Taking Down the Decorations

I believe that there are timing rules to putting up Christmas decorations and taking them down. They are allowed to go up the day after Thanksgiving and they come down the day after New Years. If you have to keep them up because of time constraints then don’t turn them on. When we lived in West Virginia there were many people who violated that rule and kept their lights on all year round.

Putting Christmas decorations up can be lots of fun. My favorite part is unpacking the ornaments. It’s fun to recall Christmas past when an ornament was purchased or given as a gift. During the last several years, Tom would give me an ornament to remind me of the gift he purchased that year. From now on when I look upon those beautiful pink ballet shoes, I will be reminded of Swan Lake.

Packing up the ornaments is another story. For some reason it takes a lot longer to pack them away. I have to confess that I still have my decorations up but I do plan to bring down tomorrow. But you can count on the fact that they remain unlit.

I have often been tempted to go up to someone’s house when it’s January 15th and their lights are still on and hand them a violation.

It’s been said that those who have recovered from a habit are most critical of those who still have that habit. Case in point - ex-smokers. I used to smoke fourteen years ago. At first I would sniff the air if someone else was smoking. I had missed it very much. But as time went on and it was out of my system, I became intolerant of the smell of smoke. Now the smell makes me physically ill.

Let me tell you a little story about when Tom and I were first married. We were both working and living in a nice apartment in Brooklyn. Our first Christmas together came and we put up a little tree. It was much fun. When it came time to take the tree down and put everything away, well . . . let’s just say people were wondering if we were going to put Easter eggs on the branches.

© Nadine Z. 2007