on a rotating basis. Two go to bed, and one acts as an elf to help the guy in the red suit get the job done. This was Alyssa's elf year. I am so thankful for my little Christmas elf.....who also helped me pack Christmas away and in so doing.....has helped me look forward to 2014.....keeping the Christmas spirit of loving and giving in my heart.
“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
~ T.S. Eliot
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