Christmas CozinessSidetracked Sisters

decorations

In our family, we put up our tree about the 15th of December. It seems that most people put their trees up much earlier. Many trees go up the day after Thanksgiving. Then, I see trees at the curb the day after Christmas.

I tend to think of the Christmas season as starting a week or so before Christmas and going into January. As a kid, we always left our tree up at least until the 6th of January, 3 Kings Day.

Once the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over, I love enjoying our tree and Christmas decorations. Turning all the lights down except the Christmas lights creates a magical ambiance and time to relax and enjoy all the decorations.

Once the decorations come down, the house feels very plain and not nearly as cozy. I’m not ready to give up the coziness until well into January. I’d say my goal for taking things down is January 15.

Part of this is because I haven’t put most of the decorations up until at least December 15th. I enjoy putting a lot of effort into my decorating and want to leave them up to enjoy for at least a month, especially during the week between Christmas and New Year and then the week leading up to 3 Kings Day.

When we were growing up, we used to have most of our Christmas company between Christmas and New Year’s. Mom saved the cookies and candy she made for entertaining these visitors. This was never easy since all of us were chomping at the bit to dig into the goodies. We would show friends and relatives the gifts we received so we kept them under the tree until after New Year’s. Then it was time for Christmas treats.

I must say that fast-forwarding to the current day, I would like to start my holiday preparations much earlier and have more time to enjoy the festivities that go with the season. Every year, I say that next year will be different and somehow history repeats itself. Once things are looking festive, I don’t want to give up and take the decorations down.