...take the shine off...

 Having purchased and then put up our Christmas tree so late this year, I've been reluctant to take it down.  The warm glimmer of its twinkling lights and shimmering baubles has been the perfect panacea for all the grey and grim right outside the window.  It somehow calls to mind all the wood-burning fireplaces and après-ski...err...après-shoveling hot cocoas of  years long past.  Just that golden glimmer on green branches makes the room feel cozier...toastier...  And on days as cold and dreary as those that inevitably follow the holidays, who wouldn't want that comfort?

I've stayed on top of watering her, our resident dryad, but even so she's nearing her end and shedding off needles she's too tired to bear.  Despite the daily top off, the dry air of baseboard heating has left her parched and her branches have gone crisp.

This morning I carefully stripped her of much of her heavy finery, removing all but the straw stars and snowflakes and twinkle lights.  Back into their boxes went the  colored orbs and little creatures.  All the glitter and glass tucked away for another year...another tree.

I'm hoping for another week with her, pared down to just those light-as-air ornaments of straw and paper.  I'm not ready for the night-window to be empty of that glistening reflection. 

Above her, atop the window-frames, the garland remains...pinecones and snowflakes strewn throughout.  Crystal snowball votives decorate the windowsills, and silver reindeer explore the white expanse of my china cabinet.

Christmas is packed away, but Winter remains.

Too soon, our tree will come down.  I'll carry her back out into the cold, empty of ornaments and hollow of life.  Out into the woods she'll go, where a colony of squirrels may find her needles suitable for nesting, or birds may rest a moment on her brittle branches while hunting for berries and seed.

 The room will be set to rights again.  The furniture rearranged.  The detritus of daily life once more taking priority over decoration. 

Out she'll go and leave us with only snapshots and memories...of a sweet baby boy reaching into her warm glow to touch just one shining light...and playing beneath her jewel-laden branches...and reveling in the innocent magic of his very first Christmas.

~curious~

Out she'll go and gone will be the hopeful, heart-warming, happy shine of the holiday season.

~Leanna