Goodbye fat man holiday, hello diapered baby celebration!
And amazingly, even though we went a bit after-Christmas crazy at Target & the W-word buying new 50% off blue & white & silver ornaments for next years Winter Solstice tree, I still managed to need only one extra Sterlite container bin to hold everything (for a total of 5...including one filled with about 11 plastic grocery bags worth of assorted lengths of twinkle light balls that would keep Rusty Griswold busy until next year!) I must have had been calmer this year (thanks Chris Isaak!) while un-decorating and packing up, instead of my usual I-don't want-to-see-red & green-together-again-for-at-least-another-350 days yanking down and tossing into boxes method of packing up the Christmas crap!
Which is suprising, considering how long it all remained a part of the family room decor...to ME, at least. Even though Jeff is of the opinion that the tree & decorations "are supposed to stay up through the 12 days of Christmas", (my question of "says who?" was never really answered to my satisfaction...although he did reluctantly agree with me that not doing so was not breaking a law or committing a sin), the thought of looking at a dead, droopy branched, needle-dropping, doesn't-even-smell-all-piney-good tree for another WEEK just about caused me to threaten to leave 25 days early for my visit home to St. Louis...!
Thus ensued several days worth of conversations about it, which all went something like this:
Me: "When do you want to take the tree 'n stuff down?"
Jeff: "It's only the second/third/fourth/fifth day of Christmas!"
Me: "But Christmas was two/three/four/five days ago!"
Jeff: "But you're supposed to keep it up through Christmas!"
Me: "But Christmas was two/three/four/five days ago!"
Jeff: "But it's only the second/third/fourth/fifth day of Christmas!"
(repeat for 4 consecutive days, sometimes twice per day)
*sigh*(grrrr...)
(Did I mention that the front room, kitchen & family room are also in shambles *ahem* I mean, currently under amazing reconstruction & renovation by Jeff? Meaning that much of this years holiday magical silver sparkle was created by the pile of pots and pans and muffin tins and loaf pans and cookie sheets and pie tins and mixing bowls which graced a large corner of the kitchen floor while the island cabinet was taken apart to add a 3/4 inch spacer to make it precisely even with the end of the cabinets on the wall directly across from it? (btw- it is finished now, and it looks awesome-thank you honey! and everything is put back & Jeff will now move onto the next bothersome task which keeps him awake nights fretting about).
Suffice to say that my not-typical-in-most-ways-but-often-typically-clueless-about-what-I-am-really thinking/meaning/saying/wanting/needing boyfriend could tell that I was just about to head "home" when I brought up the subject of the tree and decorations today (do you think the suitcase in my hand was a hint?!) and finally gave me the answer I had been hoping/waiting/wishing for since about 5 pm Christmas day :
"You can take it down whenever you want to, baby".
I knew he didn't really mean it but I felt it was a good compromise for us-there are "12 Days of Christmas" and I lasted for 5 of them. SIX if you count Christmas day!
A happy medium, which made for a very
Happy Me-Laurie Z!
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