Feeling a tinge of sadness this morning.
One of the most wonderful Christmas celebrations ever in our Love family is coming to an end.
Annie packed a lot of her stuff last night. She'll finish up this morning.
After one more outing with her Lovestead beloveds--- especially Mr. Foster---Bill and she will head for the airport.
Once they leave, I'll start removing decorations from the tree, putting them to their storage bags and returning them to their upstairs storage room where they'll sit for a year waiting for next Christmas.
The tree will go outside the sliding glass door and remain there in its stand until a wind blows it over or I drag it off to the woods for its final resting place.
Tree removal should have been done a couple of days ago because this year's Grand fir dried out quickly because of our wood heat.
The tree may have been ready to go, but I was not yet prepared to say good bye to the magical Christmas lights and memories of 2019.
It was all too sweet.
As I go through the task of taking down Christmas and its clutter today, my mind will be filled with a host of lovely moments involving immediate and extended family.
The visits filled with conversation, cookies and coffee, the sharing of holiday meals both at Willie and Debbie's home and in Bonners Ferry, the many hands petting horses' noses both here and in Colburn---all so vivid and precious.
I'll probably reflect on meaningful, light-hearted and solemn moments, surrounded by friends at Christmas Eve Mass.
Ahh, one mustn't forget the hours of Hallmark movies, the red solo cup toast on Christmas morning with authentic Irish water Bill brought from Dublin Airport.
Twas a toast filled with the promise of more authentic Irish water and a special celebration to come.
As presents and cards are put away and dried-up cookies, remaining on decorative plates, go from the kitchen island and into the garbage, sentimental me will reflect and smile and maybe even shed a tear or two.
The holiday has been extra special this year because the kids stepped forward adding their own special culinary touches to the Christmas schedule.
Our Christmas Eve feast was prepared by Willie, Debbie, Swiss Miss and Annie and night-before-Christmas gift opening, which included my sisters Barbara and Laurie.
And, of course, having Swiss Miss here for two weeks has been a pure delight.
A lot of hard work and expectation leads up to every Christmas season. Now, the effort itself and its challenges have become a distant page of history while the activities of each day exceeded all expectations.
When the living room is cleared out and cleaned up this afternoon, I'll walk into the shop next to the garage, grab the card table, bring it into the house and set it next to the sliding glass door.
Until it's time to use that table for planting the seeds for early spring garden time, the table will function as the venue for occasional focus each day during the long month of January.
This year, I'll be putting the pieces together for a hot-air balloon scene. That in itself will ignite another lifetime memory: the hot air balloon ride with my sisters above the Arizona desert a few years back.
Yup, we've got the traditionally long, hard, blah and, in my mind, the least favorite month of the year ahead.
And, like many past years where the month of January, with little expectation other than just plain getting it over with and with the ultimate test of our patience, we can engage in temporary escapes thanks to the annual jigsaw puzzles.
Another Christmas season ends, and next year when the wistful anticipation begins all over again, the memories of this year's lovely season are sure to inspire.
Happy Sunday. GO, SEAHAWKS!
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