I took my Christmas tree down this past Sunday. I usually do that on twelfth night but I had a meeting at my place on thirteenth afternoon so I decided to leave the decorations up for that and by thirteenth evening I was too tired to bother. So the task didn’t get done until fourteenth afternoon. But it’s done now. Christmas has been packed away for another year.

That’s sort of sad.

I like decorating for Christmas. In fact, it’s the one part of Christmas I really like—that and seeing friends. But you can see friends anytime in the year if you’re so inclined and you’re probably better off doing that instead of waiting until Christmas. But Christmas decorating is special—one time in the year that you can do something in concert with a great number of the people in the world. It’s not often you get to do something that way that has a positive, peaceful, good will meaning attached. I guess that’s the underlying reason I like it. There are other reasons as well, having to do with memories from earlier days. Then, too, there is creativity involved and also the fact that it’s fun.

But it’s over now and that’s probably just as well. Things have to be over in order for other things to take their place. We’re off into the New Year, with all its promises and foreboding and all its surprises. What will it bring? I guess that’s the reason for things being past; without the past how could there be a future?