Clearing up ...

After the fun and chaos of Christmas, and once the Feast of the Epiphany is over, then the big clear up can begin!  You get to look at the individual decorations for one last time, go through the Christmas Cards and finally pack everything away in boxes.  It seems as if each year the stack becomes higher and the extra bags multiply.
The Angel is last to come off the tree ... so it was obvious that she / he should have a photograph as a reminder!
That chairful of ornaments is chock-a-block with memories ... places I've been, people who gave them and many have been hand crafted in cross-stitch or made from a great variety of other materials.
No sooner is this post-Christmas task completed and I'm working out the services from now until Pentecost ... Epiphany ... Lent ... Easter ... they're all going to fly past before we realize that 2013 has even begun!

Retailers have been there ahead of me.  Long before Christmas this chocolate chick was on sale ... it managed to survive the season, but only just!
At least it had its picture taken before becoming history!
Eliot didn't get a look in on that one ... and with the clearing up underway today he's taken a couple of toys to the dining room where there is relative peace and quiet.  It's odd to see him choose a toy or two and wander off with them ... you've got to wonder if it is a random thing or if there is a decision being made?  It isn't always the same item and he doesn't appear to play with them after a quick chew ... but invariably there's something beside him wherever he's sleeping!

The next job will be to pack up the Nativity Scene at church.  Yesterday we gathered around it .. the wise men, women and children of the parish ... and noted that all was now completed.  The Christ Child has been revealed to the world as King of kings.  He is the Messiah and all nations come to him and bow before him.

 It was great to see how many folk of all sorts of ages were at worship ... we missed the choir who were on tour to Saint Thomas' in the morning ... but enjoyed the fresh look at the Eucharist through the Kenyan Holy Communion service.

 The animals which had been scattered over the entire board during the Christmas season have now all crowded into the forecourt of the stable.

 It's been fun watching the changes from week to week.  And this time the lights also surrounded the birthplace rather than lighting up the road for the wise men.

So now ... back to the clearing up and sorting out ... and remembering to do all the things that need to be done!