Pssst….It’s time to take the Christmas decorations down

Pssst…. It’s Time to Take the Christmas Decorations Down

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the Christmas decorations down.

As I sit here typing this, my gaze drifts across the street to our neighbor’s house, still brightly adorned for Christmas. While I genuinely appreciate the beautiful lights, angels, and the lighted deer in the yard before Christmas, once the new year has begun, it starts feeling more like clutter than decor.

I’m all in for the Christmas tree and everything that comes with it, the day after Thanksgiving! Bring it on! I love every bit of it—the beautiful tree in the living room, the festive music, and the neighborhood lights. It’s cozy and fills me with joy.

However, as soon as the kids have torn through the packages on Christmas morning, the coziness starts turning into a bit of a mess. I begin to yearn for that clean feeling back in my living room, missing the space taken up by a tree that’s now missing most of its lower decorations, thanks to the cats, and a ribbon hanging a bit wonky.

After everyone leaves, and the house is cleaned up with the food put away, the tree starts to stare at me with its skirt all wrinkled up and no presents to cover it. It seems to be leaning a bit. It reminds me of someone at the office Christmas party who’s had a couple too many! It seems to want to be put back in its box so that it can emerge glorious again next year, the day after Christmas!

To design the future effectively, you must first let go of your past.

-Charles J. Givens

I’ve been known to take the tree down ON Christmas day. No, I’m not a Grinch! Those pine needles, though! What a mess! We generally take our tree down the next day. It’s not nearly as fun as putting them up, but in the end, the house is all clean, I have that space back, and I’m ready to face the New Year without dragging last year into it! We had a tradition for many years of burning our Christmas tree in the back yard as a way of symbolizing the end of the year and the beginning of a new one.

So, dear neighbors, I know it’s cold out, but it’s time to put the Christmas decorations away.

Love you all! 

Elizabeth XOXO