end of the season

Do you feel a twinge of sadness when it's time to take down Christmas decorations?

I do.  

I miss the soft light of garland and christmas trees, the jolly smiles of snowmen, and the sparkle of wrapped presents under the tree.  I miss cinnamonny candles and wreaths and wall hangings declaring that a Savior has been born.  The pretty ribbons come down, wicker stars and christmas trees come off my walls, the nativity gets packed away.  

And I miss it.  

Plus, I also hate rearranging all the stuff in my one teeny little closet that holds all my random stuff.  But that's beside the point.  

This year, the girls really helped me decorate a lot, and were excited about all the things we put up, so even though I took down a lot of it myself while they were napping, I asked them to help me take the decorations off the tree.  

There were some serious questions, mostly centered around the unfairness of taking down the decorations.  I agreed, but told them that new year's was over and we needed to get our house ready for the baby.  (In college, josh and I took down our tree every year during spring break...that would never fly anymore!)

They worked on their sorting skills by helping me separate kinds of christmas ornaments, and they did a good job, even if they were a little sad.  You can see they are still wearing their necklaces made during our pop-beads party the day before...

It's true...in less than two weeks, we leave for thailand to wait for the baby.  But still, I was sad to pack the holiday away.  Next year, next year...