It has become as much a holiday tradition as decorating for the holidays. I bring down the plastic crates full of small cardboard boxes, and put in a DVD movie, usually an old favorite that I don't need to watch closely. I pour a glass of wine, get out all the ornament boxes, and settle in for an afternoon of carefully dismantling the Christmas trees, separating ornaments from wire hangars, sorting them into piles, then figuring out what goes in which box... putting Christmas away for another year.
Since our small house doesn't have room for a big tree, instead I decorate a forest of small trees that I spread around the house, kitchen and dining room, living room and bedroom, even the upstairs hall. I love the look.
Packing the ornaments away was always made more challenging by the presence of our cats. The couple of years when we had five cats, I had to lock them in the basement if I wanted any ornaments to survive. Our Russian Blue, Phoebe, was especially tempted by all those shiny little balls. Usually I managed to get them down and packed before Phoebe lost control and whacked one across the floor. With wood floors and an eager cat, ornaments could sail clear across the room and smack into the wall before I could say “No!”
We lost Phoebe a few days after Christmas 2013, and we still miss her. As I sorted and wrapped, I couldn't help thinking about her, and missing her mischief.
I like your idea of how to take down Christmas decor - wine and movies, I could do that! And Christmas decorations always evoke lots of memories, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThe whole Christmas season brings back such wonderful of family, remembering how much we all embraced the season. So many memories from all those years, stitched together like a patchwork quilt I wrap around my shoulders, keeping me warm.
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