Ho! Ho! Ho! to Yo-Ho-Ho

Christmas is officially over at the Ropko house. Well, I suppose it will be officially, officially over when the Christmas decoration boxes have been moved from the catch-all room to the attic, and Heath stops wandering around singing, Rock and Roll the Christmas tree, have a happy holiday. As of this afternoon not a single blinking light or Santa is in sight. I'd planned to take everything down this weekend, but the poor tree had other plans

While the kids and I were sitting at the table eating lunch yesterday, I glanced over at our Frasier Fir. It was a vibrant green and deliciously fragrant when we selected it at a local lot. North Carolina grown, straight outta Sparta. Now it was drooping and browned, and many of the ornaments were sliding off the down-turned limbs. The time had come to say goodbye.

Stella sat with an incredulous look on her face, and a fir twig casualty hanging out of her mouth, while she watched Heath and I dismantle the tree. Heath was quite the little helper. He carried one ornament at a time over to the kitchen table and placed it in its proper box. This one's really, really fragile, he'd say on every trip. His fire fighter boots were on opposite feet, so I was sure this activity was a broken bulb waiting to happen. When he carried Mark's 26.2 bulb, I was sure it was a goner. Nope. Everyone made it safely back to their home box until we unearth them all again next year.

I think Heath was most sad to see the Peanuts gang Happy Holidays flag hanging in front of our house go. We don't need to take that down, he whined. I told him we could pick out a new flag tomorrow. Something snow related, perhaps. He seemed only vaguely perked up by this idea.

Later in the day he was sitting with his pirate treasure map, muttering about his treasure hunting plans. Then he said, Hey, I got an idea. We can put this flag outside. It was a skull and cross bones flag on the bottom of his map.

I have to say, I am tempted. Argh!