Posted by Today was the day to take down the Christmas stuff. Actually, I had to start last night with the various mantles that were loaded with assorted Christmas themed items. But today was the tree and the outdoor lights. I’m still off work and I didn’t want this to be something I had to do on a weekend so today was the day.
Such a contrast. When we put the tree up, we’ve got Christmas music playing and, since we put ours up the day after Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving dinner is still in your mind. All the anticipation of a great Christmas season with all the fun things to do and see. By the time the tree comes down, she’s back at work (even if it is from home) so taking down all the lights and ornaments and putting them back up is my job. It always feels like a lot more work taking stuff down than putting it up. She does come in to vacuum up the needles.
But today is a nice sunny day which helps. I wouldn’t call it warm but the temperatures are above freezing and there is no snow on the ground. I’ve had years where the outdoor lights were buried in snow or the ground was frozen and things just had to stay in place until conditions improved. Plus, when it is rainy and wet, the needles that fall off the tree just get glued in place and you’ve got a path of needles leading down the front steps.
They have places where you can drop your tree off to be turned into mulch but that’s a lot of work. It is one thing to tie up a live tree that is netted down (and I don’t even do that). But the thought of trying to get a mostly dead one that is all dried out secured on the roof of my car isn’t really a pleasant thought. The good news is we have some woods in back and I can just kind of dump the tree until spring when the people who do yard clean up can take it away. I figure some animals may be able to use it for shelter.
The only remnants of Christmas are the candy that came as gifts and the stuff we bought for half price when we went shopping last week. Some of the stores have already moved on to Valentine’s day with lots of heart shaped candy boxes. Life moves on.
I don’t think I have a lesson tonight. I think JoNY was going to be out of town this week as well. I was looking for one of those email reminders and I haven’t gotten one yet so I’m going to assume that is the case. Dancing will be delayed another week.
Had kind of a strange experience on the drive to my allergy shot today. The song “Never Surrender” by Corey Hart came on (yes my musical tastes are mostly stuck in the 80’s). You can listen to a song 1000 times and then one day it just hits you a little differently. Maybe it was just the frame of mind that I was in but I started to feel the lines about never surrendering.
And the line about being lost and on your own because that’s a lot about how work has felt this past year. I don’t know that I’m really fighting anything except that working for a big corporation can often feel like they are trying to force you into a mold. There was a lot of “speaking with one voice” which is code for “don’t question the decisions of upper management”. I guess there is some value in that because people need something to believe in. But I’m probably more like the boy who points out that the emperor isn’t wearing anything at all.
So maybe this is a message to just be more myself this coming year. I think I have to do something differently because last year was easily one of the most frustrating years I’ve ever had and this year isn’t shaping up to be much different.
Facing Diagonal Wall 