After Christmas

Again, another Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Spending all that time with family is always special. It is not often that we are able to gather all of our 4 children, their significant others, and a small gaggle of grandchildren, but we did it this year. It was so much fun. And just like that, it was over.

Cleaning house after the holidays

The faraway families packed up and left, and the closer families soon followed out the door. The 1 child who is local bid us adieu and sought refuge in the quietness of his own apartment. Family time is special — exhausting but so enjoyable.

As the season winds down again, the clean-up task is at hand. This is probably my most disliked time. There are decorations all over the house that need to be gathered and boxed up for yet another year. The grand finale, for me, is the Christmas tree itself. The collection of ornaments is a task I find pretty sad. As I pick them off the tree, it takes me back over the years to when the children were small and each child had their own special ones to hang up. One by one, I remove them, re-box them, and try to keep a positive spin on this whole operation.

Removing ornaments from the tree is a challenge

Recently, it was again a time for my macular degeneration to make its presence known. I find it pretty easy to see the bright red and white candy canes that I save from year to year (they are still wrapped up in their cellophane). The next step is removing the radiant red ornaments that add a nice touch to the overall display.

The next is the challenging step. There is an assortment of ornaments, all of various shapes and sizes and colors, that need to be removed. It could be the train engine that son #1 was so enamored with, or the cute little rocking horse that our daughter loved so much. There are various angels with each of the children’s names on them. The list of precious mementos goes on and on. With a Christmas tree 6 feet tall, there are a lot of ornaments to remove.

A helpful disassembly partner

With my macular degeneration hovering all around me, finding each ornament becomes, at times, a challenge. I turn the tree lights on to see if I can see them better. Then I turn the lights off, seeing if that makes a difference in my views.

Ultimately, I have a very helpful husband who is ever ready to be my backup assistant. I clearly remember years before my diagnosis of myopic macular degeneration (MMD) the times he would invariably find the ones I missed.

Now, with my diagnosis, it all makes sense. I really could not see them all clearly. They become camouflaged in the tree branches, making them almost invisible to me.

Clearly not an earth-shattering situation — just another annoying phenomenon to add to my list.