I am on a first name basis with our trash guys. When we first moved into this house last year, we had huge amounts of trash. I made it a point to wait outside in the early morning for our trash guys to arrive, so that I could tell them we'd just moved in, how much trash we were accumulating, and to apologize in advance for making their jobs more difficult. They seemed appreciative. I followed it up with a little cash bonus as a thank you for taking such care of us. FBG, I don't envy you your job. I give Derek and John a Christmas bonus each year for all their hard work. They go out of their way to assist me as needed. I was trying to break down some boxes to get them out to the trash and I just wasn't fast enough to get them all done before the truck arrived. Derek was nice enough to help me break down the last of them so they wouldn't get left behind. I appreciate their cheerfulness and helpfulness and good service deeply, and do everything I can to let them know it. We wave at each other when they pass by, yell hello when they're down the street, and we have a good relationship.
I'm sorry. I just don't get it. If someone gets so distraught over having their house displaced and agonize over putting decorations away....why put so many out year after year? It's supposed to be a time of joy... not aggravation. right?
Gosh i do recall from bye gone years decorating the house with Christmas Decorations and a tree,..now as i don't have many visitors,..if any at all,..i just put up enough to get me in the spirit of things,..what i do put up remains there for 12 days,..
I remember when I was a kid, decorations stayed up into January, sometimes the second week. It was not just us, it was everyone. The tree did not go up until nearly Christmas, especially if it was a real tree because they shed so much. My dad would have his HO train set under the tree, and his miniature village, etc. The city kept their decorations up until well into January also. I guess people were not in such a hurry to take things down back then? They did come down in time for Valentines though. LOL. Now it seems like everyone takes things all down on December 26th. But the dummies put them up right after Halloween, and I do not get that either. No one ever put them up before Thanksgiving back when, and it was usually around the second week of December before they started going up in most places.
It is a time of joy for me Cheryl, and if I've given anyone the impression that it's not, I apologize. Just trying to insert a little levity into the onerous task of the putting-away part of Christmas. Why put out so many? Because I LOVE Christmas, and I love the way my house looks when it's decorated. I love that my adult kids come in and go looking for their favorite decorations, things they grew up with, that they remember from every Christmas past. I love to hear the ones who have kids themselves tell THEIR kids about this or that decoration. I love the memories those decorations evoke as I'm putting them out, and when they surround me. I love all that WAY more than I dislike putting it all back. The aggravation, though annoying, is worth putting up with in order to experience the joy. I would be much more upset without my Christmas decorating than I am with the annoyances of doing it.
My Christmas decorations go up Dec 1st, and my tree the Friday before Christmas. It all comes down on January 2nd, and I'm always sad to see it go- but glad to have the house back.
A funny thing about the South.....very different from California where I used to live for many years. Many folks here put up Christmas decorations so that they're done for the Thanksgiving celebration! I seriously don't get that. I have a few Autumn decorations that I put out when the season changes after the summer (just a few things, I don't go all out about any other time of the year like I do for Christmas) and those stay put through Thanksgiving until the first week or two of Christmas when I start doing that decorating. I just don't GET Christmas decorations for Thanksgiving.
Ronni--My oldest brother has advocated for years for the 'Holiday Integrity Act' which would decree one can't advertise or celebrate one holiday until the preceding one has passed!
I actually saw Easter decorations out at one store just before Christmas. I couldn't believe it! Really????
I posted this on facebook because it annoyed me so much! In my grocery store the other day. Seriously? :-x Can we at least get through Christmas first? ( photo / image / picture from Ronni's Garden )
What? And go straight to Easter, you mean? Yeah, they are pretty aggressive with all the holidays or celebrations. Right now they have a reasonably large display of New Year's Eve decorations, noisemakers, paper products, cards etc., while all the Christmas stuff is on clearance, and the Valentines stuff has been hauled out to sell.
Maybe stores should just have sections devoted to various holidays, because they put that stuff out way too soon anyway. I love fall, but not halloween, and the halloween stuff is just plain hideous and a few other words I will skip here. I hate when they have that out for 2 to 3 months at a time.
Going to bring huge tarp And big shop vacuum. By time DH and I get customer's tree down-the split level steps. will be a stick. But I get paid good Going to keep ours up for while.
