His Most Wonderful Day of the Year

While the day we put up our Christmas tree is probably my favorite day of the year, the day we take it down is definitely Lee's favorite.  Every year, we un-trim the house and take down our tree on New Year's Day and this year was no exception.  I will admit that we had a very productive afternoon - all of the Christmas presents were put away; the lights all came down; we organized our living room and sunporch; we reorganized the girls crafts and rainy day activities in the basement; and the house is truly clean (no pine needles in sight!) and uncluttered for the first time in about a month.  Our tree is so big that once it's gone, our house feels significantly larger, at least for a week or so.

First thing on New Year's Day, Lee brought all of the Christmas boxes down from the attic, ready to go. 

As much as it is my job to decorate the tree, I also have the job of un-decorating the tree, which is not half as fun. 

Usually, Elizabeth is very upset about taking down the tree but this year, she was a very good helper. 

The tree is so big that cutting off its limbs is the only way to get it out of the house - I'm sure that the recycling guys hate us. 

Merely an hour after we put the sunporch back together, the girls were working away on some crafts at their desk.