It’s a Wrap

De-Christmasified in stages this year.  A week ago, I returned most everything to its appropriate box, but I agreed to leave the tree up through the vacation and, in fact, that was nice.  What’s not to love about a tree in one’s living room?  Without all the other Christmas bric-a-brac, the tree was just a tree in the living room.. it had ornaments but otherwise things looked back to normal.

But yesterday, I got to finish it off.  Ornament and tree removal.

Easy, quick, uneventful until right at the end..

 

Wondering whoever thought glass ornaments were a good idea.  Sure they were invented long before carpet came along.. what were they thinking?

One casualty, but an unfortunate one, with shattered glass scattered far and wide.  First expletives of the year issued.

Whatever.  Cleaned it up.  Jim took the tree out.

Packed up the last of the boxes, of which there are now seven, and re-located them on the mostly hidden ledge in the bedroom. Buh bye boxes.

 

Buh bye Christmas.

I’m a little too happy with this phase of the holiday, which suggests something probably not too good, but I’m not going to worry about it.  The holidays had their share of high points, and that’s good enough.  Will try and focus on that and quietly endure all the rest.

Besides, there is plenty to appreciate and reflect upon in the transition from one year to the next, and the solstice is planetarily, seasonally, symbolically cool and meaningful, so, see?, lots to dig.

What I’m really looking forward to now is a good inclement winter.  I have lots of reading and writing to do.

 

In With the New..

… and out with the old.

Yeah.

Happy New Year!

 

We’ll Take a Cup o’ Kindness Yet..

Went in search of paper towels this morning, and ended up emptying two over-filled, treasure-rich kitchen cabinets.  Among other things, found this mug from about six years ago.  Definitely one of the benefits of a spontaneous, unplanned cabinet purging and reorganization project!

Treasures abound, you just have to find them.. right?

And what better way to close out the year?

Well, okay, there are many wonderful (and better) ways to close out the year, but bear with me, I’m trying to find a good wrap-up here.  Wrapping up not only the year, but the photo-a-day writing project.

But you know what? I don’t really have a tidy and clever way to close this thing out, either of them, so I’ll just say so long to a fun project and a good year–they’re all good, right?–and cheers to 2012.

I’ll be back in some form or another.

…. for Auld Lang Syne.

A Cold Winter’s Night

Returning home from the movies.  Shooting the roof line before walking through the front door.

Boys At Work

What is this?, you might wonder.  Well, it’s five baseball players grunting and heaving their way through sideways planks–part of a conditioning workout in the off season. They’re in a cavernous (and cold) warehouse on the outskirts of Woodland, fifteen miles north of Davis, which is deserted tonight, but for these guys. The workout tonight was peer-lead.

I find the whole thing pretty endearing.

Regularness

I’m such a regular here.  It’s so pavlovian..the mere photo makes me want a poppyseed muffin.

Chair Time

This is exactly what I’m looking at as I type this.  I’ve logged many hours today in this chair.  I think I’m proud of that.. though my butt’s sore. Besides eating too much, I’ve done some writing, some reading, part of a crossword puzzle, some dozing, and a little thinking.

December 27 is a good day for thinking.

I’m one of those people who loves the end of the year and the promise of a new year.  I’m tidy that way,  love organizing myself in neat chunks of time.  I’m quite the resolution maker. But I’m also a lot wiser than I used to be, so my resolutions are not too bad… really… informed by all kinds of good thinkers. A few very good plans for myself this year.  (Hope you’re smiling, and not rolling your eyes.) We can all benefit from reflection and efforts to walk this planet in top form, ya?

So.. doing that.  Thinking about the year ahead and priorities.

One thing I’ve not quite worked out is what to do with this blog. I’m not going to continue the photo-a-day writing prompt, but that’s not to say I’m not going to write.  Or take pictures.  I’ve loved both. The photo-a-day served a purpose, but writing turned out not to be one of them, even though that had been the intention.  I very much enjoyed the picture part, and while I didn’t set out to create a documentation of the year, per se, that’s pretty much what it became. A lot more journal and a lot less exploration of writing.

But the discipline of a daily writing practice was there (though the writing was anything but challenging). I made time for it and it happened.  I did not miss a single day (except when I was in Nepal and I was unable to access my computer.. but I’m backfilling those with a detailed travel log.. which I will finish soon).  I’m pleased with that.

The other thing I loved about the photo-a-day prompt was the record of the year I ended up with.  Nice.  (for me.)  The pictures tell a fairly complete story and the commentary–sometimes only captions–embellished that story.  The year 2011 is well documented!  As our family historian, self-appointed, that is a nice bonus.  So I think I’d like to continue that, but not in a wholly public way. Since it’s a blog, however, it’ll be out there, but I won’t cite it, promote it or whatever people do to blogs to get them read. I’ll enjoy doing it and having it, Peter’s family may also enjoy it one day, but that’s about it. And I’ll likely do it here at Life of Wry, and invite current subscribers to unsubscribe, lest they be barraged with mundane family stories and my own personal wanderings. I won’t kick you out…but won’t feel bad at all if you choose to slip out the back. I’ll be freer to just blog about family life, without the pretense of writing.. as all year long I’ve felt totally self-conscious about using this as a place for journaling family life.

Then, likely, I’ll set up a new blog for writing writing. Which I probably won’t cite or promote either, because then I’ll feel less likely to really reach.  On the other hand, that’s dumb.  Writing needs an audience, we need to write as though people are reading, otherwise what’s the point, right?

This is the part I need to figure out.  I also haven’t figured out what I’ll write… stories, poems, character studies, stream of conscious?  Formal, informal?  Just not sure.  But I want to take writing to some next level, whatever that might be.  Totally for the fun of it.  Stay tuned.

Need more chair by the fire time for that one.

Let the Games Begin

Oh yes.

The C holiday.  Behind us.  I woke up this morning eager to return to normal, to pack up all things red and green. To put away the soldiers, angels, tassels and bells, and consolidate and stash the nuts, toffee, candy, cookies, cocoas and teas.  To clear the counters, sweep the floor, and throw open the windows to let a cool, clean breeze blow through the house… and maybe take with it all the calories and bloat.

I allowed as how that might seem a hostile act, so asked Jim if he was okay with my wiping away all signs of Christmas on this, the 26th of December.  He thought it might be nice to enjoy Christmas a while longer, at least until Peter’s back in school.

Not the answer I was looking for. But I felt so guilty about my hastiness & enthusiasm (I take way too much joy in this phase of the holiday) that I decided to be agreeable, as long as we could be clear of Christmas by the weekend.

I did manage to find a little bit of a work around, though: I packed everything up but the tree and lights, figuring the tree was the centerpiece of holiday ornamentation, and the lights added sufficient glowy warmth. This way, I could preserve significant holiday spirit and still get a jump on the packing.   I didn’t just automatically repack, however.  I decided to cull the kitschiest of our Christmas inventory–the items that come out each year but which make me feel like I’ve taken leave of all my design senses–and reorganized the remaining boxes. And that was awesome. I did a thorough clean of the house (Jim may correct me here and say it was the cleaning crew, but, whatever) and let in some of that 30-degree outside air to freshen things up.

Ahhhh…

Maybe now I can clear my head and write and read, reflect on some new year’s resolutions, that kind of thing.

Or play games with Peter.  Speaking of, any guesses where he sat?

 

 

Sundown on the Holiday Season..

… bring on the winter.

And to all a Good Night

(One of the Santas had a bit of a headache and went to bed..  he plans to fill the last stocking in the morning before everyone gets up..)