Alas, the dreaded day has come - I can stave it off no longer. It's time to take down the Christmas tree.
To some, the removal of Christmas decorations is a relief and a tidying-up; a restoration of the blessedly normal. But I really hate taking down the tree - the room seems so empty without it. I miss the bright bits of colour, the crochet stars and snowflakes, the faded pink glass ornaments bought in our first year of marriage, the red velvet Tudor rose (souvenir of the best Christmas ever). I miss the tiny cheerful lights that brighten the days and warm the nights, shining out from the corner of the room, casting softly mysterious iris-tinted shadows on the walls.
Each year's tree seems more beautiful than the last - but beauty fades (and needles drop), and so we must move on.
Goodbye, dear Christmas tree. May your resting branches provide shelter to small creatures until the coming of spring, when your limbs will dry up and return to the earth to replenish the richness you drew from it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What a lovely post; so well written. I too had a difficult time taking down my tree; however, I left the garland, snowflakes, a big snowman cookie jar, and the plate that states "Friends are Made One Flake at a Time" hehe...it's still winter right?
ReplyDeleteYes, taking down the Christmas tree is a sad day for me, too. I miss the colors and the lights and all the cozy feelings it brings into our home. Like Astri I left up the Winter decorations....a nutcracker snowman, a few pretty glass snowflakes that I hung in the entry arch/half wall thingy and my sign says "Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled" :)
ReplyDeleteNow if you had some goats, you could give them that tree to munch on. Trust me, we don't even care if it is dry. As it is, I believe you need to figure out some sort of deciduous tree branches draped in fairy lights to keep you cheerful. I wanted some in the barn, but you know how that goes.
ReplyDeleteI never got my tree up this, um, I mean, last year, and the best thing about that is I don't have to take it down. But I'm with you. I miss the lights, the smell or the tree, the snowflakes, the ornaments reflecting the lights, the sparkle, and oooooh, the peppermint bark I'm not even supposed to eat. I mean, devour!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOur christmas tree has been out for a while. It still looks green. :-) I will hang bird seeds (Meisenknödel) on it as soon as there is SNOW. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post Sue, and those photographs of the lights on the wall are glorious :) Can you believe we didn't have a proper Christmas tree this year ... I was bereft, but it wouldn't have survived the attentions of the youngest whippet. Hopefully he will be mature enough by December 2012 to have lost interest!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to take it down, but some how I don't feel like I can start the New Year until it's gone. Generally Mac puts it out in the lagoon so fish can spawn in it.
ReplyDeleteI tend to get mine down quite early, but this year I felt quite sad about it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should buy a string of fairy lights, I saw some beautiful ones the other day that were like silk roses, gorgeous.
What a beautiful post. I still have my twinkle lights and snowmen up. I am thinking that I just might leave the lights up until spring. Why not? The little pathetic tree (which I dearly loved) has been gone for over a week now. It was small enough to clip up and use as tinder for the woodstove.
ReplyDeleteSaying goodbye is hard, is it not?
It is always sad when the tree comes down. It adds so much life to the room! We still have our outdoor lights and garland and wreath up, though the garland is starting to brown, which then makes me not so happy to see it!
ReplyDelete