It takes a bit of courage to start the de-Christmasization process. After Jan 1st, you know it's time. By Jan 7th, your feel like a slacker. If you still have the stockings hung in February (and you know who you are), then you may as well start next year's Christmas shopping. Either way, the "ho ho ho" stuff should be down by the time you pay your Christmas Visa bill. This year Christmas came and went like a bullet train. We missed the holiday lead-up due to a vacation. I spent the night before Christmas, hastily decorating our home for the holidays. A couple years back, while browsing an antique store, my dad came upon the mother-load of department 56 Dicken's houses. For $200 he came home with over almost 50 houses and a ton of perfectly posed figurines to go with it. If you were a kid of the 70's and 80's, these little ceramic creations were the mainstay of many homes during the holidays. My husband always gets a chuckle out of them suggesting they look nothing like any real time or place throughout history. They are very charming however. Anyway, each comes in a foam core box and fits in it in only one orientation. Having only a week to have these things up, my mind swirled…"Do I or don't I ?" An eye roll and an evening later accompanied by 45 trips up to the attic, they were all lit. Yeah! Fast forward a week later and they all needed to come down. Sigh. Putting them away haunted me for the week, but that time had arrived. Which box does the "Wagon Wheel Pinegrove" go into and what the hell is a Wagon Wheel Pinegrove anyway? Pulling the cords, playing puzzle with box after box, I began to think for a minute that burning the village down could be a quick fix. I played ACDC on my Ipod while doing this. Weird, I know. Then it was time to tackle the tree; 50,000 pine needles on the floor, all sticking into my socks. The vacuum sucked them up along with a couple of lego guys all while Miles barked at the vacuum the entire time. I did a victory dance because this time around, the old vacuum didn't clog! While doing this chore, two little figurines watched me. Each little figure was missing a leg. Each year, they hang out together on the mantle. Now let me say that these two little guys work for two VIP's. They are both great servants to great leaders. The first, a Shepard with two broken legs that I maimed when I was a kid, works for Jesus, keeping an eye on his flock. The other, Santa's head elf, which Pete dropped a few years back, hangs on to the shepard. Every year they hold each other up through the holidays; after all, what are good friends for? They happily hobbled into the red and green plastic storage box for another year. Maybe it's those two that I hear up in the attic all summer. The final push was upon me as I dragging the tree to the dump. This process is harder than an Ironman and child birth combined. Could someone tell me why I was not only the solitary woman at the dump, but the only woman lugging a tree off her car too? Now pine needles were everywhere. Despite the fact that the tree was on top of the car, the needles seemed to occupy the entire interior of the car. They were going down my shirt and in into my hair too. Oh yes, I do love the holidays. I came home drained but with a sense of relief that the holiday was packed up and I could really start the new year! I opened the fridge and celebrated( See photo below). Let me just say, I enjoyed every last bit of Christmas that I could sink my teeth into. I hope you do to. Celebrating...Chrismas is put away!
8 Comments
Katie Hughes
1/3/2013 10:33:08 pm
Happy New Year Jen!
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Jen
1/3/2013 11:25:07 pm
Happy new year to you too Katie...Much success and happiness to you in 2013!
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MicheleZito
1/3/2013 10:33:43 pm
Thanks for the laugh Jen! I needed it today!!!
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Jen
1/3/2013 11:25:41 pm
Happy I could help. Have a great day Michele.
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Diane
1/4/2013 12:20:59 am
Hahaha! I totally gave up on the boxes/styrofoam protector for the houses (we have the cheaper, Kohl's Christmas houses) and we bought some clear plastic tubs for them and we ever so carefully place them in there and we are DONE. If we ever move this could pose a problem... but it makes cleanup WAY less agonizing. LOL. And now I wish I had written my "What to do with your christmas tree" blog! I could have saved you A LOT of work!
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Jen
1/4/2013 05:57:21 am
I heard of your Christmas tree escapades. You do know how to keep things interesting! I just cant get myself to throw out the boxes in foam...feels similar to removing the tag off of pillows, seems "unlawful"
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Connie
1/4/2013 10:20:49 am
Love reading your blog and feel your pain. Since I am a bit older than you, I will tell you those lovely Dickens village houses will someday enjoy a hallowed permanent place in your attic... There is a lot to be said for fake trees, although I missthe real one, but some things never go. Hold on to those legless creatures, they are Christmas. I have wax figure candles from my childhood that shall never leave, no they won't! Happy New Year!
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Sue VanDerzee
1/4/2013 10:24:58 pm
Never subscribed to that new year theory! Our tree/decorations go up the weekend or so before Christmas and come down when I'm tired of them--which takes at least a month--or the tree becomes a fire danger:) It's a pressure-less system!
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