You know how I know this? Not by looking outside, since we are covered in snow. No, I know we can mark this annual milestone because…. the nativity set is packed away again. Yep. This is one surefire way to make your house say “Springtime”. Get those Christmas decorations put away.

We are Catholic so we have some wiggle room. We can easily leave them up til the Epiphany. Some would say we could go the whole Christmas season through January. But, March? No way. Even I know that’s pushing it.
In my defense the decorations were boxed. They were boxed except for that aforementioned nativity set at any rate. They were boxed and waiting patiently on the covered porch for someone’s conscience to shame him or her into hauling them to the shed.

I was on a roll and headed in that direction many weeks ago when I realized I had tossed the tree box. Never do that. (that would be tip #2) You might not realize your grave and irreversible error until you return from the home improvement store with the largest plastic container they sell and size it up to those tree parts. I swear I heard my tree chuckle. Turns out you must purchase – and online only it seems – a ginormous tree bag. In your spare time. Geesh. So long story short – a short job dragged on and on but alas we are packed up for another year.

It occurred to me as this job morphed into a complicated enterprise that there was some merit to the perishable decorations of our forefathers. An article I read early in the season (the Christmas season that is) mentioned that most colonial and pioneer Christmas decorations were made of local greenery and natural items readily available like straw, fruit, nuts etc. They were recycled to birds and burned as fuel in their fireplace and thus – drumroll please – they did not store any of them from year to year.

That last line hit me like a ton of bricks. Peter Walsh was echoing in my head. It is causing me to rethink ‘easier’ and ‘more economical’ and what exactly fits both bills. My hunch is that storing multiple large boxes from year to year and saddling myself with packing/unpacking/moving/carrying/storing chores doesn’t. So while it is not Christmas and in fact Easter is knocking upon the door as I type, I am thinking about November and how we want to live in general. What makes for a festive atmosphere in any season? Not a grumpy overtaxed mom. That much is certain. Not an overtaxed budget. Not an overstuffed storage shed.

As Holy week unfolds I am focusing on projects that are precious and natural and yes, shortlived. Perhaps the fragile, transitory nature of these things is part of their appeal. Perhaps we will blow some eggs for an egg tree. We now have plenty of downed branches to employ. Perhaps we will make a braided Easter bread or Resurrection cookies. Maybe we won’t. But, mark my words, we will not be storing a whole lot. I am turning over a new leaf. A biodegradable leaf.