The riders in a race do not stop when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voices of friends and say to oneself, 'The work is done.'”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr
I may have had a little Brit heritage in me...for a little while.
Used to be, day after Christmas, the tree came down, the garland was crated up, the lights were snuffed out and the general holiday flotsam and jetsam was relegated once again to the dark reaches of the attic.
The day after Christmas, I officially declared the holidays over.
And, sure, we would always do some kind of New Year's bash, but it was sans tree and Santa statues. I was done. D.O.N.E. No more peppermint stripes, no more jingle bells, no more mistletoe.
D.O.N.E.
December 26th. Boxing Day to the U.K.
And I felt pretty organized and righteous about it.
As long as we were in Oklahoma, my house was Christmas Central. My out-of-town brother and his wife and family would travel in, my 2-miles-down-the-road brother and sis-in-law would practically move in, and we would Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.
(Yes, I just used 'Christmas' as a verb. I'm a maverick that way.)
We would have our time at my in-laws, we would gather round the tree with my siblings, we would unwrap, laugh, eat, watch movies, laugh some more...and eat some more.
And then I up and moved. Moved far, far away.
I cherished my role as Aunt Sissy, the moniker bestowed on me by my precious nieces and nephews and siblings and siblings-in-law. I cherished those years that I hosted the holiday cruise. I cherished being Aunt Sissy, replete with all the holiday trimmings.
I miss it still.
But part and parcel of the Aunt Sissy Christmas was also the grand pack-up, the day following all the festivities. I was usually Noel-ed out by that point, ready to clear the surfaces and banish the wreaths.
(For those of you counting, that was another use of a Christmas noun as a verb...'noel-ed'. Just trying to keep you on your grammatical toes...)
But moves and forced changes of tradition have yielded a kinder, gentler Aunt Sissy when it comes to the big Boxing Day. We travel back to our home town city now, the week before Christmas, and are still in the process of rewriting what our holiday traditions will be.
Gone are the days of my table surrounded by nieces and nephews building gingerbread houses. Gone are the days of a house-full of extended family snoring in our extra beds. The Aunt Sissy Christmases are no more.
So when we arrive back to our new home, when we come in the door, somewhat breathless and exhausted after many hundreds of miles, when we gallop toward Christmas Eve and the Big Day and the presents and the stockings and the dinner and the toys, I'm just not ready yet.
I'm just not quite ready to call it done. I'm not ready to tear down the tree. I'm not ready for Boxing Day.
And maybe, just maybe, that's the newest Aunt Sissy tradition....relaxing. Leaving it all up until the New Year. Letting it be. Lingering in the lights just a little longer.
Ushering in this new season.
Rewriting tradition.
Is your tree still up? Or does it make you itch to still have elves on the mantle and ornaments on the greenery? What is your tradition for taking it all down? Day after Christmas? The day of New Year's? Easter? Write a post about this topic and leave your name and the url of that post in the Mister Linky's box below or simply leave a comment. When do you put all the magic back in the Rubbermaids?
Making History,
Aunt Sissy....er, um....,
24 comments:
ah, that's so sweet. I like your new tradition. I also like the way you write. Great story!
Hey Octamom,
I love your tradition. I have never taken my tree and decorations down before the first of the next year. I guess I just want to enjoy the lights for just a while longer. It really does not hurt anything to leave them up. I'm not lazy either. I just really, really love a beautiful tree and all the trimmings. Cause I know when it comes down, my house will look bare for a few weeks. And I will feel a little low for a few days.
I know what you mean about up and moving and the old traditions are out of the window. We moved this year and for the first time in 43 years, I did not go to my mama's house for Christmas. Talk about taking some getting used to. My mom and dad came here. It was just a tad weird. But, we will have to learn to adjust and muddle through the best we know how.
Our tree is still up. I am slowly, bit by bit, taking my decorations down. We are Anglican so we are taught in Sunday School to leave the decorations up until Epiphany, which happens on Jan 5th (the 12th Day of Christmas)
I don't actually believe that tree-spirits will trash my house if I leave the decorations up, but the 12th Night is a nice deadline for us.
If you are curious, here is a link to explain more:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/twelfth.htm
trees still up, LED lights still looking like a science experiment on the porch, but I always itch about by the 28th. However, we always start taking everything down New Year's day! I just can't bring myself to do it before than... even though I secretly want to pack it all up and have the tree on the curb :)
I prefer the slow, methodical Christmas decoration removal method...partly because I love stringing the magic out a bit longer, and also because I'm generally deluding myself that it helps with the organization for next year...
I hope you'll humor me and click through on my link up, I guest posted today about the post holiday slump!
Hugs,
Steph
I love your "verbing". Did you know it's common for us French Canadians {well, especially where I live} to "verb" everything? There just aren't enough verbs in English for our taste! ;)
Our christmas tree went up late this year due to a broken bone with the baby, so it might just stay up a littel while longer than normal. We'll see. :)
I'm sorry your house is no longer Christmas central. I am sure it was an amazing and wonderful tradition for you and your family. I'm sure they miss it, too!
I'm with you on leaving things up a bit longer. My husband would love all things Christmas packed up and moved to the attic the day after Christmas, but I like to, as you say... linger in the lights a little longer.
Because it will be a rush of activity next week when I go back to school, I have begun packing up and will probably have it all attic-ready tonight. But it honestly seems like I just put everything out. It was like reverse-deja vu all over again.
So, enjoy your lights a little longer. You've been gone and missed some of that twinkling time. You deserve this kinder, gentler post-Christmas time.
Hugs,
Roban
Pity us Orthodox Christians on the old (Julian) calendar! We don't celebrate Christmas till the 7th of January, and as one of your earlier posters said, we're not supposed to take down the decorations until 12th Night/Epiphany - by which time you're halfway through the year and everything's starting to look a bit ropey!!
Our tree is still up. My birthday is January 3 and Mom always tried to have the decorations down before my birthday in order not to "combine" the two. However, the past couple years it hasn't mattered as much to me so we leave them up longer.
Happy New Year and happy blogging!
I'm not what you would call an efficiant person. I didn't get my tree up until the 23rd and I didn't finish decorating it until Christmas Eve, so I'm leaving it up to have proper enjoyment with it. When I was little, I told my mom once that it was bad luck to have your tree up over New Years and she said "I don't care. I went to all the work of putting it up and I'm going to enjoy it." She'd usually wait until school had started and would take it down while I was gone. So, my tree will probably stay up until January 2nd and I'll take it down before i go back to work, while fiance is away at work.
I am usually the qween of take it down on the 26th !
I am always ready for clean surfaces and want a clean look to start the new year.
This year lots of our traditions were changed and no one seemed to mind - today all the ornanments are off the tree but the tree still stands. Stockings are gone, but lights are still about along with a nativity and few santas.
I am sure I will have most of it down by new years.
Hubby wanted them down the weekend after (this weekend, obviously), but I didn't. Jonathan apparently wanted them down too because he knocked the tree over twice, sending bulbs and lights flying. It made taking the bulbs off a little easier this year, I guess.
Around here many people leave their lights up until June. On their trailers of course. Wrapped around their satellite dishes.
Usually I leave mine up as long as possible but this year I needed some order in my chaos, so I took it down on Boxing day!!
Aunt Sissy what a great name :)
Ah well being a brit i have got to tell you i tend to stick to the 12 days of Christmas Dec 24 (tree and decs UP) to the 4th Jan (Tree and decs DOWN!) Its the way i was raised and the way i raise my brood. Recently it symbolises the end of number 2's theatre shows in Guildford where she performs (Wiz of Oz this year). It marks all work is over and our real quality time together is "on". 12 full days enjoying each other, family and friends. So yep the tree is still up and will remain a focal point for a few more days yet.
Doesn't it really depend on how early you put your tree up? People who put it up the day after Thanksgiving are understandably done by the time 26 December rolls around. But we try to wait until at least midmonth, so we don't mind having the tree up all through Christmas, which happens to last 12 days, people! All the way through the 6th of January...
Also, that way there is a place to keep all the presents (under the tree - duh!) that you haven't found a home for yet. I know - me and Martha Stewart - we're practically twins!
You are so talented! I love your new tradition! => My tree is still up too!
My oldest daughter was due on Christmas, but was born 2 weeks later. We keep the tree up until her birthday party with all her friends, then take the christmas decorations down the next weekend.
I just posted about wanting Christmas to be gone. Does that count? :)
I don't have a tradition of when I put Christmas away. Some years everything stays up until New Year's day and sometimes it all is put away a few days after Christmas.
We leave everything up until Three Kings' Day (sometimes called Epiphany). That was when my mother always took it down and the tradition has just carried over.
Still up.... :) We take it down after New Year's....it is too much work to get it all out..I say enjoy it for a few more days!
I'm lucky to get all my decorations up by the 24th so it stays up until I get the evil eye from Adorable Hubby.
Well, this year we are leaving the tree up until Daddy gets home. We don't want him to think that the world went on without him while he was away. So, Our tree will be up until at least the 10th. Then we will think about taking it down. He hid most of the ornaments and decorations so well that I only put up a tree that I bought this year with the one box of decorations I could find.
Happy New Year,
Annemarie (mommyvictory)
Since we celebrated Christmas on the 28th this year, I didn't put up decorations till Christmas Day! And I'll leave them up at least till New Year's Day.
Uh, I thought early February was a suitable time for de-treeing a house? What's all this stuff about Dec 26th and January 5th? that is WAY too early. I aim to have it all gone by my birthday, but I have low standards, that's in June!
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