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I am very aware that it's late January
and my Christmas tree is still with me
In all it's splendid glory
A high dose of nostalgia
The daunting display of
A myriad of memories.
The bold bubble lights
lend a warmth and a life 
to the whole scene...

And the Tree becomes a Tapestry of Life

No wonder that a few tears escape
As I lovingly pack each ornament
In it's tomb-like box
One more day, and it goes away!

Yes, I’m one of those who puts Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, and reluctantly removes them in late January, only because the rearranged furniture finally gets to me. I have 2 chairs, a light and an elephant table in my studio, crowding an already cluttered room. And we all know that January is when we decide to un-clutter.

I painted the picture below in memory of a tender tree-trimming encounter. When my Grand daughter was 6, she wanted to help decorate the tree. First, you have to understand about my tree. It’s called the elephant tree because most of the ornament are elephants, and most of those given to me by my sister. She’s made it a hobby when she travels to look for them, and then sends me her purchases on my birthday in November. And she is generous! I’m sure that if I made a count of all of them, it would exceed 300! It is an art to be able to place them on the tree and to be able to see them all, and to have it look pleasant. I don’t just hang them anywhere. The tree is on a rotating base so that it slowly turns to display all sides of the tree. So, I grit my teeth and agree to let the kids help, knowing that I’ll be re-arranging ornaments for some time, and they eagerly and tenderly do their best, but when my grand daughter actually removed a large elephant which I had placed in just the right spot, I was quick to swoop to the rescue and replace it. BUT, she insisted, and walked over to a branch where I had placed a bird’s nest containing 2 small elephants. She said that the mother should be by the babies, and it stopped me in my tracks! Her profound comment was absolutely correct, and I was WRONG. To this day, the Mommy overlooks her beloved babies in their nest, just like the year before, and the one before that, and will be until there is no more elephant tree.

You know, kids can be very wise. They can be right when we are wrong. They can melt our hearts with their innocent and pure love. Anyone with children knows that. And doubly so with grandparents because we are not caught up in the routine of caring for them all the time, day after day. We are not so exhausted! (At least, most of us). If they do nothing else, they pull us into their world of wonder and show us things we’ve forgotten, or never noticed in the first place. What a priceless gift they are.

I think January is the worst month ever! In December we make super-human efforts to be kind, charitable, neighborly, friendly, generous to everyone. I have to admit that, as exhausting as it all is, that Christmas feeling gets in your heart, and you feel like an excited kid again…looking forward to the big snow, building a snowman, shoveling walks, making cookies, shopping, wrapping presents, decorating the tree, hot chocolate, sledding and coming home and eating cookies and hot chocolate, again. And then, getting out of school for at least 10 days..sleeping in, playing games, snacking, decorating, snacking, admiring the atmosphere lovingly created in your home, and snacking. Family gathers, huge meals are cooked and eaten, presents that took forever to wrap are unwrapped at light speed. Christmas really is magical if you just let it be.

And then New Year’s Day. We always took the aged tree out to sit on the gutter, and I would always come to the harsh fact that I had done none of my homework assignments. Not one. Nada. And school would start tomorrow. No more sleeping in. No more cookies. I never liked January. Never. I still don’t. It’s cold, and it’s a long time until spring.

So, on that note, I would like to post a poem written by my daughter, Eve. Posted because I think it gets us through January in style!

To health and happiness
the whole year through
for many joyful reunions
and the promise of new beginnings
each moment is a gift
the privilege of existence
inviting us to begin again and again
to exchange our burdens for gratitude
if only for moments at a time
we're here
we are alive
that is enough
you are enough just as you are
even your tattered, broken, and tired parts
as deserving of grace as anything in creation
the essence of humanness you so bravely posses
what can be braver than to face our own impermanence and fragility
and to keep your head held high and eyes on the horizon
tomorrow is promised to no one
but this moment, right now, is yours
I hope you live without fear in your heart
and treat everyone with compassion
including yourself
we're traversing these crazy reads together
pilgrims--seeking freedom, purpose, and home
the greatest gift of all is presence
I hope you give it freely and often
I hope the wonder and beauty of the world
never ceases to bring you to your knees

This is the title of an article written for “The Stars And Stripes” newspaper, printed by the New York Herald and distributed to servicemen in the army and navy. The date on the newspaper is Monday, Dec. 25, 1944.

I don’t know why Dad saved pages 3-6 of this paper, but, there it was, in his army scrapbook. The book contains a plethora of memorabilia from his tour in Germany with Patton’s 3rd army. He was an auto mechanic in an artillery battery.

I’v seen this paper many times, but never paused to read it, until last night. Oddly enough, I was drawn immediately to this article in the small section reserved for comments from the GI’s. This one by a Pvt. James A. Decker, quoted now:

“Many suggestions have been made relative to the achievement of a lasting peace when this conflict is over, but one of the best considers religion of paramount importance.

Religion is a potent force in the world today, and it should continue to play a leading role in world affairs in the future. Without a strict adherence to religious ideals, the world cannot hope to avert another war in a generation or so.

As we prepare to observe another Christmas Day we cannot help but wish that the whole world would be reconciled to God and there would be peace among men. Instead of men living in harmony with one another we see human beings destroying other human beings. Bitter hatreds and various destructive influences such as Nazism and Fascism abound in the world today, attempting to undermine our spiritual foundations. Even in our own america, which has always symbolized equality and tolerance, we fine racial and religious antipathies.

The eradication of these hatreds and the substitution of Christian ideals is absolutely necessary if nations are to be at peace with one another. As long as hateful germs thrive and are propagated, then the recurrence of another war is inevitable.

The renunciation of Christianity by a large portion of the world has been a major contributing cause of the present war. Only by a return to the teachings of Christ can we hope to have a genuine peace in our time.”