As I take down the Christmas decorations and pack them away for another year, everything starts to seem so empty compared to the festiveness of the last few months. I know I will be bringing back décor items that have been put away for the festive season, which will be nice, but somehow decorating for the everyday seems boring compared to the holidays. The winter seems long and cold once the festiveness of Christmas is gone. At the same time, there is something nice about the peace that comes during these ordinary times.

Decorating for January also poses some practical issues. It’s too long to leave Christmas up until Valentine’s Day, but too short to do something completely different. What I do is start by removing everything overtly Christmassy, but leave the touches of red. These can be transitioned to Valentine’s Day. Frosted berries, pomegranates and pine cones can all say “winter” if not “Christmas”. These stay too. Then I bring back most of my regular stuff. I will add decorations specific to Valentine’s Day, but it won’t be nearly as much as what there was for Christmas, so most of the everyday pieces can stay.

In February I bring out some items that are Valentine’s Day specific. They go nicely with the red left over from Christmas. I also add some red roses into vases of greenery, or wherever they will go nicely. Red roses feel very Valentine’s Day to me. In late February, I can simply remove the roses because the greenery I added them to also feels complete on its own. Then I remove the last of the Christmas red in favor of our ordinary blue, and the ordinary time season has begun.

Categorizing non-seasonal items as “Ordinary Time” is a throwback to my Catholic upbringing. It refers to the time when we are not leading up to or celebrating Christmas or Easter. Back then, it seemed so boring when we weren’t leading up to all the anticipation and excitement of those holidays. Now as an adult, the peace that comes with the routine moments in life is nice. The past few months came with a lot of busyness to create special, memorable moments. But it’s important not to forget the specialness that can be found in the everyday. This is the bulk of our lives. Now that the fall and winter holidays are over, as is the busyness that came with them, it’s nice to breathe a sigh of relief, enjoy a hot cup of tea while looking out at the winter landscape, and not be planning a holiday for awhile.