Christmas, New Year, Clutter
We’ve now completed one month in 2013. I figured it was time this week to finish taking down the Christmas decorations. Yeah, I’m a procrastinator.
Luckily I have a good friend who has a lot in common with me, and shares my sentiment in appreciating the decorations more after Christmas than before.
Now mind you, my tree has been down for weeks. I bought the stuff Jasper County Lumber Co. sold that said you didn’t have to water for up to a month (love that). But, it was still time for it to come down around the 12th day of Christmas or so. The late Rev. Gus Cole taught me a long time ago the 12 days of Christmas start on Christmas day, so I never worry about taking the tree down before early January.
You see, after swearing to do it early, I didn’t get my decorations up early. Then, when it was time to decorate, I was in the throes of shopping in whatever spare time I could muster, and this paper business is pretty busy in December, just like the retail businesses are. But, I digress.
Anyway, I always start and end with the Nativity scene. It was up right after Thanksgiving…see I started out right. Then, the Christmas card issue loomed. Had to get those in the mail. (Keep saying I’m going to prepare those in October, but haven’t managed that yet. Maybe I should shoot for summer, but to do that I would have had to buy the cards this year. Oh, well.)
Then the Christmas cards started arriving. Cute, funny ones. Religious ones…with great messages long and short. Pretty, sentimental ones. Beautiful Christmas scenes just sending greetings. I love them all. My favorites are those with photographs, though.
Jimmy has two nephews and a niece, who between them have eight children. Each family sends a photo Christmas card. We only see them once or twice a year, so it is really nice to keep up with their growth as the years go by. Especially the family with four girls.
I’ve been studying it real hard to try to figure out how to keep the girls apart when we visit soon. The oldest and youngest are easy—we’ve had six years to get to know the oldest, and the youngest is still a babe in arms. It’s the middle two I tend to confuse.
Anyway, I love the photos at Christmas. I’ve seen children I rarely see in real life grow up in pictures. And it’s good for those people you don’t see often….you’re still thinking of their kids as toddlers and they’re actually in primary or elementary school. They grow so fast.
Again, I digress.
As the Christmas cards arrive, I read them, and tape them up on the wall for all to see. They’re part of my decorations. And, our visitors can see the children grow by looking at our pictures.
That is not labor intensive at all, but sometimes when I work late and head out somewhere else, I don’t really have time to appreciate the cards. I just glance at them, tape them up on the wall, and move on to the next task.
This week, I took each one down, and I had time to appreciate the beauty of the cards, the sentiment enclosed, and to think of the families represented by each.
And, the ones with photos then go to the fridge, where I take down the photo Christmas cards from the year before, and replace them with the current ones. See, taking down Christmas decorations takes a little time, because that leads to cleaning off the refrigerator.
Then, it’s time to say so long to the nutcrackers. It’s not good-bye, they’ll be back next year, it’s just see you later. But, as I wrap them and pack them into the tub that they stay in during the offseason, it seems they never fit back in the tub.
You see, several people know I collect nutcrackers, so my collection generally grows over Christmas. This year I think I only bought myself one…and it was an outdoor decoration that was put away weeks ago. My sister knows how much fun I had at the beach last summer, so she gave me a beach nutcracker, complete with bucket and shovel, sunglasses, and a fruity-looking beverage.
Each nutcracker is either pretty to admire or stirs up a fond memory of the giver. I wrap them carefully and put them away.
Lastly, I take down the nativity scene. It’s sometimes hard to put baby Jesus back in his box. Each year I think about leaving the scene out all year, but then wonder how I would start the Christmas season the next year. But, each figurine has to be placed gently in is appropriate space in the styrofoam. It’s a really nice set, considering I’m sure it was inexpensive when I got it many, many years ago from ABC Distributing. I don’t know how many years its been, but it seems like Mama was still alive when I got it, and she’s been gone nearly 23 years.
Once each piece is in place, the flats are stacked and slipped into the barn then put into a box which still sits inside its shipping box for extra protection. We try to be very careful. One shepherd lost a piece of his arm more than a decade ago. We don’t want any more casualties.
But, I didn’t really start to write this to give you play by play of my days, but to say that with the hustle and bustle of Christmas, squeezing shipping and baking and visiting into an already busy schedule, it is not until after Christmas that I have time to really enjoy the decorations.
A month ago, I sat in my recliner and admired the Christmas tree. Then, once I took that down, I sat and studied each nutcracker.
And the nativity scene was around all the time to remind me of both the reason we celebrate Christmas, and to try to keep me grounded in my daily walk reminding me Jesus is always with me.
So, I don’t really feel like a loser because it took me until now to get the Christmas decorations put away. Easter is still two months away…it would be bad if I still had Christmas decor up when I get out the Easter stuff, but I’m clear by a long shot. Now if I can just get the after-Christmas sale clutter off my dining room table….