Epiphany

Well, we officially declared it Epiphany on Sunday and de-decorated (or shall I say corated?) the house. When we told James we had to take down the Christmas tree, he was sad (and asked, "Why?" of course) but also grabbed his handy hacksaw to help. Because that's the tool Daddy had used to "take down" the tree at the farm.

Then he saw that we had to remove the ornaments first. ("Why?") And he helped. And he removed some ornaments from their hooks and tops (which remained on the tree). He realized he was just the right size to go between the tree and wall which was somewhat helpful, but not really (see earlier hooks & tops comment).

Then came the arrival of "Baby Bird." Now while we did have a nest in our tree when we brought it home, it had no eggs, and this was not a real bird. This, of course, was James. Who was sitting behind the tree saying, "Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet tweet tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet."

It was pretty funny. (I took a video which I'll try to upload, but I'm not sure it is amusing enough to justify the inexplicably long time it takes to post to the blog...)

And in these last few days he's adopted Baby Bird as one of his new favorite pretend personas. As in, "Baby Bird is thirsty." Or, "Mommy! Save Baby Bird from the monster!" which he yells while "trapped" under an overturned laundry basket.

So, we finally got the ornaments and lights off the tree, boxed up, and put back in the basement. (Santa is coming OFF the tree in the photo below.)

James helped Daddy put away the train and its tracks as well. (Although he's volunteered a few times since then to help set it up again.) And all of the toys have a new home in James's bedroom. And the stockings are down. And the garland. So now our living room seems bigger, cleaner, and less festive.

I usually do not like de-decorating at all. Its often kind of depressing. However, as with every other part of the holidays this year, James just made it better and fun. So, how's that for an epiphany?