Christmas Lite

Somehow we can't let go of Christmas.  Despite the fact that over the last three weekends I cleaned and put away a lot of stuff, there is still a small pile of bags in the dining room that is untouched and I really don't know what to do with it.  There are old gift tags and maybe a return in there that I just can't bring myself to do right now.  There is a stack of Christmas cards on the piano that I carefully punched and put on a binder ring but now they sit.  (Hanging them on garland with clothespins was a great thing I found this year, too!)

There are four ornaments whose rightful box is nowhere to be found.  But even when I drive home at night I see so many lit trees still standing in the windows, wreaths on doors, and Santa flags hanging outside.  The dull days of January are here, but we don't want to let go of Christmas. 
In our house we are doing Christmas lite.  We still have snowflake lights hanging in the window of the kitchen and the new Nativity I got for Christmas now sits on the mantle. 

I left the snow-covered plastic-flake covered trees on the mantle in the family room with my Winter sign. 

I moved the poinsettia under the hall table, but I really wish I had left the lights on it.  That was my big idea this year - to wrap a small strand of lights around the poinsettia.

 Next year I have to figure out what to wrap around the pot besides that florists' foil, which is not very attractive.  So I am holding on instead of moving on and it's a little comforting.  By next weekend I'm sure it will all be gone but for now it is small comfort.  When Annie realized I was leaving the manger up, she said, "Well really, that should probably be up all year, right?"  Right.  Annie, you are always right.  So we'll keep a little Christmas lite and our days will be merrier and brighter.

 I don't like this picture, but one of my Christmas moments was when my mother showed me a letter written by my Grandfather Hatch in which he described his Christmas.  He says that the only centerpiece on the table was an old lantern, which "cast a mellow glow on the guests and the food."  Ever since I read that I wanted to try to replicate it.  I brought the lanterns inside from the front step and put them in the center of the table.  So here it is, a little after Christmas. 

Winter!