Day Six- Is Christmas Over?

As I was riding down the road today I was looking at homes that still have Christmas decorations up and thought “geez people, it’s almost two weeks past Christmas, why do you still have decorations up?” And then I drove past my own home and realized that these 

are still up. 

Oops! Judge much?

Growing up we had a fake tree and it usually went up the day after Thanksgiving, as did all the other Christmas knick-knacks. My mother was really into ceramics and her masterpieces were everywhere. Mother’s rule though, was that all decorations should be put away before the new year and the tree especially had to be taken down before New Year’s Eve. According to her it was bad luck to leave it up after 12/31 and, wouldn’t you know it, the one year we didn’t take the tree down until later in January, was the year my father died. Are we superstitious? Of course not but - by golly, that tree better be down on time…just in case.

For the longest time I followed her rule because I am a good, obedient daughter. But as time has gone on and I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to ignore the Christmas tree rule. Sometimes it’s because I love the Christmasy look of my home, but mainly it’s because I’m lazy and hate the chore of storing everything away.

This year I managed to get the big tree down on time but I kept the small tree in the dining room up a couple of days past the first. I really like the way it makes the room glow with its gold lights and ornaments. That, and a fire in the fireplace makes for a cozy room. Wouldn't you know that I didn't take a complete picture of the tree? Here is a partial photo with a candle-wrap that I made. 

 (I made some smaller ones too.

I think they're really cute and would make great teacher or hostess gifts.  None of them sold, oh well,  maybe next year!)

Once everything is put away I do feel a sense of accomplishment though and I like having everything back to normal.  And so it was with great dismay that I realized that I still have wreaths on my windows!

It really isn’t a big deal to take them off the windows but packing them away is another story. The box they go in is somewhere in that disaster of a garage.

 

Really, words cannot describe the mess that is in there. I'm pretty sure we could get on the hoarders show.

For now I'm not ready to tackle that job so I think I will leave the wreaths up until the weekend.  I mean really, who’s gonna say something, the Christmas police? Fortunately we don’t live in a subdivision with an HOA so for now we're safe.

And one more thing that I just have to say about outside decorating. It never ceases to amaze me how people decorate. Some are minimal, some are outrageous… and some are just plain weird. I can’t leave without posting a photo of this weirdness.

These people have a FAKE tree in their front yard. I haven’t decided if it’s crazy or genius!