Thursday, January 13, 2011

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

...how droopy are your branches!!!

Confession time.
See this picture of our house in the snow?




It snowed on the night of January 9th. And it caught me with my wreaths up.
And my tree...
and my other zillion Christmas decorations.
That's right, folks! I'm a complete procrastinator when it comes to taking down my Christmas decorations. It's party because I LOVE THEM!!!! And it's partly because I'm Methodist, so I actually like having the tree up until Epiphany (Jan 6th). But it's mostly for two reasons:
1.) I really enjoy my short break that I get and want to spend it doing other things and
2.) My house seems so empty without them.
I was raised in a house with conflicting views on when to remove the decorations. My father was raised Catholic (and also doesn't actually put up or take down Christmas decorations - Sorry, Dad, but the truth hurts sometimes - haha!), so he always thinks the tree should stay up until January 6th. My mom knows that taking the decorations down takes time and energy, so she wants to get them down quickly so she can have it done and still have a little time to rest before starting back to school. Usually there was a compromise that ended in the tree coming down on New Year's Day.
I talked to my Aunt Nan, and she was in a rush to get hers down as soon after Christmas as she could. Her reasoning? "My house seems so CLEAN once they're all boxed up!"
Isn't it funny how perspective can change anything? For her, it seems clean. For me, it makes everything else in my house seem small, boring, and insignificant.
We did, during one of our snow-trapped evenings, get everything down and boxed up but the tree and the outdoor wreaths. Nowhere to put the tree (garbage pick-up was snowed-out this week) and no WAY I'm letting the hubs climb on the roof or a ladder in the ice that is covering everything to get those wreaths down! But, to be honest, I will cherish any last days I can squeeze out of the decorations.
One last thought. In church the Sunday between Christmas and Epiphany, our preacher talked about taking down the decorations and how some people love to "put Christmas away". She warned us all that we can pack up the glitz and sparkle of Christmas, but to be sure we don't pack Christ away like he's seasonal. Nice. :)
What's your style on getting Christmas decorations up and taking them down?
Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Mine is still up too! Mine isn't for any other reason though than just being lazy!

I'm usually the one to take them down the day or two after Christmas - ready to get them all put up. This is the longest that mine have EVER been up! Then the snow happened and well - I can't get up to the shed to get boxes to pack everything away so it's still here. Maybe I'll get it down before Feb :)

Jake said...

Up until Epiphany! To do otherwise just isn't Christian. (Said slightly tongue-in-cheek, I might should add.)

Zipidee said...

Whenever your Aunt Jacci says ;~0