I did it! I did it! I did it!

Nope, I'm not crowing about losing 20 pounds. Or about saving 20 percent of my income in 2006. Or even about meeting my goal of "no sugar" ever. (ha!). No, but it's a really, really important milestone in my life.

I "took down Christmas" by December 30th.

Oh wow, you might say. You might roll your eyes. You might think, "who cares?". YOU would then not have grown up in the household in which I did.

Yep, we were the ones on the street with lights on the house well into summer. I actually have very clear memories of my dad either a) taking them down in October, only to put them up again 6 weeks later or b) saying to my mom, "Well, let's just plug them in now". To my dad, just turning them off was tantamount to taking them down. There were a few years when he tried hanging them with cuphooks on the eaves. This was to facilitate ease of taking them off a short time later. Instead, as they stayed up for months, they developed a distinctive swag. It wasn't uncommon to hear the house referred to as "draped in lights". Not too bad in December, but positively embarrassing in March.

Mom was fine with Dad's procrastination because we were still dusting off the Nativity set in the living room by the time Easter rolled around. We never had an artificial tree, so actually there were a few years where THAT came down before Christmas day (and by "came down", I mean needle by needle--dried to the point of tinder). However, the fake fireplace, the stockings, the blue and gold ornaments hung by the dozen from the ceiling (she must have seen that in a magazine) stayed for months. It was hard for my mother to give up the "magic" of Christmas...she was still finding little gifts hidden and forgotten in her closet days after the 25th, only to give them with a big smile and the explanation that Christmas lasts more than "just a day". (Any herewegoagain children reading this, just know that I don't aspire to that belief....Christmas lasts just a MORNING in this house!).

So, having grown up with year-round Christmas decorations, I have tried for 25 years now to clear all signs of Christmas out of my living room by January 1. "Tried" is the operative word. I have never, ever accomplished it. Sometimes I've managed by the third, if it happens on a three-day weekend. Usually it's about the 10th, which is still greatly admired by my siblings who clearly remember the Christmases past. The last four years have been the hardest because Perfect Daughter was on her way out the door by January 2 and I never had the heart to tear down the decorations before she left. Then, after she left, I didn't have the energy or ability (the tree and she have a mystic bond that none of us can copy...she alone knows what the infinitesimal splotches of color mean when putting that tree together, and just how many tangled lines of lights to get off).

But this year, I had energy and Perfect Daughter. I bribed Rowdy Son and Sweet Girl with promises of lunch out if they would start first thing. We took down garland, lights, carefully wrapped up the Nativity, and put away the train. Perfect Daughter dismantled the tree. I put blue pillows out where the red had been. Cleared the mantle of Nutcrackers, and almost finished the candy canes.

It's all perfectly delightful.

Um, the lights are still on the house. But no worries, I'm sure DH has plans for them...because believe me, HE didn't grow up in my family. And, after all, they ARE turned off.