The Day It All Comes Down

So it was time to take it all down. It was January 2nd and the holidays were over and the tree had been up for at least a week longer than previous years. But I was hesitant. It was so cheery and pretty this year. It had been so well behaved and hadn’t made a mess at all since we put it up freshly cut on December 7th. Both The Doc and I enjoyed it immensely and made comments all through the season about its beauty and its shape and, of course, its good behaviour.

Other years we were always ready for the decorations to go. Past ready usually. I am not like many women my age when it comes to Christmas decorating. I am a less is more person. The clutter of extra stuff around makes me feel claustrophobic. Yet part of me wanted to drag this festive look out a little longer. I wanted to stay in the holiday bubble and ignore everything else. It wasn’t because the thought of heading into the dark, dreary months of January and February, in a world where we are still isolating and have no idea how much longer we will be doing so, was daunting. It was more because I wasn’t thinking about it at all. After all it was the holidays. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to think about other things. I was comfortable in that state. Who wouldn’t be?

But we made the decision to proceed with the take down. I began with the few things I had put out around the house and had them down and packed away in just over half an hour. Then The Doc and I started on the tree, carefully removing all the beads and decorations and then The Doc removed the lights while I packed everything else away. It took very little time. The tree was dragged out the back door, the floor was vacuumed and the green chair returned to the spot it calls home for most of the year. I looked around the room, lighter now because the tree wasn’t blocking some of the natural light that comes in the window, and then it happened: the intake of breath and the annual sigh that tells me it is all over. AHHHHHHH. It was time to venture into 2021. 

Thank you for reading. 

Photo: Jenn Stone

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