Packing Up Christmas

It's okay to let go of what no longer works.

Photo by Hanna Balan on Unsplash

With Christmas behind us and New Year’s ahead, many are eager to start packing up the decorations that have been both beautiful and yet thrown off the routine.

In the midst of the trimmings and celebrations has also been the need to attend to the things we normally do, but it can be a challenge to keep up what’s normal in the midst of the holiday mess.

So, those of us who love order - and you know who you are - may be itching to pull out all the bins and boxes which hold the holiday stuff.

While this can sometimes be tedious at best, a good thing about packing up all that bling is the chance to consider whether it’s something you’ll still want to pull out next year.

Re-evaluating holiday traditions

Since getting older brings lots of change, our need for certain traditions may change, too.

A loved one may die.

Friends may move away.

Certain relationships may no longer be the same.

Circumstances may be completely different from one year to the next.

Maintaining familiar traditions can be a wonderful thing when they continue to be a source of joy. But sometimes, they’re painful reminders of the changes that have occurred.

The traditions conundrum is that we don’t always recognize which is which.

Which are still good for us, and of which we should let go.

We may cling to a certain way of celebrating just because it’s familiar, even though it creates sadness, too.

Or we may refuse to embrace something new because we’re afraid that doing so will somehow diminish the riches of the past.

Embracing what works

The good news is we have the power to choose what’s best.

To define what works for us in any given season within the context of all the traditions we cherish.

We don’t have to cling to our traditions in order to honor the loved ones with whom they were shared.

We just have to embrace the current season with the traditions that serve us well now.

So as you’re packing up your stuff, it might be a good time to re-evaluate what to keep and what to release.

Sending precious cargo packing

For me, it was a tattered Nativity set with chipped-paint figurines that I loved to put out each year when I was a kid and the Christmas village my mom and dad had slowly added to over the years.

Both held such wonderful memories for me, but they also did for the younger generations in our family.

Several years ago when I started to put them away, I realized how selfish I was being by hanging onto them.

And that the nostalgia they represented also carried with it a certain sadness that Mom and Dad are no longer here.

So I packed them up as carefully as possible and headed to the post office, fretting over the precious cargo I was about to send North.

But all went smoothly and they arrived safe and sound - giving me the peace of mind that our family memories will continue on, as well as the freedom to embrace new traditions that are a better fit for me now.

How about you?

Do you have traditions conundrums you’d like to share?

Please leave a comment or send me a note.