I am a member of the 2016 Starbucks Coffee Blogger Community. As always, my perktastic opinions are my own.
Happy February! Can you believe Valentine’s Day is right around the corner? And then before you know it March will bring on its own madness. But do you know what else February 1st brings for us especially? It’s the day I finally pack away my Christmas Tree!
Granted its been a simple little thing since having kids. More of an over-sized nightlight at this point; the bulbs always end up on the lower third of the tree by Christmas Day. One day my kids will get taller. But these pictures of barren topped tress make memories the sweetest.
In years past, I’ve always felt so rushed during the holidays. Trying to enjoy Thanksgiving but leave enough time to relish December. Deciding to boycott the pressures to hustle out of the holidays meant a funny thing happened. I looked forward to the New Year for a new reason…putting away the tree. And so began a new tradition to enjoy each holiday even more.
I still may not have time to scrapbook every Christmas. But what I do have in the month that follows, is a twinkling reminder to forward holiday pictures to new cloud albums. It must be the Christmas lights, but pictures of demi-cups and teacher gift bags laden with Starbucks coffee spark new smiles. All ready now for that final upload, binding, and a bookshelf.
Staying organized also means slowly packing away the peripherals over the course of the month. And I realized I don’t feel that bizarre holiday decoration defrocking anymore. I don’t regret pulling down my new or favorite ornaments. I don’t feel like I missed out on enjoying yet another holiday. I leave the lights aglow and take the time to enjoy writing Thank You notes.
And that isn’t taking a few more weeks to sip up the remaining Peppermint Mocha Instant Via packets. All while eagerly drinking in Valentine’s Day and its perfect sweet companion in a velvety White Chocolate Mocha! This winter may need some digital snowflake applique, but all the better to sip Latte’s while shrugging off the winter coat.
Those are the things I notice now. The little things I was too rushed to realize before. Winter will indefinitely still place a demand on salt rock and ice scrapers before Spring comes. Hot cocoa will flow in Marshmallow and Salted Caramel to warm fingers and toes. But for the first time in years, the holidays are calmer here. There are more smiles. And most certainly more joy.
So what say you? Do you think waiting until February 1st is too long to keep up this last vestige of the holidays? When do you normally pull down the decorations and Christmas Tree?
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