light of the tree

I am always a little sad when December 26 arrives.  Should I take the tree down or wait until New Years?  Can I still play Christmas music in the car?  How long before I have to put away my presents and get back to normal life?  Because I am on vacation this entire week, I plan on keeping the Christmas decorations up so that I can bask in the light of the tree while I laze about on the couch watching movies and eating praline chex mix.

Another thing that I must do this week is clean up the home office.  I work out of the space once a week, but it has gotten to such an embarrassing point that I can't even take a picture that I'm willing to publish.  No matter how cropped or Instagram-ish I make it.  Must purge papers and magazine tearsheets and reorganize before the new year begins.  Plus, I have a new desk chair to introduce to the room, so I must admit that is part of the push as well.

The holiday celebration with was lovely, albeit a bit hectic - trying to see both our families in the span of a day was a little tiring, but successful.  While up with my family, I had dinner in Frederick (Maryland) and got to see the solar-powered Christmas tree outside of City Hall.  It was a pretty night - a chill in the air and the lights all shimmery in the city.  And although my grandmother ended up not making it up to Maryland for the holiday, we had a lovely time - hanging out with my parents and brother and sister-in-law, eating good food, and drinking lots of wine.  Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas too.