What Goes Up, Must Come Down

....and in this case, it is the Christmas tree. You know the routine; whereas everyone is excited about putting up the tree and decorating the house no one is as enthused about disassembling and packing everything up once January hits. I'll be honest, the task doesn't excite me much either but much like Christmas itself, it is a tradition that must be abided by. (Unless you are "those" people who leave their outside lights strung across the eaves of their house year around but that is another story.......).

Last year, on the cusp of packing up the entire house and moving, the tree came down the minute the presents had been unwrapped. This year, however, we're just getting around to disassembling our Christmas tree this week. I blame it on a combination of traveling after the holiday, guests from out of town and the fact that because it is an artificial tree that doesn't shed needles, a general lack of urgency. Besides, I love the way it looks and as long as it is up I can justify playing Christmas music. But the time has come.

Yesterday marked the return to our routine. After two plus weeks of having both boys home all day long, they have respectively returned to work and school leaving me alone in the quiet solitude of the house. So slowly, while listening to the afore mentioned holiday music, I'm taking each ornament off of the tree and carefully putting it away for the annual eleven month hibernation. As I wrap each one I try to remember where we bought it or who gifted it to us. From the hand painted glass balls we purchased in Prague and the ornament commemorating our first Christmas together to the tattered but sweet angel my own mother gave me years ago and Sidney's own first ornament, each one carries with it a memory. And it is these memories, and the knowledge that we will only continue to make new ones with each passing year, that makes this disassembling process a little easier.

By the end of the week there will be a void in the living room where the tree once stood. The mantles will (temporarily) be blissfully empty of the clutter that seems to grow on its own. And another holiday season will be behind us. But not to worry, because there are just 353 days until Christmas 2015!