The After-Christmas Browns

I still haven't taken down my Christmas decorations.

With the boys having been sick, it just got pushed even lower on my list of priorities. Weeks ago, the lights stopped twinkling, the garland lost its sparkle, and everything turned a bit dull. I don't understand how, when just a month ago, everything was shiny and sparkling and full of holiday wonder, it can now seem so dull and lifeless.

Christmas and New Year's are done, and there's not much to look forward to for quite a while now. Sure, there are the "holidays" like MLK day and President's Day -- all those excuses for a 3-day weekend, but those days don't hold the same sense of anticipation and excitement that "real" holidays do. There are no gifts to open, no twinkling lights, not even a single fire works presentation or parade. The days are still short, the weather is still cold -- there seems to be no end in sight.

I wouldn't say that I've got the "blues." I'm not sad about anything. There's just no tinsel in the middle of January. Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's) had the "mean reds." I don't have that either. Life is generally pretty good. The boys are healthy again, despite a lingering bit of nasal congestion. B's job is going well -- we are even able to squeeze in a trip home to visit relatives. So red isn't the right color, either.

Brown.

Dull, kind of murky, bland, boring...

Ordinary.

I've definitely got the after-Christmas browns. Perhaps a shower & a tooth-brushing will clean it up. Too bad they don't make whitening strips for days like today.