the week between

The house is quiet again, but filled with echoes of happy times. Soon after Little One and her parents drove away after coming to say good-bye, my thoughts turned to putting Christmas away. Not yet, of course, but I'm thankful to have an extra day or two off this week to putter around the house. It's that wonderful week between the two holidays where we eat up the leftovers, clean out the frig, organize a closet or two, get out the new calendars, contemplate how less cluttered the house will be with the decorations put away, and ponder what goals we may at least contemplate for 2010. I went to the red circle store and noticed how organizing components are highlighted now where all the Christmas stuff had been. Good intentions always float around right about now. It's a good process, even if it ends up bringing only small changes.

I enjoy the quiet of this week. People are away, the phone rings less, and the email box is not as full. This whole month it's been pretty quiet for us with the Gardener so sick. He has barely been out of the house. Instead we had a lot of people in (so he could retire to bed if he needed to) and we have great memories of some pretty special times. Which proves no matter how it goes, big splash or simple quiet, there's much about Christmas that is just plain special. I think we know the reason.