I haven't taken down the Christmas tree, and the outside lights are destined to stay up till three feet of snow melts. Then maybe I can locate the extension cords and the all-weather outlet where everything is plugged in. Until then, the reindeer will continue to graze and light the night. They have managed to melt the snow around them, I can see their bodies again. Underneath them I'm imagining a different drift in the spring, the tulips and daffodils I planted in the fall. For the time being, the bulbs are safely insulated in their bed, and even the hardiest squirrels won't be digging through all that snow for a winter snack.
Inside, I'm still puttering away getting Christmas sorted out. When we were kids, my mother never took down the tree until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th, I sometimes use that as my excuse nowadays! Back then, my sisters and I were thrilled to find Ginny dolls under the tree.
Made by the Vogue Doll Company, they were little girl dolls in a pre-Barbie world. And we had plenty of them! Our father built a room length dollhouse against one wall of our big bedroom and we played with our Ginny dolls for hours and hours. None of the dolls survived our childhood and I have no idea what happened to them, but this year I found some replica Ginny dolls at Tuesday Morning. Who would've thought? I bought one for each doll-playing sister for this Christmas 50 years later.
The brunette doll for my brunette sister.......