Death of a tree

Is there anything more depressing than taking the Christmas decorations down?

I can't quite make it to Twelfth Night like my mom used to do, but I do like to leave the lights up through New Year's because I think it's more festive and I'm just not done until then.

But now it's time.

I tried to ease into it over the course of the week putting things away that no one would notice much . . . empty chocolate Advent calendars . . . stockings . . . I threw away half a dozen candy canes no one seemed to be eating . . . stale cookies. Now it's time for the tree, though. I have an artificial tree, so there will be no trauma of seeing it outside on the curb until tree pickup day. That's a good thing. Those trees . . . it's like driving past the body every day. I know you real tree lovers enjoy your smell and all that, but I just can't deal with the death.

The ornaments are another project. For whatever reason, I rebox the Hallmark ornaments in their boxes which just got tossed in a pile at decorating time. And the glass ornaments have to be packaged in such a way as not to get broken. And I label the kids' ornaments so they'll know which ones are theirs.

We should create some sort of tradition which celebrates the life of our Christmas which has passed. A memorial service for Christmas. A cake? No, we'll be having one for Baby D's second birthday and the poor kid is getting short changed the way things are so close to Christmas. A movie? A lasagna? Trip to Florida?! Ideal, but probably not.

I have to think about this.

Happy New Year, anyway!!