One of President John F. Kennedy’s favorite bible verses was from the Book of Ecclesiastes. It begins like this:
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.…”
It goes on to list a bunch of other “affairs”.
I’ll add one of my own:
There is an appointed time to decorate and a time to put it all away.
Starting with the tree. (I changed to a small one this year.)
After New Years, I started putting the balls and stockings away and …
Now it’s just a simple tree.
Next, untangle the lights and put them away.
I’ll add one more of my own to the list in Ecclesiastes:
There’s a time to celebrate and a time to get back to business.
I hope you had a good celebration during the holiday. I had all my family here. We ate and sang; we played games and took walks and ferry rides. It was great! But then it was time for all of us to get back to business.
I hope you had a good holiday celebration. And I hope you’re inspired now to get back to ordinary life.
Here’s the whole list of timely affairs from Ecclesiastes: (It’s not for the timid. This is the Old Testament after all.)
3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Sounds like a great time, Nicki! So glad that everyone was able to make it.
Love your tree!
Yes, I liked my little tree. And it was fun having the family around.
Have a wonderful new year.
So now I’m humming “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds, (“A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late…”) It’s always more fun to put up the decorations, but the nice thing about taking them down is have more space in my little house.
I’m glad you and Kate mentioned the Byrds. It’s always nice to have a soundtrack to go with a post.
My little tree didn’t take up much space, but I enjoy having the family photos I hid away back on the mantle and the bookcase.
New Year’s Day is when our decor comes down and thoughts of spring arise.
Why not think about spring. It’s only a few months away. No need to focus on the winter months in between.
I hear the Byrds singing “Turn, turn, turn” while I read your post. We took our decorations down yesterday. I wasn’t interested in keeping them up any longer. I’m impressed that you do a real tree. At this point we’ve downsized to a small tree that we keep decorated and just bag each year. Now it’s a time to wait for spring! (Impending snowstorm coming tomorrow boogers).
I have a large artificial tree that’s heavy and hard to put together. Now I have to decide how to get rid of it. The little real tree was so easy. I was driving past the supermarket and saw a line of trees at the entrance. My tree was already attached to the stand, and the stand holds water. I hope they do the same thing next year.
I also like that chapter in Ecclesiastes. I’m glad you had a great Christmas, Nicki. I have yet to take down my tree, but probably will sometime this week. 😄😊 I spent time with friends and family playing board games and having scintillating conversations.
Ecclesiastes is so outspoken. It makes a space for all the things we would like to banish. It includes not only a time to weep and a time to die, but also a time to kill and a time for war. Somehow, though, it has become a popular verse.
My family played serious, hard-fought board games and card games on my dining room table. I can’t keep up with them, so I cleaned the kitchen. It made me happy to see them happy and not to have to join them. I also enjoyed seeing some of the younger ones climb the climbing wall while I remained safe on the floor.