I Have a Confession….

24 Comments

I have to admit that I find this time of year a little drear.  Not only is it gray and bleak outside, but it’s also freezing cold.  And, to make matters worse, the sun goes down around 5 p.m.  The combination of gray, bleak, cold, and dark is somewhat of a downer.  Plus, all the merry-making has come to a complete halt.  It’s like, okay, January 1st–time to take down all the cheer.  I feel like proclaiming, “Whoa!  Wait a minute.  It’s going to be dark and dreary for the next eight to ten weeks.  Let’s leave the decorations and lights up a bit longer.”  After all, we just spent resources and time buying and displaying twinkling lights, wreaths, and candles to make our homes merry and bright; and, for what?  A measly few weeks of illuminated bliss.

The holidays can be overwhelming.  There’s pressure to get decorations up and then back down again in a timely manner.  I like to avoid the stress of a take-everything-down deadline by extending the holiday merriment a while.  However, I certainly understand and appreciate the folks who want to clean-up and get back to their routines after the holidays.  My mom is the Queen of Christmas Closure.  On New Year’s Day, it’s tree and decorations down, and black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread for lunch– a Southern tradition for good luck in the New Year.

So, all that having been said; I have a confession:  My Christmas tree is still up.  Yep!  It’s still up in all of its sheep and chicken ornament glory, and my shrubs and trees continue to be illuminated with colored and white, twinkling lights. I figure if home-improvement and department stores can display Christmas trees in September, and grocery stores can place Valentine’s Day candy on its shelves on New Year’s Day, then I’m extending the holidays on Green Hill Farm…..at least for a few weeks!  That’s one good thing about living in the middle of nowhere.  There’s no one you can bother, and no one to ridicule you for not conforming. Besides, those little, twinkling lights make me happy!

Here’s the thing:  I find the month of January challenging; it’s cold, gray, and void of any festive holidays.  That’s why those twinkling lights on the trees and shrubbery are so uplifting; I love the warm glow that the candles in the windows and the illuminated shrubbery framing the front porch give our home.  Now, I realize that in traditional circles, leaving your Christmas tree up after New Year’s Day is considered tacky.  And, as a Southern gal, I understand that good taste is paramount and wouldn’t want to offend anyone’s sense of etiquette. So, I will say this:  I do plan to take our Christmas tree down tomorrow; however, the lights outside will stay–at least until the end of the month.  After all, a little extra joy never hurt anyone!  Happy January!

 

 

 

Categories: Christmas, Family Homeplace

Tagged as: , , , , ,

24 Comments »

  1. I fully support your idea – extending the holiday cheer for a little longer is a great thing to do – it actually helps with grey and the cold. Cheers!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Tonya, I can certainly understand wanting to keep the decorations up a bit longer … it’s a lot of effort for such a short period of time, and they’re beautiful and make you happy. Who would argue with that? Maybe you’ll start a new trend! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Your lights and decorations are beautiful. We keep our own outdoor Christmas lights shining well into nearly all of winter, well past the end of January! Plus it helps people looking for our house in the evening find us. We are on a street where the houses look all practically the same….lol! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. leave the lights up for as long as they make you happy. what rule says they have to be taken down by whatever date? I wish I had the time you have to wait out the grey. I’m guessing ours won’t be over until sometime April.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Your post just brought a little ‘twinkle’ into my dreary, grey morning. I can totally understand why you would want to leave up all the decs and lights. I think it all looks so pretty, I’m sure it can’t help but make you smile…it certainly made me smile! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Love your baubles, especially the sheep! I vote we let them stay till Easter. At office no one had the heart to take down a tiny Santa Claus and sprig of holly pinned to the wall last Christmas. It stayed till this Christmas and now has an angel for company. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Extending Christmas joy and happiness–perfect. And your decorations are lovely.
    We serve a cabbage dish with coins and whoever gets a coin gets the good luck. Of course, everyone gets a dime!
    Keep taking good care of You!
    Susan

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I agree: why not the lights brighten the dark winter nights a bit longer? We had to take our tree down because it was dried out, but I usually give myself the first few weeks of January to get Christmas decor put away. Ideally, Christmas decor is gone by the time of my daughter’s birthday on the 18th–but that has passed, and I just noticed a Saint Nicholas on the mantel, and a holly tablecloth on the dining table. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.