The day after...

Christmas has come and gone, and if you need proof of that, you can find our 10-foot tree out on the curb ready for tomorrow's trash truck. My husband and I had a quiet Christmas Eve, just the two of us. King crab legs and spinach-balls (just like meatballs, but made with spinach-- delicious), and then we opened our gifts. We both had books in mind, and that's what we gave each other. We'll be busy reading from now till kingdom come, and then some.

On Christmas Day, young Miss C and her mom were here, along with our friends R and C. We all cooked part of the dinner, and as always, we had a grand four-course feast. Between dinner and dessert, we all opened gifts, and as always, C had the most presents--she's easy to buy for at her age, but that may change in a few years.

The weather sort of cooperated... it wasn't as warm as they said it would be on Christmas day, but at least it wasn't freezing and I was able to keep the cats on the porch. So much easier that way..... I wish it could be 80 degrees all year long, for the comfort of both myself and my cats.

We got started on the big tree early this morning... I did the ornaments, my husband did the lights, and we just dragged that tree through the front door and out to the curb. We're not the only ones..... when I walked Gracie this evening, I saw that our around-the-corner neighbor V had her tree out on the curb as well. I'm sure V was out at the local gift shop looking for after-holiday sales at some point this afternoon, but I was just too busy to get there. I'm sure there will be bargains for the rest of the week. That shop is so expensive that the only time to buy there is when they have a sale.

After I got finished with the ornaments on the big tree this morning, I started taking down some of the other holiday decorations. I was just going to do the Santas, then I got started on the angels, then the tiny little elves..... before I knew it, mostly every bit of Christmas was tucked away in that giant closet. Once the nutcrackers got put away, the only thing left was my silver tree, and I did that after dinner tonight. As far as my eye can see, every last bit of Christmas has disappeared. But as always, I will probably find one small thing in the next couple of days that has escaped my eye.

Before we know it, I'll be decorating the house for our Valentine's party. I should not have packed away the big red bows. After all, red is red, and I could have attached my red hearts to the red bows... but I'm not going to unpack what's already packed, that's for sure.

Jingle bells...... today is Boxing Day in England. In this house, Boxing Day means putting all the Christmas decorations back into their boxes. But that's not what it means in England, and right now, for the life of me, I can't remember what the British do on their Boxing Day.