Our Christmases are always filled with precious memories. (No, not the cheesy figurines.) Precious memories and, well, peculiar ones. Probably because my whole family is just a bit off-kilter.
Do you mean to tell me that other families don't pass their gifts around so everyone can smell them? Or openly discuss the possibility that gits of special bath soap may reflect a deficiency in one's bathing habits? Or, as my cousin did after lunch, heave oneself onto the couch face down muttering,
"The food-baby. If I lay on it, maybe it will go away."
And then there are the gift-opening traditions. We open one gift at a time, so it won't be a free-for-all, and so that people (especially smaller people) can properly demonstrate gratitude. Also to give my mom time to carefully collect the bows that are nice enough to be used again. And again. And again. And the boxes. When my Nana was still living you might receive a gift, wrapped in a box that was older than you were. Possibly from a store that had closed in the 1950's.
Ahhh. Good times.
Actually, they are good times. The boys heartily proclaimed this the best Christmas ever. And they're right. Every Christmas is the best one ever. And it's not just the gifts, either, though we like them ;D
You see, we view the holidays as an opportunity to spend time together. With each other. Sitting around the living room, (or standing around the array of cookies in the kitchen, more likely), finding out what's been going on in each others' lives. That's what we do when we have company over, too. Talk together. Get to know each other better. Find out what they've been doing, what they think about things, what's important. Some people think we're kind of weird (probably true), but I think
conversation is a dying art that needs to be revived :D
But now that Christmas is over, I am SO ready to move on. In fact - don't hate me - I took the tree down the day after Christmas. Had we not been trekking down to the in-laws the following day I might have waited a bit. But coming home yesterday, which felt like eons after Christmas, I knew I'd want it all gone. And after three days in the bottom of a valley, in non-stop pouring rain, even more so.
I love Christmas. Just about everything to do with it. And the decorations are part of the joy and celebration. Now, I don't want to tart up my house until truckers stop to ask if Earlene is working this shift, but we do like things festive. Yet as much as I love it, it wears on me after awhile. When you add the piles of gifts we've received (wonderful gifts!) it's all just too much visual clutter.
Time to shift to winter mode. Move things away from the windows so as much light as possible can come in. Clear off all the surfaces. Give the house a winter-y look. Time for things to be new and fresh and clean.
There may be no snow outside, but inside sparkles with joy.
4 comments:
Loved hearing about your holiday. Happy New Year Grasshopper Family!
You know, you're a good kind of weird. Which probably explains why I like to read your blog. Because we're pretty weird ourselves. :-)
And our decorations didn't come down until Saturday because of traveling and other time-specific commitments. But, as much as I love the decorations, I was ready too. And the open space is SOOOOO nice!
Food baby. Hahahahaha! I love it - "weird" families are awesome (especially when they're weird in the good, funny, quirky way).
I still need to take down our decorations. When we lived in Ireland, you left them up until Epiphany (the 12 days of Christmas). That's usually January 5, but mine are coming down TOMORROW. I agree - I love the festive, but the time for Christmas is past and I'm ready to get out the crisp winter things!
Because Ann is a good IRL friend, I can say that she is a good kind of weird, too! I guess it "takes one to know one" :-) I think you have got it right, because life is about relationships, and you are doing a great job of teaching that to your boys.
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