Twelfth night memories of taking the trimmings down after Christmas.
When I opened the front door to look out at the frosty cars, pavements and hills and saw glass bottles of milk on the doorstep, I knew it was time to take the Christmas decorations down.
For two weeks, our milk had arrived in plastic bottles in multiple amounts on days we weren’t expecting it! I worried that the glass bottle delivery had stopped, but I guess the workers who process the bottles were having a holiday. I hope that’s what it was.
For everyone who’s provided us with milk over Christmas and New Year, thank you!
Then, on Tuesday January 6th, there they were, two glass bottles of milk on the usual delivery day and the empties had vanished. Now can we go back to normal?
January 6th is the day we remember wise men visiting the toddler Jesus. It’s the day after twelfth night which is traditionally the time for the last Christmas parties when if you’re lucky you might be crowned lady or lord of misrule!
Apparently, January 6th is the day when Christmas decorations should be taken down and the day that life settles back into its normal patterns.
How do you feel about life getting back to normal? Maybe nothing changed for you, and you worked through the festivities. Maybe you choose to not get involved with Christmas. Maybe you took your trimmings down long ago. Maybe this week comes as a relief with normal telly, school and bus timetables.
In my childhood home, the end of Christmas was strictly observed. We were taught that if any trace of garland, tinsel or bauble was discovered in the house after January 6th, it would bring us bad luck for the whole year!
I think the bad luck story was a good incentive to crack on and clear everything. I’m sure mam and dad were fed up with the paper chains we’d created dangling from the ceiling and pine needles littering the floor.
Anyway, we carefully removed from the tree every shiny bauble, trumpet and star, dusted and wrapped each one, then packed them away in a batted, musty smelling cardboard box which once contained tins of Princes Fruit. We carefully put away our homemade gold cardboard snowmen and paper doily angels so they could adorn another year.
There were advantages to clearing and packing away Christmas cheer. We always found chocolate bells or coins hanging on the tree and they had to be eaten straight away! I remember dad taking the cards from their strings and sitting on the settee to read each one carefully. You don’t get chance to look at them when they arrive, he said.
I also remember the cleaned, tidied house feeling cold and empty and wished the decorations could stay for my birthday.
If my parents couldn’t wait for the house to be untrimmed, I’m the opposite to them now. I don’t want to put away the lights, baubles, angels and robins or consign the tree in its pot to the garden. I want to keep the light going this year!
Some years, I have kept everything out until my birthday, and I didn’t notice any particularly bad luck following!
I will keep up a star for Epiphany and the nativity figures until February. I’ll tell you why then!
What memories do you have about taking down the Christmas decorations? How do you feel about that?
Here’s a fun question:
In which play does a man disguised as a woman fall in love with a woman disguised as a man at Christmas?
I look forward to your answers!
Wander well,
Mandy.
Things I love:
- Christmas lights.
- Milk in glass bottles.
- A chocolate coin.
Wandering Through The Land Of Nod. 