It's great to read that so many of you are continuing your holiday celebrations this late into January. It makes me feel a lot less alone in doing so myself. I still have my mid size tree up and my shelf all still fully decorated and lit up. And as the days have come this month I just haven't quite been able to let it go. I've also been constantly re-watching all my DVR recordings and letting it play through the commercials just to keep the holiday mood going. It's amazing how many more times you can watch a Christmas movie or TV episode, have Christmas music on more often, or just actively enjoy looking at your decorations once Christmas is over than you do when it's actually December. During the month of December sometimes its alright to just be, to relax, and to not have to fill every second of every day doing something Christmassy. It can feel forced sometimes if you try filing every moment like that. Like I've mentioned before, it's that fullness to the day which is all you need, everything else is just gravy. It's only after Christmas that you need to start making a concerted effort to keep it going. Which for me can often result in celebrating it much more intensely than during the actual season. To the point where it's almost all I do for a while after. I reminisce about it constantly, and do everything I can to recreate, re-live, and recapture all those moments that came during the season. I'll even catch myself doing something else or paying attention to something else sometimes, realize it, and go right back to Christmas mode. Simply because I'm almost scared to let it go, and fear that if enough time passes then it wouldn't be possible to get it back. You know in It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, where Linus is talking about the Great Pumpkin, and just for a second he doubt it's existence, quickly realizes it, then laments that he allowed his mind to drift from it, and goes right back to thinking about it again in order to keep up the belief and the cause, fearing that if he doesn't it could go away completely. That's about the best the comparison I can make whenever that happens to me once the season is over but in my own little world I'm keeping it going. None of this interferes with work or relationships so I see no issue with it, even though I do have to hide it and keep it to myself most of the time.
Anyways, it's my Friday, so this evening marks the beginning of my weekend. And for the next couple of days I'll be doing mostly what I described above. But by Saturday my house will be occupied again. I'll give it one last evening to enjoy it on Friday, which is the start of my work week, but by Saturday morning I really won't have a choice but to wake up a few hours early and take everything down before I go to work. At least that way I can spend the whole two days I have off and one last evening enjoying it all for the last time.
Hope everyone has a good day!