When you continue to put away your Christmas lights and tree and say to yourself, “Next year I’ll untangle this mess and sort it out,” well, that year arrived this past weekend.
It needed to be done. Old, non-working strands were still hanging on to my little outdoor trees. I just kept putting a newer, working strand on top of them. It was a little unsightly and finally enough to spur me to action. The half-lit strands cobbled together to make one working one? In the recycling pile! (They will offer the option to recycle lights somewhere after the holidays – look for that and do it! No landfill for my illumination. Well, who knows? They possibly dump them somewhere else.)
However, Grandma’s old plastic ornaments still bring me joy. My mom’s stitchery of “The Three Kings” makes me smile. And the little reindeer wine-bottle holder my daughter and I saw and copied years ago – that has pride of place on the counter. If it still made me smile, brought me joy, made me realize I’m the only one who will ever love it, I kept it.
Yes, I’m done decorating for the holidays. Almost.
