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Christmas is over! I wonder how many of you feel as I do, that it was great while it lasted, but I'm glad that it's over? I love the preparations for Christmas: the decorating of house, tree, and the outside, planning the menu for Christmas dinner. But I don't love the shopping in all the crowds, and I don't even like wrapping gifts. I just like seeing the finished project sitting under the tree, all bright and colorful and shiny.
But then it's over. The last guest leaves, the first load of dishes is in the dishwasher, and there's a mountain of food left over to be wrapped and put in the freezer, or made up into "care" packages. There are still a few gifts to be sorted out and put away; the Christmas table that was so beautifully set is a mess, remnants of dessert on cheery Christmas paper plates to be thrown away; soda cans to be made sure they are empty before putting them in the recycle sack; and the lovely tablecloth, place mats, and napkins have to be washed, ironed, and put away for the next year. All of this is the 'real' work of Christmas. To say nothing of finally taking down the tree and putting away all the lovely, funny, and quirky decorations!
In my house, the latter means carefully storing away 15 large doll-sized Santa Clauses, each from a different state and/or part of the world that I've been in. It means taking 7 Snowdens ( remember them as Target's Christmas symbol during the lat '90s and early 2000's ?) and lovingly wrapping them up and putting them in their own packing boxes; it's bubble-wrapping my 7 piece Victorian village so none of it gets broken...a major job with all the little people, horse-and-carriages, trees, street lamps, and so on. And then there are all of my furry creatures to put away: 3 mooses, 2 reindeer, one singing mouse, 20-some bears of all sizes including several very large ones; one large, standing Tigger, one small talking Tigger, 3 dogs of various sizes, and one lion who surveys his kingdom every year. There's also the nativity scene, several china and porcelain Santas, all of my Santa paintings, and my other Christmas wood paintings. And I've probably forgotten some.
All the excitement and music and glamour and anticipation, and even the work is over, and slowly but surely the "normal" world comes back into focus. Now what?
We'll talk about "now what?" in my next post.
Until then,
That's a wrap.
It sounds as if it was all absolutely lovely. I'm terribly pleased by the idea of a singing mouse.... What does it sing?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kate! My singing mouse is a little girlmouse, dressed in a long red velvet dress with a white lace apron, carrying a bouquet of tiny silver flowers, pine cones, and 2 larger silver bells. wind her up, and she sings...what else? Silver Bells! I've had her for almost 30 years, so I'm not sure how much longer she's going to be around.
ReplyDeleteIt all sounds lovely, but I'm exhausted just thinking about you having to put all of that away.
ReplyDeleteWheew,sounds like work. Sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteChristmas is such a fun time.
Christmas has just started! All of December was Advent, a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. With Christmas, the season has just started and will continue until February Second. Yep. We still get to look forward to the Epiphany, the Little Christmas, on January Sixth. We always save one present, and it stays under the tree until then, when the Wisemen come and leave a package as well. Then we celebrate all over again!
ReplyDeleteFun, Fun, Fun!
Ruth and Rick,
ReplyDeleteYes, a lot of work! But it is a lot of fun to let all the animals out to play during the Christmas season. After all, God loved the animals, too. It's less fun and more work to put them, and everything else,away. A little sad, too,knowing it will be another year before I see them again.
Cat,
ReplyDeleteI'm not Catholic, although I'm married to a former one, so I didn't know exactly what Epiphany was. The Little Christmas. That sounds lovely, for some reason. I hope the Wisemen are very good to you this year!
We were still celebrating Christmas today, but now we are finished. For us, the holiday isn't over until the tree comes down--probably this weekend.
ReplyDelete