taking down the tree

i don't really know why i put off taking down the christmas tree. it was easier to do so this year, because it was set up out in the brewery and so it was a bit out of sight, out of mind. but today, as the sun shone through the windows, i got out the boxes and began the task of dismantling. i was thinking that it should feel like a sorrowful activity somehow, a reminder that all of the festivities are over. but i couldn't really make myself feel badly about it. i think i had the same enjoyment removing each ornament and packing it gently away in the boxes as i had getting them out.

i was thinking that i should have made sabin help me, but she was a friend's house, and really, i found that i enjoyed that it was a solitary activity. it gave me a little moment with each of the ornaments and i found myself remembering back to where and when they were acquired and pondering how many years some of them have been on my tree. it was fun thinking of those trees of christmases past. i had some quiet, happy moments of reverie tucking away my little fish and the precious bouquet of flowers that started me on my way down the purple ornament road, clear back in 1990. if sabin had been here, i wouldn't have been able to have my own internal monologue in the same way and it was what i needed today. it left me feeling happy and satisfied.

now all of the bright baubles and strings of lights and even my purple tinsel (i lose some of it every year, but try to pick most of it off and tuck it into a zippy bag to be used again next year) are tucked away neatly in their boxes, waiting to come out again next year.

the only moment of sadness was for the trees themselves, the sacrifice they made to brighten up our dark december days. since we cut them down ourselves, they are actually still green and fresh and hardly even beginning to drop their needles. but they served nobly and we enjoyed them, so it wasn't all for naught. we'll use them once again in the wood burning stove when they've dried out sufficiently, so they will serve another purpose and be useful and enjoyed one more time.

and already today, where the welcome sun shined most of the day, we could begin to see the return of the light, it's still light enough to be outdoors doing chores at nearly 5 and just a week or so ago, you'd better be out there by 4. so it was time for the tree to come down and the ornaments to be packed away until we need their shining warmth again next year.

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52 places to go in 2014.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

it seems that we're nearly ready. tho' we still haven't baked christmas cookies. there's still time before family descends upon us on the 25th (which the silly danes think is the day after christmas). i pick up my turkey tomorrow at the butcher (i found one at last, tho' it wasn't easy and it's only 5 kilos, so kind of like a big chicken). we got the tree decorated today and even decided to get a second tree - a little one - for our monsters from manila. we set it up, but the light went before we got it decorated, so i'll have to show you tomorrow. i've been feeling a bit under the weather - fever, aches, chills - and i do feel a bit behind. i didn't finish all of the handmade gifts i wanted to make. but this christmas thing comes, relentlessly, whether you're ready or not. i suppose it will all come together somehow or other in the end. and the comfort of taking out beloved ornaments and hanging them on the tree helps. quite a lot.

ahh, christmas

the smells of a nigella-inspired dinner (duck AND a stuffed pork roast) wafting upstairs from the oven, harry connick christmas music playing on the stereo, a blissful hour and a half all to myself, while husband and sabin go pick up the big girls, a glass of homemade eggnog, and a bit of time to set the table, shower and take some photos of the ornaments. friends are coming for dinner, plus we have a really interesting couchsurfer staying with us - a bit of a wise man from the east, since he teaches at a university in singapore - the dinner conversation should be very interesting.  and on top of it all, sabin is feeling much better. it all adds up to a lovely christmas.

obligatory matrioshka ornament.

one of the original ornaments mom got me for my tree when i began to have my own tree.

mom got this one at the same time - back in 1989.

it's my very favorite ornament and always needs a place of honor.

since we've been mad for robots this year, this is our new ornament for 2009.

the birdie hides in close to the trunk and one of the purple star lights.

a purple pinecone. why not?

my oldest ornament - made by my grandmother.

i used to have a little mechanical turning device for this one

so it would go round and round on the tree.

came from mom back in 1989 together with the fish and the little bouquet.

and my table centerpiece. which i did all by myself instead of paying a small fortune.

#96 in the year of creativity.

and i've also decided that i love the purple.

i'm not getting rid of it. it all means too much.

and there's value in something you've built up over the years.

so here's wishing you all a wonderful christmas full of love and laughter, wherever you are!

i'm really glad i've had all of you in my life over the past year.