I’m never sure when the Christmas Decorations should be taken down. There are the Twelve Days of Christmas (my Mum used to tell us it was bad luck to take them down before the 6th) and, in Spain, Christmas isn’t over until the 6th, The 3 Kings Day (El Dia de Los Reyes). That’s when we SHOULD do it, really. But, in our household, the decorations just become sort of *invisible*.
It’s pretty much the day after Christmas. All of a sudden, no-one cares if the twinkly lights aren’t switched on, the stockings are shoved in a bag, the Santa hats a forgotten squeal, the angel on the top of the tree looks slightly pissed, but no-one bothers to adjust the poor dear.
So, they are duly removed, this year on New Years Day. I always recruit the kids to help and, to start with, they are placed lovingly in boxes (not the kids, the decs. Though, putting the kids in boxes, sealing them and storing them in the loft ’til next Christmas is alluring. Not *really*…ahem) After a while it’s just a free-for-all of hurling them (again, not the kids) from the other side of the room, dog in the way, like Piggy In The Middle, and hoping to hit the target of the half collapsed box.
It’s pretty much the day after Christmas. All of a sudden, no-one cares if the twinkly lights aren’t switched on, the stockings are shoved in a bag, the Santa hats a forgotten squeal, the angel on the top of the tree looks slightly pissed, but no-one bothers to adjust the poor dear.
So, they are duly removed, this year on New Years Day. I always recruit the kids to help and, to start with, they are placed lovingly in boxes (not the kids, the decs. Though, putting the kids in boxes, sealing them and storing them in the loft ’til next Christmas is alluring. Not *really*…ahem) After a while it’s just a free-for-all of hurling them (again, not the kids) from the other side of the room, dog in the way, like Piggy In The Middle, and hoping to hit the target of the half collapsed box.
Gone is the tissue paper, lovingly wrapped around each delicate item. By the end, after 3 hours of yelling at the kids to ‘be careful’ ‘No, not in there’, ‘No, you can’t keep Father Christmas and the Reindeer out’, ‘No, the angel has to go away until next year’, ‘The Robin won’t die, he’s made of wood’…….I’m just hoping to just get them hidden.
The boxes aren’t really boxes either. Each year they come out of the loft. There are bits of long ago used parcel tape, with torn bits of box here and there. We’re now down to using Selotape to hold the flaps together. I ran out of parcel tape. One year I must have used Duck tape. That’s still there. In fact that may be the only thing stopping the *boxes* (I use the term loosely) from collapsing like a very rubbish dominoes run. Maybe it’s just me….
Anyhoo, and this is the reason I started writing this, There is a Christmas decoration phenomenon that haunts our household. Every. Damn. Year.
After a gazillion searches around the house, shoving the offspring behind doors, under beds, checking every room, every crevice addressed…there is always, ALWAYS that one decoration left out. Always.
In fact, this year there were 2. 2! How?
One was a sticker on the mirror, taunting me with its Christmassiness, gaily singing, Haha, you missed me, you missed me. Soon stopped singing when I ripped it off and threw it in the bin….
The other was Santa, the size of a small dog, tucked behind Ruby’s bedroom door. How in God’s name did we miss swinging Santa? (Swinging coz he’s on a swing. He’s not experimenting sexually that I’m aware of….)
So, we have a ‘Christmas Cupboard’. It houses, as the name suggests, left over things from Christmas. Bits of ribbon, a couple of tags, half a roll of wrapping paper and Swinging Santa. I threw Barbie in there, too. He’s got a whole year to get through, after all….
The boxes aren’t really boxes either. Each year they come out of the loft. There are bits of long ago used parcel tape, with torn bits of box here and there. We’re now down to using Selotape to hold the flaps together. I ran out of parcel tape. One year I must have used Duck tape. That’s still there. In fact that may be the only thing stopping the *boxes* (I use the term loosely) from collapsing like a very rubbish dominoes run. Maybe it’s just me….
Anyhoo, and this is the reason I started writing this, There is a Christmas decoration phenomenon that haunts our household. Every. Damn. Year.
After a gazillion searches around the house, shoving the offspring behind doors, under beds, checking every room, every crevice addressed…there is always, ALWAYS that one decoration left out. Always.
In fact, this year there were 2. 2! How?
One was a sticker on the mirror, taunting me with its Christmassiness, gaily singing, Haha, you missed me, you missed me. Soon stopped singing when I ripped it off and threw it in the bin….
The other was Santa, the size of a small dog, tucked behind Ruby’s bedroom door. How in God’s name did we miss swinging Santa? (Swinging coz he’s on a swing. He’s not experimenting sexually that I’m aware of….)
So, we have a ‘Christmas Cupboard’. It houses, as the name suggests, left over things from Christmas. Bits of ribbon, a couple of tags, half a roll of wrapping paper and Swinging Santa. I threw Barbie in there, too. He’s got a whole year to get through, after all….