Thursday, January 1, 2009

Day 41: The Darkest Day

Please forgive me for missing New Year's Eve. I was "chaperoning" a dance with the teenagers from my congregation, who all happen to be spectacularly cool. Of course, I was the completely crazy adult dancing like a wild woman whilst they sat against the wall texting each other on their fancy phones. It's a generational thing. They did get up for three songs: Boot Scootin' Boogie, the Cha Cha Slide, and--my favorite--Cotton Eyed Joe. I made it through that last one, but I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack. Muy pathetico.

Tonight, of course, being New Years Day is the darkest night of the year. Forlorn looking Christmas trees littering the curb like homeless orphans. No more cheery Perry Como or Bing Crosby on the radio. And everyone, in sync, quits plugging in their Christmas lights on their houses. So now everything is black and abysmal out there where, yesterday night, it was a cheery festival of snowmen, flashing icicles, and multi-colored trees. I don't know why it is we feel the need to begin the new year by plunging the world into darkness, but so it is.

This morning, determined not to be sentimental, I took down and put away all of our Christmas decorations. My daughter, upon entering the room and seeing me trying to hoist the Christmas tree out of its stand, took on the air of Cindy Lou-Who and cried "Mama! What you doing??" Me, feeling like The Grinch, explained that it was time for the Christmas tree to go back outside. She pitifully whimpered, "But it was happy in our hoooooooouse." Uuuuuh.... I considered, for a moment, screwing it back into the stand for one more night, but no. Nope. That is a slippery slope if ever a slippery slope there was. So, I explained that everyone everywhere was taking their trees outside and all the trees were going to have a big party together, so we had to get it out so it wouldn't miss the party. That got her in the mood to get it out of the house. I only realized my mistake when she came traipsing out dragging a string of Christmas lights and a big bucket of glass ornaments. To get it "dressed for the party." Uuuuuuuh....

Happy 2009 everyone.

1 comment:

Nicole said...

So, my Christmas decorations are still up, but all comes down today. Sigh. but you have to admit, it is a little cathartic, and nice to have the house back to normal after all is said and done. New year, new beginning.