Taking Down the Christmas Tree

I didn't put it up. My daughter Jenna did, with help from Connor, her guy. Consequently, I didn't even pay attention to the ornaments that adorned this year's fake tree. Although the smaller-than-the-past tree cannot accommodate all the ornaments we had gathered over the years, I became aware, when dismantling it, that absent were the blown-glass icicles, the candy canes, and the tinsel. (Yes, I am of the Tinsel Fan Club.) The only ornaments that graced this year's tree were those from places we'd traveled . . . Australia, Germany, Vieques, Isla Mujeres, Costa Rica. But where was Italy? Jamaica? Greece? Gettysburg, Siesta Key, Austin? I guess Jenna was conservative in her decorating. Since I didn't pay attention to it anyway, I cannot complain that she minimized our travel adventures on this year's tree.

And I certainly minimized my house decorating this year, too. No twinkly lights on the mantel, no pines and hollies and winterberries in the window boxes, no staircase banister lights and evergreens. It was bare-bones Christmas decor.

So taking it down was (relatively) easy. Much less to put away. Much less emotional trauma? That remains to be determined.

Do I miss the extravagant Christmases of the past? Yes, I suppose so. Well, at least when I watch the old home videos of Christmas Past, I do. What is absent these years is young children. So it is possible that maybe one day, I will become excited again for this crazy holiday of excess. For now, I admit that I am happy that it's over. And it is noteworthy that just putting away the decorations of the holiday makes it all disappear, as if it never happened. Moving on.

I think I would have made a good Pagan. Winter Solstice celebration, and then focus on the days getting longer. Spending my winters in Florida makes that ideology possible. There's no snowfall to extend winter. In Florida, one can pretend that it is summer all year long. Sure, it still gets dark early, but so what? It's like 70 degrees at night.

It amazes me how we are slavish to the geographical area in which we were raised. I spent 65 winters in the Northeast. I know winter. There are things I still love about it. Like ice skating, bonfires, hot chocolate, fireplaces. But at my advanced age, I have been given the opportunity to live a different kind of winter. And I have to admit, I like it.

But there's this: if you are blessed to be living with people you love, the climate matters very little. But if you live alone, as I do, a warm climate is less confining, less depressing, less lonely. Looking forward to my return to the South in a couple of days. And the fake Christmas tree will live upstairs in my Northeast home until it is summoned again to call back the way it used to be.