Taking Down the Christmas Tree...A Ritual of Remembrance

January 18, 2013

 

Typically we take down our tree after Epiphany (January 6), but I was out of town last week for an Academy session.  I secretly hoped my husband and daughter would take off the ornaments and lights while I was gone, but they didn't.  My husband reasoned that he wouldn't have put them in the correct boxes.  Most of the ornaments fit in their original boxes, so that's not a great excuse.  It IS like putting together a puzzle though, attempting to find the right box for the ornament.  And, there are always ornaments left without a home at the end.  So, I understand his reluctancy.  I feel the same way.

But on the first sunshine day since I've been back home, I set out to de-ornament the tree.  As I took off each ornament and set it in the armchair (boxing them up comes later), I realized that this is a process of both remembering and letting go. 

Each ornament has a history, a story.  And, as each one comes off the tree (the poor prickly tree), I am reminded that it is time to let go of the Christmas season.  The twelve days of Christmas have ended and I don't celebrate by leaving the decorations up until February 2 (Candlemas).  For more on Candlemas, check out this link.

We had a smaller tree this year, so we didn't put up all our ornaments.  So, I didn't get to re-live all of the ornaments this season.

But, there were still quite a few to reflect upon.  There were the hobby ornaments: hiking and kayaking Santa, piano, swimmer, karate figure, sparring helmet.  There were the places we've visited ornaments: Paradise Ranch, Chicago, Grandfather Mountain, Rock City, Costa Rica, Washington, DC.  There were the picture ornaments: Charlotte at various ages and stages and one of Sean and Dana as kids.  The homemade ornaments: one that my former father-in-law made of a wise-man out of wood, some that Charlotte made, hand-made glass blown ornaments and an egg ornament.  The Spanish ornaments:  several "Feliz Navidad" ones in a variety of forms, a Spanish Santa Claus, and a nativity scene inside a cave. There were the snow flakes and crosses and candy canes (some real, some out of wood).  There were snowmen.  There were several Mickey Mouse ornaments.  There was the Pharmacy stamp ornament to honor my husband's profession.  There were the sports teams: Denver Bronco (1 being John Elway) and Chicago Cubs. There were ornaments that I inherited from my Nana and ornaments from my childhood that I received (though most of those are still on my parent's tree). There were ornaments that I've received as gifts.  The skirt around the bottom was made by my Mom in 1990 and this year's topper was made by Charlotte, a bright yellow paper star (ninja star-style).

 

 

 

 

One by one the ornaments came off the tree.  It was a time to reflect and remember the days gone by:  family, relationships, memories. 

Then I took off the lights, the star, and removed the skirt. 

My husband took care of removing the tree from the house.  It will become a sanctuary for birds or other animals (or simply find its way back to the earth) in the woods behind our home.

There are two challenges that remain.  One:  finding the correct box for each ornament and two: getting all those needles out of the house.... likely I'll be finding them for a while.

For me, this has been a time of reflection.

The journey continues,

Debra ☺