As I took the first ornament off the tree, I felt a wave of sadness come over me. I didn’t expect to feel sad. Just yesterday I said how relieved I was that the holidays were over. Life could return to “normal.”
As I tucked a white porcelain teddy bear ornament in the cardboard box, I pulled a chair out from the dining room table and sat. I realized, as I gazed at this trim, perfectly manicured, Douglas Fir, standing proudly in the corner of our dining room, that I actually am taking a holiday. A holiday from making lists, racing to crowded stores, stamping envelopes, cutting glossy paper that will later fill a landfill, preparing elaborate, meat and starch laden meals and all the rest.

This post-holiday holiday has brought open spaces on my calendar, time to write and walk and breathe. Time to reflect. Time to be.

Perhaps I won’t take the tree down just yet. Instead, I think I’ll brew a cup of tea and enjoy this gift of a newfound holiday. I will relish this beautiful evergreen that I had so little time to enjoy during the previous holiday.

FYI – holiday |ˈhäliˌdā| noun –  a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done

Thanks, Webster. I’ll try to remember that next year!