Taking It Down and Putting It Away

 It's time.  Much as I dread doing this, it is time to take down the Christmas decorations and put it all away.

Some years I have kept out the snowmen.  They are a nice addition through the dreary bleary months of January and February.  But the last three years we have gone to Florida for a couple of weeks in January and it just seems pointless to keep things out, then put it away AGAIN in a few weeks.  

So it will all go back to the basement soon.

Well, maybe not.  I kinda like the cardinal tree in the dining room in front of the long windows.  It makes the kitchen feel warmer and cozier.  The cardinal placemats and table runner will stay on the dining room table for a while plus some of the cardinals will still rest in one the window sills.  Why not keep the tree in the corner?

After some of the ornaments had been broken last year and because it seemed like some ornaments that we had used in 2019 disappeared from the boxes before we could decorate for 2020, I bought three new ornament boxes.   Two of them we found at Meijer, on sale, and one I picked up from Hobby Lobby on a trip there in December.  This morning I filled those three containers with ornaments, sometimes doubling up the unbreakable ones in the cardboard squares.  Next year we can pull those out, then grab a few of the boxes we didn't use this year and supplement, or may be we will find some of those that have disappeared!

After Gary returned home and we had lunch (with Owen too!), he took down the tree and put it in its box.  It and the ornament boxes went to the basement.  Then Owen and I pulled the colored bulbs off the ceramic tree that Ann made.  Hilary has ours, but I think the one that she gave to Agnes came home with us so we have another one, just not our original.  Gary wrapped the tree pieces in towels and placed them in a tub along with other things we had used to decorate the family room and the sewing room.  It will be nice to have all of the items from one area in one tub.

Now we are sitting in the recliners, Owen on Papaw's lap, resting up (really giving O time to just relax from a rough morning at school (he was NOT a good boy today).  Later on we will focus on putting away things in the living room and  then move upstairs to undecorate the bedrooms and the master bath.  I  become frustrated when I can't find things from one year to the next or I can't remember what went where.  I realize now that it was my fault for this---because I would gather things up and put them on the table, then Gary would wrap and fill tubs.  Everything would become mixed up.  Since we packed up everything in the lower level at the same time and in the same tub, it should be easy to find after Thanksgiving in the fall.  Same thing for the upper level (bedrooms and master bath), the tree, the bathroom, and the living room.  Much of the dining room is cardinals and they have their own tub.

But what about all of the snowmen on top of the hutch?  Hmmmmm....

Anyway....by the end of the week the house will be back to normal.

We noticed that more people decorated this year.  The shelves with Christmas decor in Menards, Hobby Lobby, Meijer, Target, and Walmart were empty much earlier than usual.  People were searching everywhere for outdoor lights.  When we went into town last night, we noticed that more exterior lights were lit and more trees were still in front of living room windows.  I hadn't noticed as many people on FB saying they were really glad to take down the tree and have their living rooms back again.No one seemed to be tired of the glow of Christmas lights or the escape from the news of the virus, quarantines, election returns, and other news items that are less than happy.

Next year.  Let's hope and pray that we make it through 2021 without political uprisings, that people stay healthy, that the virus is controlled, and that the feelings of good cheer and family remain.  There are much more important things in this life than the gloom and doom, and Christmas seemed to be the escape from all of that most of us needed.

Until next year......