The Festivities are Finished

“Where is the Christmas Tree, Mommy?” Beth asks. Beth just woke up from her nap and is surprised to discover that the tree is gone. I decide to have a little fun with her. “Maybe it’s under the table.” I say. Beth runs into the kitchen. “It’s not there.”

I send her to look behind the couch next and then in the laundry room. It becomes a little game. After a few rounds I tell Beth that Santa took the tree back to the North Pole. She’s two and the explanation satisfies her.

In reality, I just spent the better part of two days taking down the Christmas decorations. I put it off as long as I could. But we’re almost two weeks into January and I’m pretty sure the neighbors are starting to refer to us as the “crazy Christmas people.”

I consider rebelling against convention and leaving the tree, the garland, and the lights up all year. Maybe this year I’ll take a stand. Let the symbols of good will and peace on earth shine for fifty two weeks! Rebel against the Establishment!

But I’m not going to rebel. I think we all know that my real motive for proposing to skip the un-decorating is that I am lazy.

Every year, I bristle at the thought of all that work. First I have to pull the red and green storage boxes out of the closet in the basement and haul them upstairs. After that, I’ll need to yank the ladder out of the garage. Then, for the next few hours I’ll pull all the garland, bows, lights and swag off the walls and windows. After spending hours organizing ornaments and boxing baubles, I’ll have to drag all the crates and cartons back to the basement. It’s not fun. But it has to be done.

And while its amusing to consider revolting against social norms, in the end I probably couldn’t suffer the stigma of being the Wacky Neighbors. I get enough of that when Ken steps out the house in his pink golf pants and lime green shirt (no, he is not being serious with that outfit). Peer pressure, in this case, is a powerful motivator.

So I spent my weekend buried in boxes and baubles, carting and carrying, heaving and ho ho hoing. Now that the decorations are down, the festivities are officailly finished. And our house is back to normal – or as normal as our family can muster.

I have to go now. Beth is looking for the Christmas Tree again. I told her to check the bathroom. She's been gone too long. I’m afraid she may try and test whether I flushed it down the toilet.