The Christmas Clean-up

Today, I've got to finish the Christmas Clean-up. This is got to be one of the worse jobs that there is and I'm trying to get myself "psyched up" to do it. It requires running up and down the stairs all day. I'm never in the mood, and promise myself many rewards. So what's involved, two trees, many balls, and favorite trinkets. Several wreaths, excluding the front door which has a cute little wooden girl welcoming winter, and a whole collection of Christmas Scenes. A large church with carolers, and people, two train stations, a restaurant, grocery store, jewelry store, ice skating pond, with seats and a flag, a fire station complete with a horse-drawn sleigh, a garden shoppe, the homestead, kids playing hockey and building a snowman, the park complete with shoppers and travellers and a gazebo with a real bell. We didn't pull out the electric train this year, having concerns for our grandson, who will be four on the 11th. He sure enjoyed the village, playing with the characters. I recall telling him that the little boy playing hockey in the green coat was uncle Steve, as a young boy. He spent many hours outdoors on the pond with his friend Eric. And that is also why we invested in all the firehouse displays. His dad bought us the lovely Jewelry Store. My favorite is the church.

Nathan helped us put up the trees again this year. Outside of the Nativity Ball, which grampy puts in the front on the livingroom tree, which lights up and has baby Jesus in a manager with baby animals, Nathan liked the lighthouse which sends across the room a rotating blue light. His analysis of our tree is that the lights are yellow and not colored, like at his house. The tree is too small, and the lights do not rotate. He liked the tree in the diningroom, which has changing lights with his favorite color orange. These are fiberoptic lights which display many colors, appearing to twinkle as they constantly change. He couldn't decide which tree he liked best. The Church was decorated beautifully, and as we celebrated Vesperal Divine Liturgy on the Eve of Theophany, the brightness was symbolic of Christ's enlightening the world. It will be a major job to take down those decorations which I'm told took more than three days to set up.

Christmas is fun at our house. But, here we are in January, and once again, I'm looking at the clean-up. I'm thrilled that we were all able to enjoy "Christmas Eve" together. These decorations added to what was a wonderful night. Bill said it best when he remarked that the evening went by so quickly because, "we were having such a good time".

In life you have to take the good with the bad. John and I did not know what fate awaited us the next day, finding his elderly mother on the floor. She had been there for hours, undetected. So, as I continue to put things away, I will put things in perspective. The real joy is being together celebrating the "Birth of our Savior, Christ the Lord." And, the only hope that there is....

Resolutions are not for me. I don't keep them. Maybe this one will do....I resolve to be more thankful this year for the people that I "love" in my life. Maybe, I should work on cleaning up some messes that I've made there too. Or how about this one, I resolve to love more....