Holiday endings

Yesterday I scheduled the end of our holiday celebrating.

Down went the front yard lighted metal trees. Off came the ornaments from our tree. The decorations went into boxes separated into organized groups. Outside lights. Inside lights. Tree decorations. Inside decorations.

Today? Down came the backyard fence lights. And all the holiday decorations were placed into our garage. I organized everything in the garage this morning. AFTER I took everything out and swept the entire garage out. Yes. I swept out the entire garage. I've been sweeping out my side where I park my car but the other side? It hadn't been fully cleaned out since we moved in. There was SO much DIRT! Bleah! I even put all the "get rid of" stuff into a pile.

Now the bright colors and lights of the season our packed neatly and safely away. The kids are happily playing with all their new stuff.

Another year done. Another year over.

I leave you with one last holiday memory. Our successful trip out to see Santa at the mall on Saturday, 12/23. The one where we waited 45 minutes in line. Where we got to the front of the line and had the "gate" closed in front of us. Santa had to eat lunch and feed the reindeer. Yes. We waited 30 minutes for Santa to come back. But thankfully we were FIRST in line. He was fresh. He was happy. But the line? It was 25 kids deep by the time the place re-opened. WHEW! The Bear was a little skittish but ran to Santa when the guy said "Come on over Bear!" The Princess had slipped Santa her little brother's name. So it all turned out nice.