A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

When the Party Has Ended

An unsheared Christmas tree in New York State ...
An unsheared Christmas tree in New York State circa 1951 displays the natural form of the tree's branches. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      One year in the mid-80's when my parents were living temporarily in the Detroit area and their house in Tennessee was left empty for much of the time; my wife, daughter, and I stayed in that house during our Christmas break between show tours.  My parents had come in for Christmas and everything was festive for a week or two, but then my father had to return to his job and the house returned to a state of seeming emptiness.   It was that feeling of a houseful of hustle bustle and then all of a sudden everyone is gone and all seems as though the festivities had been a mere illusion.

     We left the Christmas tree up in the living room because we liked the way it looked.  By the middle of January it seemed odd to have the tree up like that, yet it was like a reminder of the fun we'd all had during the holidays.   Since we'd be leaving in mid-February to start rehearsals for the new show, I wanted to somehow cling to that last remnant of being "home" before we embarked on several month of living in motels.  Not that I disliked the road life.  I liked it a lot.  It was just that homey normalcy of being rooted in familiar surroundings that I guess I wanted to hang on to as long as I could.

       This limbo feeling of emotions lingering between the excitement of fun activity and getting back into a routine is something I've frequently experienced in life.  It might be the aftermath of having people over for dinner, a big party, or visitors from out of town spending the week at wherever I was living at the time.   The rush of the festive metamorphosed into the mundane is a bit like day turning into night or coming back to a quiet house after being in a busy environment.   The feeling can be relaxing or even lonely depending on ones state of mind.

         After a party that I've hosted has ended, I'll usually go around the house cleaning up a bit depending on how tired I am.  Maybe I'll leave some music playing, but I might tend to turn down the stereo and play calmer more reflective music--some might even think sad.  Or maybe I'll turn on the television if I'm not ready to go to bed yet.  Still the socializing can be draining.  The seeming emptiness of the house after a houseful of people has departed can be almost a feeling of shock in some ways.  Often it's a feeling of relief.

            Eventually the trash needs to be taken out.   The extra chairs rearranged or put back into storage.  The floors might need vacuuming or swept, but that will usually wait until the next day.  And if the Christmas tree is still up, well maybe it might stay if it makes me feel better to see it.  After all, it's not doing any real harm if it's an artificial tree that's not going to dry up and catch fire or anything.  It might look weird if Christmas is long past.  Then again it might just become part of the room and I won't even notice it except for the times I look at it and remember the good times gone by.      

             Have you ever left up holiday decorations well after the holiday has passed?    Do guests ever help you clean up after a party or a visit?    What is the strangest thing you've ever seen in someone else's house that seemed out of place?  




8 comments:

  1. I take the Christmas tree down as soon as possible. The latest I've left it up is Jan. 1. I like my house to be back to normal as soon as possible. As for parties, I haven't hosted one since I lived in California 20 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JoJo, we usually host at least 1 party a year for my wife's family. Got one coming up next Saturday in fact. This past year we didn't even bother with a Christmas tree since we went back east for the holidays and saw no point in our empty house appearing festive.

      Lee

      Delete
  2. When I was a kid, there was a family that left their fully-decorated Christmas tree (a real one, mind you) up all year. My aunt knew the family, and said they left all the presents under the tree, too. It was bizarre. My family used to leave our tree up until the Epiphany. By that time life had returned to normal...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John, maybe they treated the tree to preserve it in some way. After a while the tree starts drying up and falling apart. Leaving the presents there is really weird. Empty wrapped boxes perhaps just for looks? My family usually left the tree up for at least a week past New Years. We always hated taking it down.

      Lee

      Delete
  3. If my Christmas tree is up, it is because I have procrastinated. I have so much going on, I have a hard time focusing. At least that is my excuse. Some of the reason I write is that it is one thing that I have that gives me an escape.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ann, after a while, if the tree is left up long enough, it can be sort of a fixture of the decor like an urn on a pedestal. We get so used to things being there that we just accept their presence. And when you're busy with other things, taking the Christmas tree down doesn't seem to rate as a priority on the to do list.

      Lee

      Delete
  4. You summed things up rather well. Depending on the event, that time immediately afterward can be restful, lonesome, or full of extra work that needs to be done. Most times, our guests give very little help with clean up. But we do most of our things outside. So, they just help us get things that need to be inside back in. I've often left our tree up for a month or more after Christmas. Not so much as for sentimental reasons, but just dreading having to deal with it. We've probably had the strangest things in our own home: transmission in the bath tub, carburetor boiling in a pot on the stove, baby possums in a box in the bedroom closet.
    Barbara, blogging at Life & Faith in Caneyhead

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't mind leaving Christmas lights up, especially the small white ones. They add a surprising amount of gaiety to perhaps an otherwise ordinary evening that could use a little cheer.
    There were tractor tires in the living room of a home we visited. These folks were not farmers and we were baffled, but the kids all had a blast climbing on and hiding in the tires :-)
    I'm such a silly sap at Christmas that I couldn't help being touched to near tears that you left the tree up to preserve those precious feelings. I think I'd do the same.
    One year, the mystery of the missing gift box bows was solved in the course of putting furniture back to where it was before the Christmas tree went up, when we discovered every one of them under grandma's chair! Sadly, the feline perpetrator had been hit by a car, but grandma insisted we put the bows back right where we found them, under her chair. We hadn't known she liked cats at all;-)

    ReplyDelete

Tell your story. Express your thoughts. We want to hear from you. This blog no longer accepts comments from "Anonymous"--That guy is really starting to bug this blog. If you want to leave me a comment then please register if you aren't already--it's easy to do and I really want to hear from you.

Arlee Bird