Here is what is absorbing my time this week: thinking of excuses not to take down the decorations. Putting them up is fun, transforming the house into a holiday wonderland. Taking them down is like unpacking after a trip: it was fun to put everything into the suitcases in anticipation, and now that you are home it is not fun to unpack all the dirty laundry, near-empty travel-size containers, and the many miscellaneous items that belong in many miscellaneous places.
Every day that goes by, the decorations look sadder. How is it that metallic and glitter and colorful lights look so glorious before Christmas, and so cheap and tacky after? What is that garish tree doing in our living room, and how can we be the same people who put it there?
Hee! I followed you here from Catherine Newman’s site as well. Perhaps we should all form a Newman Blogging ring.
It is tedious, I agree, taking down the decorations. I’m sure our Christmas tree is brown by now. But I don’t know for sure, because I can’t see our tree at all, because I am trapped at my in-laws’ in New Mexico, where they’ve received record snowfall (?!) and subsequently closed down all the roads back to our house. I would give an arm and a leg to see my brown tree and other sad decorations I don’t want to touch, rather than being snowed into a 800 square foot house surrounded by cookies and squealing nieces.
Oh, man, I feel for you. Every time I spend time with my in-laws, I wonder why I ever complain about my non-in-law-infested life.
My decorations are still up. In fact, I’ve added more: I bought a few ornaments at 75% off at Target today, and hung them on the tree so I wouldn’t have to put them away.
Now THAT is an impressive demonstration of decoration destruction avoidance.