Everyone observes special holiday traditions. Memories are made of what we did as children and traditions we passed on to our children. I have one tradition that I'm not sure my children follow or if they even remember.
Putting away the decorations is a big deal. My mother and I both cannot wait to put away our decorations. I don't know what that is about. We enjoy Christmas a lot. We like to look at decorations and we follow tradition in putting them out, but we both breath a sigh of relief when our decorations are down.
My personal tradition has grown out of what is left out. No matter how hard I try, I always leave something out after the Christmas containers are closed and put away. Somewhere along the way I decided, if it's left out, it's out for the year.
Two years ago our grandson Joey was here through Christmas and I challenged him to help me put away the decorations. I told him we wanted to be sure and get everything because anything we missed would stay out all year. We both worked diligently and we gathered up everything -- everything. We stood back and looked and we walked around and looked and we closed the containers and put them away.
When Ron and I returned from the airport sending Joey back to California, I saw the decoration the moment we turned toward our house. There was a small, hanging basket of Christmas greenery. I looked at that basket all year and remembered the special Christmas with Joey.
I always leave something out and I never try to leave something out. I truly make every effort to put everything away. What I leave out is always something of special significance or at least it becomes something special after being out all year. As I glimpse it through the following year it makes me smile.
This year I stacked ALL the decorations in the middle of the living room. I left them there for two days as I walked and looked and checked and re-checked. The second day I spotted a Santa placed over the door and said Ah Ha! Gotcha! I added it to the stack and put the decorations in the container. The lid was closed and the trunk put away.
As if it had been invisible, I walked into the living room and stepped on a floor mat that had bells on it and read, "Happy Holidays". I moved it to the utility room and it is out for the year.
Who says the Spirit of Christmas leaves after the holidays? I always have a reminder of the true Gift of Christmas.
Well, you have beaten me to it. I was about to write a post about the very same thing!
ReplyDelete"No matter how hard I try, I always leave something out after the Christmas containers are closed and put away."
The same thing happens to me every year. This year I said to myself, go through each room, slowly looking at everything, so that you don't miss any Christmas stuff. I thought I had done a good job of that, so we carried everything up into the attic. Since then (3 days) I have found 3 or 4 items that should have gone into the boxes. I give up!
Everything is gone in my house but the Christmas Cards are still out
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