Goodbye to Christmas

Yes, its true. On Sat, Jan 21 we decided to undecorate our Christmas tree and take down all of the holiday decorations from the house.

I made a comment about how late it was to be doing this, and my aunt asked me "Where you still enjoying them?" to which I replied "Yes, in fact we had the tree plugged in just the night before when Wendy was over," to which she replied "Then there's nothing wrong with having your tree and decorations up on Jan 21." Thanks, Mary!

Nearly all of our tree ornaments have glitter on them, so as we were removing them from the tree and trying to figure out which original box they belonged in, traces of glitter deposited themselves on the sofa and on us. After finishing the undecorating of the tree we decided to go to lunch. I made sure to wash my hands and brush off my shirt before going out, but apparently Joe did not - or at least he didn't do it thoroughly. As we sat eating our lunch I looked over and saw the light playing off of a speck or two of glitter on his face and a few on his shirt. I truly loving and self-less partner would have discreetly assisted him to remove the glitter before anyone else noticed. Not me. I enjoyed the irony of this big, dark manly-looking man with glitter on his face. In my mind and later in an email to a close friend I began calling him "Glittery Joe".

It was a bit sad to say goodbye to all of the beautiful Christmas decorations. It really is my favorite season/holiday. But it did feel good to pack all that stuff back into the basement and give the house a good cleaning.