I Take Down the Tree . . .

It is done. Or undone, as the case is. And I am the one who undone it. Because, hey, who else is there? Or here?

Let me just say. No easy task.

I seek no pity, only your attention for a moment while I tell you the hardest part was sawing the top couple of feet off the tree. I went out to the garage, got the saw, and said to myself, "This is going to take a while," since the saw is old and dull. Did I say dull? Double it. It did take a long time, and I hurt my hands, and I'm still sick, and so on and so forth.

But I done it. Yes, I know, did it.

The Santas and snowmen and angels and snow globes are out of sight. And the nativity is boxed up, the one my friend Joyce made for me in 1979.

I remember . . . it was Christmas Eve and we were at Grandpa & Grandma Schiess's house when they lived on Larch in Caldwell. There was a knock on the door, and I went and opened it to Joyce holding a big box. It was for me, she said. She wouldn't come in, Christmas Eve after all. I think I may have cried as I opened it and unwrapped each figure, so carefully smoothed and rubbed with brown stain. You don't get the picture, I'm sure, unless you have seen them. I was a bit stunned by it. Such a gift.

I made a cloth to set the figures on. I would display it on my cedar chest when we lived at 722. Here I most often set it out on the piano. It is beautiful. Of course, I put it out every year.

I have gone off on this tangent for two reasons:

1. As I put it away today, wrapping each piece so carefully, I realized for the first time--that's 31 years ago she made it for me--for the very first time that she must have loved me a lot.
   
2. Her life is changing and I do not know how joyful the changes are.

Summary of the morning's activities:
All things Christmas that adorned my house are put away. Except the mistletoe, but I'll stand on a stool and get it down. The poinsettia, which I'll keep until I kill it somehow. The wreath, which I always leave up for a few months, just in case the finches come back.

We like to get our houses in order, put away the festive things.

But this year especially I hope we do not put away the love we have felt for one another and for our Savior.

That's what I hope