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When I Take Over My World Holiday Decorations Will Be Taken Down No Later Than The Day After Said Holiday!

It is time to suck the air out of the Christmas inflatables, un-tinsel the tree and compost the poinsettia.  Christmas is officially over.

Contrary to what I thought I knew, poinsettias apparently are not poisonous.  If one chooses to eat a poinsettia leaf, it will cause some undesirable tummy ailments.  If the sap gets in your eyes it will cause temporary blindness.  But it's not poisonous.

That sounds like an oxy-moron to me.

Anyway ~

Legend has it, that in Mexico in the 16th century, a little girl was told by an angel to gather seeds and place them at the church altar.  The poinsettia bloomed from those seeds.  The Star of Bethlehem is represented in the shape of the leaf and the crimson color symbolizes the blood from the crucifixion.

December 12th is National Poinsettia Day in the United States.  I think I was cheated for 28 years as I never got that day off when I was working.

That picture above is not a poinsettia.  It is my new Christmas cactus that I got to replace the one the movers moved.  And killed.

Anyway ~

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a Christmas decoration snob. 

I may drink wine from the box, but I am picky about Christmas decorations.

Since I have never found the perfect tree top, we use a Santa Pig ornament that Randy drilled a hole in the bottom of so it will fit on the tree top.

I really don't care for inflatables.  Nothing says Christmas like a deflated Santa on the front lawn.

I am not a fan of the Christmas light shows that are set in time to my favorite Christmas carol.  On HGTV every year, or at least for the last two years, there is a show on houses across the country that have over-the-top holiday lighting.  Oh, my - the time - the money - the work that goes into these displays.

Again, nothing says Christmas like outside Christmas decorations in the daylight.

This is our tree top from when I was a kid.  I would use it on my tree, but I leave it out all year in a glass bucket that was my mom's along with glass balls from the ocean and ornaments that I made.  I always forget to put it on the tree.  Plus, Randy and I are kind of attached to Santa Pig.

But now, it is time.  Time to take down the droopy icicle lights, time to un-trim the tree and time to take the wreaths off the door.

Mom always said that it was bad luck to take the tree down before New Year's.  By the time I got up on New Year's Day, mom had most everything down and put away.  We always saved the tinsel - way back when, tinsel was real - not plastic.  It was lovingly wrapped up in newspaper.  Part of the fun in decorating for the next year was reading the comics that the last year's tinsel was wrapped in.

Me, I will take the chance on bad luck and take the tree down as soon as I can get away with it.  If I had my way, the tree and all would be down on December 26th.  To me, once it is over, it's over.  Imagine my distress the year I left everything up until the 12th of January.  I don't think that I had twelve times the good luck that year.

Every year, there seems to be one renegade Christmas ornament that hides from me.  It seems to be directly proportional to how easy it is to get to where the bins are stored.  Most of the time, I do admit to leaving that pesky decoration out all year rather than risk hurting myself climbing the rickety stairs into the attic.  I have tried stashing it somewhere in the house, but come Christmas time the next year, I would never remember where it was.

This year, I held off until the 29th before I enlisted Randy's help in setting the house back to normal.  He daren't use the excuse that he didn't know how I packed everything away.  Here's a box, here's a storage bin, there's the cubby where everything goes.  Knock yourself out.

Kidding - Randy is more than agreeable to helping me with whatever I want help with.  The key is, I have to ask for help.  I did not get the husband model that reads minds.

It is now time to get ready for ...

... Valentine's Day

Have the BEST New Year ever!

~ Dorothy