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Tuesday, January 11, 2022

It's Come Undone

The 2021 Christmas 🎄holiday season is officially over—for Grenville & Beatrice as of this past weekend. 

Of course, we're a bit late as retailers, family and friends have finished with holiday decorations long before, some even before the start of this New Year. As we were away for 10 days before Christmas visiting out-of-state family and friends, we wanted to enjoy tree lights and decorations a bit longer. The Nativity would remain in place until Jan. 6 to celebrate the Epiphany (Feast of the Three Kings).

But, sooner or later, all good things come to an end, and so it was that our decorations were taken off the tree, containers came out of storage. We packed and stored everything. 
Our plan to reduce the ornaments count resulted in several being marked for donations. Then, we added a couple more (top ones below) as grands Bobby and Ellie annually provide new ones for our collection.
A friend kindly suggested there was no need to keep all, and, in time, some may go, but not quite yet. For the foreseeable future, we'll store and re-display these (and others). While the monetary value is negligible, their value in memories is priceless. 
There are also these personal ornaments that always will remain to recall our special memories and simply because we like them.
Our ornaments horde includes various Santas and snow folks, a few shown above. The fireman bear is a reminder of Grenville's former profession. Our firemen ornaments was once quite numerous, but is now down to a couple; this one remains a favorite.
These small wooden ornaments were displayed on the windowsill rather than on the tree. Most likely they will have a different location in the 2022 holiday season (no hints now).
The wagon packed with various moose toys sat under the tree as in previous years. Now, all have joined the bear couple for a long nap in the storage unit.
Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends sat with Big Bear for a year-end selfie before settling into their storage container as well.
After the interior holiday decorations were taken down and stored, it was time for winter decos to be placed outside the apt entry. Many of these are annual favorites.
Just in time for snowmen, winter ☃️ weather arrived on Friday. The season's first measurable snowfall in Nashua, NH, deposited 5 inches of snow from early a.m. hours to mid-day. 
Watching the snowfall from the comfort and warmth of our mill apt made it more enjoyable. We had no where to go and all day to not get there. The storm passed by noon and frigid temps forecast for early this week will keep it around for at least a few more days.

Your turn — a two-parter: Do you also have holiday favorites and/or do you remove decorations right after the holiday or wait awhile?

25 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

Sue changes from a Christmas to a winter theme a little after New Year, so some of the decorations can stay up as there is some overlap.

Bijoux said...

I always take down on January 2nd because it’s an all day task that I don’t like hanging over my head. It was fun to see your ornaments and I love the Peanuts characters.

Marcia said...

Here it's a New Year's Day activity. Goes much faster than putting them up. As I write temperatures here in the negative. Dan says -4º!

Barbara Rogers said...

Loved seeing your sweet ornaments, and especially the Snow People for January! They just all are smiling at us, so cheer us up! My two decorations are tucked away, but the snow-covered trees stand on my red silk tablecloth...they are still colorful and remind me of nature's beauty when I can't get out in it. Oh it's 17 F this morning in NC = updated to 22 F for 9 am.

acorn hollow said...

I collect vintage ornaments so they are always my favorite as I am vintage so they remind me of my childhood. we have everything packed away except our little tree in the family room I still enjoy seeing it in these cold dark nights so it will stay a bit. I saw my neighbor Sat and she said "Is it strange I still have my tree up?" Nope we still have ours up.
stay warm today we were minus 3 when we got up this morning.
Cathy

MadSnapper said...

my nook tree goes up on TG day or the day after and comes down on NY day, always has but the last two years went up a little before and as of now everything is packed away except the new 18 inch tree. we may leave it there for months. I asked bob and he said I like seeing it sit there. it has nothing but pinecones on it so should be ok if the decoration police show up. ha ha, someone will be very happy with the ornaments you are donating.

Edna B said...

I have a hard time getting rid of our ornaments. If we have too many, I put a bunch of them in a bowl on display. Your winter scenes are beautiful. Please don't sent any of the snow my way. hahaha. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

Annsterw said...

My absolute favorite time is unpacking decorations for the tree and remembering who gave me each ornament! I am sad to put everything away but by Jan 1st I am ready for a clean home to get ready to hunker down for cold winter. HUGS

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

My ornaments are all inherited from my parents house. Every year I used to decorate their tree and every year I used to tell them to throw some out and buy new ones. Now my parents are both gone I hang on to all of these old decorations and put them up every year. Call me an old softy if you like! I take them down on Jan 6th, just like my mother insisted.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Good to know you're back safe and snug at home before the snowfall -- which is lovely but probably not good traveling weather. How neat that you got to spend some holiday time with family however!! The take down project in our home is pretty simple as we do only light decorating these days. When we were younger and went all out we always waited until the end of New Year's week. When I was a child, our church didn't even put the three Kings into the creche until January 6 (Feast of the Epiphany) so we were used to decorations staying up.
Happy New Year to both of you!

Nil @ The Little House by the Lake said...

You have lots of beautiful ornaments.

I don't do holiday decorations. My favorite holiday activity is driving in the neighborhood to see Christmas lights. :)

Stay warm, Beatrice. To me, 5 inches is a lot of snow! :)

Jeanie said...

I had great hopes for purging ornaments this year. So far, I'm up to maybe 11. I still have three trees up (one will stay well into the year) but most of the rest is down. I think. One day you walk by something and realize you never got that thing put away!

William Kendall said...

You have a lot of them.

Red said...

Awesome collection of Christmas ornaments.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

The answer to these questions is very simple for me. We don't decorate, so we don't have favourites, and of course what doesn't get taken out doesn't get put away. Miriam is from a Conservative Mennonite background and when she was a child Christmas was strictly a religious event. Baubles and the like were considered pagan in origin and were strictly forbidden. Any semblance of decoration In the house would have to be natural, perhaps a pine cone or two, or a bough of Balsam fir. If that were still in vogue China's economy would collapse!

gigi-hawaii said...

You certainly have a lot of ornaments. We discarded our artificial trees last time and just bought poinsettias, which we still have. I love the red color, which brightens the house. But, the plants will die and will be discarded, too. Nasua looks pretty in the snow.

Rita said...

I would save all the ornaments--LOL! They are special to you. :)

Polly said...

You have a beautiful collection of ornaments Beatrice. The ones from your grandchildren are gorgeous keepsakes.

Pamela M. Steiner said...

Well, you've probably already seen my post about taking down the ornaments and decorations and packing them away. It's always kind of bittersweet, but once it is done I feel good about having back more space and can clean and dust better without so much "clutter about". But it is such lovely clutter...I wouldn't have had it any other way. I enjoyed seeing your ornaments up close and personal! You have a lot of sweet memories tied up in them. That's what makes Christmas trees/decorations so special...the memories attached. I'm not into perfectly coordinated decorations or color scheme...I love the memories. That's what keeps me going with them year after year. Love your snow pictures too! Hope you are enjoying the beauty of winter!! It does look so lovely...from a distance. LOL. I enjoyed this post so much.

My name is Erika. said...

You have quite a nice view from your apartment. How many floor up are you? I'm with you about Christmas decorations and memories. Some people don't attach to items, and in some ways that's a good thing. Like you, I'm attached to certain items, including Christmas things. I just assume store them until next year. (I don't know if I could ever be a minimalist, that's for sure.) How about you? Stay warm this Saturday when the cold returns. Hugs-Erika

diane b said...

Wow that is an amazing collection. I have been downsizing over the years so I didn't have too many to put away. I put them away early when our daughter and SIL left to stay in an apartment in town for a while. before she left she helped take down the outside lights. It looks pretty with the snowfall.

baili said...

Wow your decorations are splendid dear Dorothy!
Yes fireman is cutest but i really enjoyed looking at all the cute pretty decorations:)

Snow or spring i love the view from your window wow stunning!

My decorations belong to Eid day or birthdays of my kids and i love having them around for a week at least

L. D. said...

I love seeing all your ornaments and decorations. I lay mine out also in the spare room and adore them. I have two trees yet to take down. Three of them are gone now and I miss them.

Lowcarb team member said...

You have such a wonderful collection of ornaments ...
We just put a little Christmas décor out, which is now safely put away until next time.

All the best Jan

Rob K said...


I love your collection of ornaments. And that line about their value in memories being priceless is spot on.

We always took our decorations down on Jan. 6.

I must say that many homes in my neighborhood still had their decorations up and several still had their Christmas trees still in place. (I hope they're artificial.)

I guess some people don't want to let go of Christmas just yet.