It always seems like it takes half the time to take down and remove the Christmas decorations than it does to put them up. My decorations have been up over a month now since I got an early start. Sometimes I wait until January 1st to stow them away, but in the past few years I have tried to at least not display Christmas cards past December 30th. December 31st is my husband’s birthday, and I like to have a clear space to display his cards. In my opinion, having a birthday so close to Christmas must be hard, overshadowed by that holiday.
Last night I read through the Christmas cards and letters one more time, then discarded them. Today I took down my wreath and nativities and a few other items. Tomorrow I will take the tree ornaments off and put the tree in its storage box. The little red poinsettia will stick around awhile. My new “Christmas plates” are really more winter scenes than distinctively Christmas; I will leave them up probably until the end of February.
For several years I have chosen a year word or phrase to focus on. This year’s word was peace. Certainly not a peaceful year for the globe, but personally, I have kept pretty calm even during disruptive and unpleasant events, reminding myself that Jesus is my source of peace.
For 2017 I have chosen the phrase “fill the well”. I read this in Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write. She was talking in terms of that in order to write, you have to have something to write about. You need to expose yourself to things and events and people out of your ordinary routine. My use of the phrase is not so much to write, just to get out of my rut. I will try to visit museums, art galleries, antique and consignment stores (not to buy so much but to see a variety of things), nature trails, parks, gardens, etc. In January, my husband and I will cruise the Caribbean for one week. Starting the year with a bang and definitely filling the well with new experiences.
Hope your new year is full of enrichment, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment