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.

I love my kids’ friends. I love them about ten times more today than I did 48 hrs ago. That was before the tour of the state college campus in Denver yesterday. That was before my hope for mankind was shot to the gutter along with the sucker stick our tour guide had exhausted. Let me back up a bit.

Since Colin is transferring to Denver soon and we wanted to put eyes on the place finally we went up for the afternoon to take the tour. We assembled in the admin building with a dozen other potential students and their parents. I was already distracted by the young man in the black jacket embroidered with the sillouette of a naked girl standing WITH HIS MOTHER. (hello??) Before long we were greeted by a young woman with a red Mickey Mouse sucker hanging out of her mouth who introduced herself as Veronica. Evidently she was to be our tour guide.

We headed out of the building and entered the throng of denim-clad young adults clutching cigarettes and cell phones. Veronica marched us along at a pretty ambitious clip, seemingly oblivious to the effort this required of at least one older woman in our group. We worked even harder to keep up with her dialogue. This was no easy task given the lisp caused by her substantial tongue piercing. The hefty faux gemstone stud clicked against the lollipop rendering me totally unable to focus.

We saw all the hot spots – the childcare center for the students’ children, the pool, the theater, the housing complex (which had flyers at the door directing us to the fifty-cent beer joint) and the health clinic whose staff, the lovely Veronica assured us, were “really really nice.” The nurses are nice. The doctors are nice. The receptionists are nice. They are all just really REALLY nice. Whew. I can’t tell you how relieved I am. ; )

The tour ended rather abruptly at the Student Union where she spotted some friends. I noticed her later as she dropped down into a seat where friends of hers were dining and plopped her feet onto the table alongside their lunches. They didn’t appear to be terribly disturbed by this. Not sure if that says more about them or her. Or perhaps this is about my own inability to roll with the

ch-ch-ch-changes……

Admittedly I am appalled by so much of it. This is what the hallowed halls of state-run academia are churning out to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars? Everywhere we looked there were bodies sprawled upon lawns, benches, ledges. The alert among them were smoking. When did that become so widespread? I thought this generation had been thoroughly indoctrinated in Just Say No and DARE curricula? What was even more ironic were those among them who stopped us as we passed to see if we “had a minute for the environment”. I felt like saying darlin’ I just gave a year of my life for the environment. (which is now all resolved thanks be to God! thank you for your prayers) Besides if you put out that cigarette and ditched the fast food containers by your side YOU could do the environment a bigger favor than my signature would. But I digress.

I don’t get out much. I know this. I don’t think I am missing a whole lot however. The teens in my world are well-groomed, look me in the eye, and are adept at conversing with both babies and old people. And, I have never seen one of them with their lips candy-dyed red during a public speaking event. If this isn’t the real world than I am happy enough to reside in a civilized alternative reality.

Lest you think all I do is rant I have some practical links to share. The ever-wise Willa shared with me some lifeskills sites that we have enjoyed a great deal. Sometimes we take for granted that our kids know everything they need to know to be successful in the big world. Perhaps, judging by what we saw yesterday the bar is a lot lower than I estimated. I still think everyone would do well to have basic instruction in proper interpersonal communication, body language, phone and interview skills etc. We have used some of the charts and handouts on these sites as springboards for discussion. Some of these lists are for special-needs folks but really, the skills apply across the board. A google search for life skills checklists pulls up even more.