January 3, 2011 Putting Christmas Away

For the last week, my husband Frank and I have been slowly putting away all remnants of the Christmas season.  Christmas plates, holiday trivets, candles, various sizes of resin Santa Clauses, and all the shiny baubles have gradually disappeared so that now all that is left is the Christmas tree and the Dickens Village.  Over the 25 years that we’ve lived together, we usually have everything put away by the first weekend in January.  Frank is particular that the Christmas decorations are not completely removed before New Year’s.  I think it’s his way of keeping the holiday going for as long as possible.

Regarding Christmas Decorations, I put people into 5 categories:

1.       People that don’t decorate for the holidays

2.       People that decorate but then have all remnants of Christmas down by December 26 (my sister-in-law falls into this category, and I might mention here that she has a house that is extremely organized and tidy)

3.       People that decorate and get the decorations down before the end of January (this is the category I fall into)

4.       People that decorate and get the decorations down before Easter

5.       People who keep their Christmas lights up all year long.

Have you ever wondered why we decorate our houses for the holidays?  If you think about it, it’s a lot of work, the items we display can cost quite a bit of money, and we need houses big enough to store all the items that we display at different times of the year.  What is it about our culture that we want to surround ourselves with holiday totems?  Come February, I’ll put out valentines, and in July the house will be covered in red, white, and blue.   How have we become so convinced by corporate retailers that we must purchase these items?  And in our consumer culture, many of us buy disposable decorations meant to be thrown away after a single use (although I must admit I have some paper Halloween pumpkins I’ve had for almost 30 years).   This is a recent phenomenon, because I don’t think my great, great grandmother Sarah decorated her modest farmhouse with anything she BOUGHT.   It’s a failing of our species that we are so easily convinced to buy a certain item, or vote a certain way.  Oh well.  I have to go now and look for my box of valentines.