This weekend the tree is coming down! All the ornaments and decorations will be exclaimed over (again) and wrapped up carefully to survive the next 11 months buried in the storage unit only to reemerge next December 1st, 5th, 12th… oh whatever… to be exclaimed over (yet again). While Halloween is my most favorite of holidays, Christmas is a close second and I always experience a small twinge of sadness once everything is taken down and put away. Then, of course, I feel strong moments of irritation as we drive around with a dying Christmas tree strapped to the roof of my car, desperately trying to find somewhere, anywhere that will recycle the (by now) effing thing into mulch. And trust me folks, on this coast, that ain’t easy.

Yes, Drue, I KNOW. Ain’t ain’t a word.

But before we get into all that, I have one more day to enjoy the soft glow of Christmas lights throughout the house. And then on Saturday, the wrecking of all that glowy, holiday spirit begins and I slowly start to accept that January is HERE.

Sigh.