The Fall Of The Christmas Decorations And The Rise Of A Little Dirty Secret .

Published on by ortensia

Having been this Christmas an unusual one,(small but pleasant),it inevitably ended unusually too.
Being a creature of habits,every year I put up the Christmas decorations on the first week of December and take them down on the sixth of January.Once the Befana had filled the stockings the trees and everything on a range of color between red, green, gold and silver goes down.I usually keep the poinsettias.Everybody I know complaints theirs barely survive up to Christmas day.Well, in the recent years mine survive nearly up to Easter when,out of exasperation,I feed the Easter bunny with them.Not that he has a food fest as,by that time,the poinsettias are hanoressic and ready for the bin.It is just me,hating throwing away still living plants.This year this didn’t happen:yes the ponstias are still alive but the decoration went down yesterday, third of january instead of the sixth.It was not planned .

The idea was to do as for tradition but, I realized the sixth is saturday. I can’t endure the stress of taking down the decorations,cleaning after them and may be also having the traveling husband around calling me for something every five seconds or,even worst,having him retrieved in the study saying nothing but with the obvious expression of someone upset by the chaos around him.The decorations had to go down on Friday.That was actually suiting me very well because my friend SJ was coming for lunch on Thursday and we could have enjoyed last Christmas meal in the house together.Plans changed and SJ is coming on Friday instead.Decorations were going down on Thursday,but thursday I also have to bring CG to the orthodontist,I might have not enough time. Yesterday,after lunch, an impulsive inevitable decision was made:The Christmas decorations were going down now!!!Let the mayhem begin.Few hours later and after an unspecified number of trips up and down the attic,everytime risking to fall from the wobbly ladder that, was supposed to be fixed four years ago,the house was back to its usual self.Except for the laundry room that is now filled with christmas linen to be washed ironed and stored away.

It is done.Unlikely the previous years,I am not feeling sad and the house doesn’t look naked.I told you this was an unusual Christmas.I couldn’t actually wait to get rid of the Christmas mood around me.Not because I had a bad Christmas and wanted to erase it memory,on the contrary,because I lived it fully and now is time to move on.With my hair glamorously pepper and salt colored thanks to the spray snow falling from the wreaths and my body forming a big unique tangle with the christmas tree lights, I wished I had the power of putting up and taking down decorations just with a stroke of magic wand.Unfortunately I am a mama fairy with no wand.They must have forgot it when they boxed me in the factory.Tired but proud of the work done here I am at 7pm,shattered and suddenly remembering I also have a family to feed.Fortunately I have a freezer full of meat and vegetables waiting to be slided into the the oven.Problem solved and that also give me time for a nice warm shower.

The oven timer won’t ring before 40 minutes and I don’t need that intere amount of time for a quick shower.What I need instead, considering that I am nearly at the end of two weeks of 24/7 kids duty;considering that we are on the third day of heavy wind, and wind notoriously makes me nervous;considering also that I took down all the decorations,hoovered,changed the bed linen and without snacking.Considering all that,I strongly believe I deserve a sneaky cigarette.No, I am not a smoker and even when I was calling myself a smoker,over 20 years ago,I have never really been a real smoker.I used to smoke may be three cigarettes a day and not even every day.Only recently I sometimes take the pleasure of one or two cigarettes a couple of times a year.The husband doesn’t know and the girls don’t know. It is my little dirty secret:Extreme precaution for an extreme pleasure.The cigarette,is smoked in the side garden,with hat and gloves on ,so to not let any trace of smell behind and rigorously before having a shower.No trace.Cleaning after a sneaky cigarette is essential.That means also that less clothes are worn the better. I secured the girls in front of the tv waiting for their dinner and I go.Hat,gloves,a jumper that must be washed anyway and only my tights on,they will go into that laundry basket too.

I am freezing,Im feeling guilty because this is ruining my hour of yoga that, I didn’t do today so I’m not really feeling madly guilty but,I am enjoying my bravery and my moment of wild transgression.What it makes it even more pleasant is the full moon clearly visible from where I standing.Magnificent in its white perfect circular shape.One big ball of light breaking the monotony of black in tonight sky.I could stay here in contemplation for hours but I am now in a hurry to go inside and get my phone to take a picture .My hand is already on the door handle and I hear them.The familiar voices.The crime is awake.I turned and I can see through the trees and the bushes lights inside the house down the hill.The house have been deserted for nearly two weeks now.Obviously even crime takes a break at Christmas time.Now they are back:talking and carrying heavy black bags in the house.It can be food and clothes from home or…… it can be much more….!!!

62 thoughts on “The Fall Of The Christmas Decorations And The Rise Of A Little Dirty Secret .”

      1. Foot is fine as long as I’m not using it 😂
        I guess I still need more time to heal. In the old days, after 3 days I would be back to it. As I get older, everything takes more time to heal!

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    2. Just found her and read the whole thing while poised en route to do something else!!
      Glad you followed and encouraged this writer – now we can all enjoy the atmospheric posts. (Except it’s distracting me from TAKING THE BLOODY CHRISTMAS TREE down 😫😂🙄xx

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  6. Loved your thoroughly entertaining post. You gave me plenty to smile about, and a few childish giggles as well. As for me, my limited amount of Christmas decorations are still on display, mostly out in my verandah area, And I’m still enjoying there presence, so I’ll leave them they a while I’m feel the good vibes…. I’ll attach a couple of pic’s,
    https://1drv.ms/i/s!Asumt4cZ9A65g8dCH7QTsUGSov-qXA
    https://1drv.ms/i/s!Asumt4cZ9A65g8hZlGsSGnddDElAPw

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    1. Thank you Ivor.It is always nice to hear I make someone smile.
      Thanks also for sharing your decorations with me.I love the contrast between them and marine style mixed itself with local pieces.its warm and inspiring ,no wonder your mind offers us so many beautiful poems.
      Have a great day my friend.😍

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      1. My day was good thank you Ortensia, I went and played golf out at my beautifully picturesque course Bannockburn, only 16km from home, but in bush/forest. Haven’t played at my golf club since Feb 2016, because of my Occipital Neuralgia, and it was nice to catch up with my golfing buddies. I’m not in too much pain after my golf game, so I’ll probably give it another go next week, and see how I go. That marine style macrame, was all the craftwork of Carole’s, she was so very talented and crafty, and yes my little courtyard has wonderfully calm and inspiring ambience to it. xx

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      2. She was talented indeed and what a nice memory to keep,a piece of her I would say,not everyone has this privilege.mist of us has to do only with memories (as much good as they can be).its funny you mentioned golf because just the other day storing back in the attic the Christmas d citations my eyes dropped on my full set of golf clubs unused since 2006😱have a good weekend my friend

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      5. Ah, Balrothery, yep I had to look it up on my maps. Looks a nice place. Not a very big town, Geelong is approx 250,000 peoples, it’s called City By The Bay, and we have river which runs through the middle called the Barwon.

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  7. such a fun writer you are! epiphany is very big here. we will go to the harbour and watch the huge procession, the release of the doves, the (crazy!) boys (and now, a couple of girls) jumping into the water to retrieve the priest’s cross while we sip hot chocolate.
    i dont see anything wrong with having a secret pleasure – in fact, it might be an inalienable right. 😉
    sending wishes for a brilliant new year to you and yours

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    1. Thank you,your understanding is very comforting,I can be very hard on judging myself.Wow your epiphany sounds fantastic.In Italy is very different and big mainly in the north but such a fun tradition to keep.
      Have a good day my new friend.❤️

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  8. Awesome post Ortensia! I suppose that you haven’t seen the time pass that day. 😂😂
    Strange people taking strange bags into the house …. that looks suspicious. Was it heavy or light ? I mean 1 bag /person or 2/person?

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  11. What an absolutely great post.

    Never have I read a story where the deed to lighting a single cigarette would turn out to be so suspenseful.

    Sneaking out of the house, the dark sky, the full moon casting its light.

    Enjoying the moment of sinful pleasure and then back into the house.

    This would have made a great scene in one of those black and white movies of the 1930s and 1940s that I love so well.

    I can picture Norma Shearer or Rita Hayworth doing this.

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    1. Thank you ,I say it is all very flattering said by you😊I love those movies too,that’s why I keep a sharp black bob ……just a remind of the Belle Époque.
      May be next time instead of the kitchen rubber gloves I’ll use a pair of long velvet one😉‘

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      1. LOL !

        Like Rita Hayworth in that nightclub dance and song scene in Gilda.

        You know I usually have my vampiresses wear gloves like that in my vampire novel.

        I never really probed what might have been the subconscious inspiration for that before but when you mentioned just now wearing long velvet gloves, my mind immediately thought back to that scene with Rita Hayworth in Gilda and I realized that was probably my inspiration for it. 🙂

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      2. I bet it was.Gilda is one of my favorite movie from that time.You are a man of impeccable taste my dear,on top of a fine writer.Have a nice “vampirastic “ week end❤️

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  13. Pingback: Adele and the crib (#wordprompt) – IdeasBecomeWords

    1. Your picture is far nicer then mine.I love Germany and German and always wanted to learn your beautiful language properly(I have just a bit of very scholastic and very old German),may be this is the time,so to look properly at your blog😊😊thank you for stopping by.

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