until next christmas {january 5, 2023}

The day after Christmas, my mom would turn into a whirling dervish, taking down the Christmas decorations and then cleaning the house until it was spotless. She had her four kids dusting the base boards, cleaning out our closets, organizing our toys, straightening our dresser drawers, and whatever else she could think of, all to have her house clean before midnight on December 31. She didn't want any old dirt going into the new year. 

That tradition didn't stick too well with me. I tried for a few years but cleaning up so quickly after Christmas took away the last bits of joy of the holiday. 

Enter the Twelve Days of Christmas.

It might seem unbelievable given that the “Christmas creep” now begins before Halloween, but the true Christmas season actually starts on Christmas Day itself. That’s right: December 25 marks the official start of the 12 days of Christmas, the Christian tradition that shares its name with a relentlessly stick-in-your-head Christmas carol, and ends today, January 5.

So today I spent the day putting all the Christmas decorations in their boxes, smiling at the memories that came back as I wrapped them in the bubble wrap or tissue paper. Tomorrow the Christmas dust will go away. It doesn't bother me that it came into 2023.