The End
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, which for the Christian calendar closes the Christmas season. Not everyone closes their season on this date. Many shut 'er down right after the 25th. Christmas trees have been sitting at the end of driveways, awaiting garbage collection, for over a week. Slowly you notice the dimming of the holiday lights, always a source of sadness for me in this gloomy darkness of what has been a grey, slushy, muddy, brown winter. The stores turned everything over on the 26th and now the pinks, reds and whites of Valentine's Day brighten the aisles. Being the fan of the Christmas season that I am, I start early--mid-November this year--and will begin the dismantling today. Tomorrow I will pull the plugs on the outdoor lights. We will bring the fake deer gracing the front lawn into the storage shed. The planters will remain until the medium holding the decor in place melts, probably late March. The Christmas dishes ...