Putting Away Christmas

The boo-hoos are all over Facebook this week. All my friends are bemoaning the post-holiday return to work, the taking down of the Christmas décor and the end of the holiday season. One friend even likened it to a death.

Really?

This is the same person who only days ago rang in the new year by dancing on a coffee table? This is the same person who sang Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs at midnight on my doorstep just to get me to come look at her lights?

What is it about putting away Christmas that depresses everyone? What ever happened to that great Dicken’s sentiment about keeping Christmas in your heart every day of the year? Is that what Christmas is to you – just decorations, songs and frosted cookies?

Sorry. I don’t get the whole Christmas blues thing.

I don’t like taking down my tree either but that is because it is as much a chore as putting it up. But to be honest I feel better once the job is done. Having Christmas down and put away jump starts my “begin fresh” approach to the new year. Does that make me a Scrooge?

I once left my tree up until March. It was not a planned thing. I was pregnant and in my last trimester that winter. We got the flu over the holidays then I developed a condition that put me on best rest until the baby came. I stubbornly refused the help of a friend who offered to put away my Christmas stuff.

Those who know me know I love Christmas. I dig my stuff out as soon as the first frost hits and I usually start organizing my Christmas plans well before Halloween. But I have to tell you: that year where the stuff stayed up nearly until Easter taught me the value of Christmas anticipation. When I brought the Christmas stuff out the next fall I felt I had just put it away. There was an edge taken off the magic of opening those totes and boxes of Christmas cheer that year.

Since then I have learned the good thing that un-decorating for Christmas can be.

The anticipation for Christmas builds as I wrap each ornament. The plans for next Christmas start building in my mind as I pack each box. I learned to take notes as I slowly put Christmas away. Good ideas have their genesis in cleaning things up.

Stop whining about Christmas being over. Some times I think the new diet includes a heavy dose of complaining about the end of Christmas. I’ve got news for you: it does not burn any calories, make your thighs thinner or improves you new aversion to chocolate. You need Christmas, girls. It can only make you feel better, especially in January — if you allow it.

In less than 300 days we will be in the throes of the season again. Is that really too long to wait? I’ve decided we put the advent calendars up at the wrong time of the year. Now is when we need them most.

We should have a daily reminder that what we love about Christmas is not really putting it up or taking it down. It is what we feel when we share it with people we love. Why would we ever stop sharing it…just because it is January?