Traditions on both ends.

I know, I know. I have a TON to catch up on. But instead of doing it all in one sitting, I'm sort of planning to catch up as I go - lots of fun stuff, a few funny stories, but no earth-shattering news. :)
First - more on traditions. We all have traditions when it comes to setting up for Christmas, participating in Christmas and all that but as I walk around our tree, putting ornaments away, I think that I have almost as many traditions when it comes to after Christmas. I insist that Cody and I have a whole production of putting the ornaments on the tree at the beginning of "Christmas Season" (not Wal-Mart's "Christmas Season" which starts at Labor Day, but the more realistic "Christmas Season") but I usually end up taking them off by myself. For instance, we got back from Florida late last night so he is still sleeping but I always like to have the tree down by New Year's so I'm working on getting everything packed up, ornament by ornament. Ornaments are one of my most favorite Christmas traditions - I could do without presents, cookies, Christmas dinners, Christmas carols, and certainly the shopping - but not without the ornaments. We finally have enough meaningful ornaments (ones we've collected over the years) that we didn't even put up our generic balls this years - that was neat to me. So as I take apart the tree one by one, it's cool to remember where they all came from and look at this years new ornaments one more time before they go in a box until next year. There is a sense of accomplishment I get when the tree is up and looking all nice and Christmas-y, but a similar, though distinctly different, sense of accomplishment I get from getting it all put away, the furniture back where it "belongs" and life returning to "normal." Working on that now.