It's Time

Usually I extend Christmas until the feast of Epiphany (the end of the season in the Catholic church) on January 6th, but because the holiday started at work for me the day after Thanksgiving yesterday I decided I'd had enough--enough rich food, enough decorations, and enough clutter. It was time to start getting back to normal.

I was craving green vegetables, so Hubby Tony and I stopped by the grocery store for a bunch of kale.  For lunch I sauteed it with garlic and some leftover green onions, then topped it with fried eggs and served the dish with a whole-grain pumpkin muffin on the side.  The simple meal really hit the spot.

Tony got in on the act healthy act, too, tossing the last six stale cookies in the compost pile, including a reindeer cookie with chocolate covered pretzels for ears, black M&Ms for eyes, and a red one for the mouth.  (This morning when I opened the lid of the bin, those black eyes stared back at me accusingly.  I threw the coffee grounds on top of them and closed the lid.)

My first redecorating job involved getting the ladder from the basement and using it to remove the silk poinsettias from the built in plant shelf four feet above the front door of our two-story foyer.  The shelf got a good dusting, then I replaced the normal brass planter containing an silk ivy trailing plant.  To see if the plant's arranged correctly I have to climb down off the ladder and climb up the steps to the second floor. It always takes a couple of tries to get it right.

After dinner we started on the tree, removing swirls of garland, dozens of ornaments, and multiple strands of lights.  Tony disassembled the tree, then carried the pieces downstairs while I picked up fallen plastic needles and pieces of silver garland off the carpet and threw them away.

This morning I finished taking down the holiday decorations and replaced them with the regular decor.  I moved the boxes from the basement (where they'd been holding the items we took down last month) up to the main level, emptied them, refilled them with Christmas things, then carried them back downstairs.  Before I left for work all of the everyday items had been put back in their places in the family room and the area over the cabinets in the kitchen.  

It felt good.