A Christmas Simile..and a Farewall Christmas Tour

Tonight, I decided that I could equate taking down the Christmas decorations....

well...
It's like a bad break-up.

With the taking down and packing up of each ornament, it's like I'm giving back the glitz and glamour.
All the paw-made, salt-dough ornaments...

And no more lights.
No more glimmering, sparkling, twinkling lights...

Those lights that illuminated the darkest of December nights.

(Although, I have been known to keep those white lights burning, year-round!)
They're packed up, loosely wrapped until next November...

Along with the stockings and the garland and the festive mugs...

Gone are the smells of Christmas.
The aroma of pies and simmering spices, cookies and cider,

and that Christmas tree scent...

Oh the smell of a real, live evergreen...
That tree...

taking down the tree...
All the dry needles and the grapevine debris...
Taking down that burlap bow...

that's the worst, the end all of end-alls!
The admitting-that-this-thing-is-really-over part.

The emptiness...
No sparkle, no glimmer, no glitz.

I usually spend a few days moping around, you know, sweats and that old t-shirt from 6th grade SPEC camp...the one with the holes, and the splashes of paint, and a few chocolate syrup stains from all those late night ice-cream desserts with chocolate topping and a chick flick.

...until I realize, "Girl, get a hold of yourself..."
Clean this place up!

Let's decorate for the next occasion!
This new house with all it's possibilities..
Oh, the possibilities...

And usually, during the year, I'll run across that dish cloth I forgot to pack up...

Or get a whiff of that balsam and cedar candle sitting on the coffee table...
Mid-March, I'll spot that little snowman candle holder in the midst of spring cleaning...

And instead of being sad that it's over,
I'll smile because it happened...

Because He happened..
That glimmer of hope in the midst of  a world wrought with despair...

Because of Him, I can look forward to the Christmases to come...
To their return...
And one day soon...

To His return.

Merry Christmas to All.

May the birth of our Savior and the hope that was birthed on that silent, holy night, resonate deep within your spirit all the year through!