This will sound strange to some and perhaps quite familiar to others: in my family, we only took down the Christmas tree almost halfway through the month of January. Now, obviously, our tree is a plastic one, as failing to take down a real pine tree after it has been up several weeks would result in a living room that resembles a forest floor.
We do have some good reasons for not having done it as soon as the New Year poked its head round the corner. My mother was working, my siblings were busy with friends and I was on a long trip. But I won’t lie, I was delighted when I came home in the first week of January to find all the festive decorations still adorning our home. It felt like an extension of this lovely time spent at home watching awful Christmas films and stuffing ourselves silly.
There’s always a strange emptiness when all the Christmas decorations are removed and put back in their box to hibernate for the next 11 months. However, there is a point at which it is finally time to hang up the baubles until next December, and that time comes when you become embarrassed that people driving past your house will see your Christmas tree is still up ...
Do you celebrate Christmas where you live, or do you celebrate something else? Do you miss it when it's over?
