Today I stood outside by the Weeping Cherry Tree to detach what seemed like one hundred little Snowflakes and icicles we attached with wire hooks. We placed a spotlight on the tree at night to illuminate a sparkling wonderland of snowflakes as part of our Christmas decorations.

It’s always easier to decorate than to un-decorate.

It feels like an impossible and tedious task as I uncurl tiny wires on tiny snowflakes. It’s going to take forever. It’s going to bore me to tears. I’m mostly becoming stuck in a tangle of branches, and I don’t want to be doing this.

But then I remember to notice the beautiful winter branches, the dark soil beneath me, and the smell of winter all around me. I see the sky above and feel the suddenly unusually warm wind at my fingertips. I listen to the neighbors walking their dogs. One by one, I take down the snowflakes and icicles. One by one, one by one. It’s peaceful and ordinary and just what I’m doing now, right now. Nothing else matters but this one wire on this one snowflake.

I want to stay right here.

I finish the task and feel like I’ve tucked Christmas away, finally, and turn the page into a new season of a new year.