Christmas Closing Ceremonies

There comes a time when the Christmas decorations just have to go.

If you’re on schedule, it should happen around Epiphany (or the 12th day of Christmas). Some folks have been known to do it on New Year’s Day and that’s fine, too.

If you’re slackers, however, you wake up on Saturday morning, the 11th of January and still see Rudolph, then you say, “It’s time.”

And you spring into action.

Then on Sunday, after church, you put all the boxes back in the storage closet and you’re done until the process starts all over again next holiday season.

We had good reasons for taking our time this year. But, whatever the case, the decorations are now officially down and the house has returned to its normal look.

I often think of the ‘taking down’ process as being the ‘closing ceremonies’ for the holiday season. In a similar fashion, I guess, when you Deck the Halls, it’s kind of like the ‘opening ceremonies.’

Just as the International Olympic Committee marks the beginning of an Olympic Games – as they will do in Sochi next month – with a ceremony, it feels like we do the same with the décor. The holidays are wonderful - fun and festive.  And the house is dressed to match.

Then, a few weeks later, it’s time to return to normalcy. And that’s when the trees, wreaths and such go back into storage for the year. Those are our ‘closing ceremonies.’

In our house, I typically have the better memory but I have to hand it to Lisa. She really knows her Christmas decorations. As she meticulously wrapped up many of our ornaments yesterday, she recalled where most (if not all) came from. “You got this one from your co-worker at X job,” she’d tell me.

Or, she’d say, “This one came from that guy we used to know…”

She has such a thorough memory of those family stories, I mentioned we should probably try to catalog them next year so we can preserve that history. For me, it’s not so hard to say “We bought this year’s football ornament for the sports tree at the local Hallmark store!”

The knowledge she displayed is impressive.

So, we worked through the morning and into the afternoon and we enjoyed the project together. Then we treated ourselves to a nice supper.

Meanwhile, the boxes are labeled and well-organized. They’re packed and ready to go for another year.

JG

Originally posted 1/13/2014