"Guess the tree will have to come down"

Orange-and-white Williams-Sonoma kitchen towels and a basket of Stonewall Kitchen gourmet edibles (left), Dava Sobel's Planets, Rob Scotton's Russell the Sheep and other good reads (center) and a container of gourmet catnip stand in for all the wonderful Christmas gifts on display 'neath the tree this day.

"Guess the tree will have to come down, as will the lights, the manger, etc. Change is good. Right?" says our precious blogchild, Pat of Pat's Pond, who explains why today is the day to put the lights away:

The new liturgical word is that after the Baptism of Our Lord, on Monday this week, the Ordinary time will replace the rest of the octave of Christmas.

It's all somewhat cryptic to us, but, after all, the Lord moves in mysterious ways, and Tuck, without being told, already knew enough to take down the outside lights on the fence this very morning. If Pat can do it, so can we. It's easy enough to undeck the magical tree if you have a hanky to dry nostalgic tears. Every ornament has a specially marked box for storage. But what about the presents? More stuff to put away somewhere. Fortunately, some of it was edible and has already been eaten.  Others are wearable and are already being worn. The rest? No one ever said finding a place for everything and everything in it's place was going to be easy.

Update:  Susan requests we keep the tree up through Martin Luther King Day so she can come down for a viewing over the three-day weekend. We're tempted.

Comments

[pb]

The church used to celebrate Christmas right up to the beginning of Lent. Our old pastor would loudly pray that he hoped we would enjoy the season right up to the last moment. He must have been seething inside as he announced this change. It simply made me a little sad, for him, for me. Especially for Bubba, who's been climbing the artificial tree with such gusto, day after day, harvesting the ornaments as he did!