Bye-Bye, Tee....

Today was a sad day: We took down our Christmas tree. Usually I see dismantling the tree as an annoying January chore, but this year, I was afraid to do it. Ben has been very attached to it, and loved naming all the ornaments. Whenever he found something he liked, he exclaimed, "On tee, on tee!" As of today, our tree was adorned with several stick-on bows, a container of bubbles, a happy face picture from the newspaper, a Slinky, a baby photograph from one of my friends, and a big glittery ribbon.

But today I told Ben that the tree was going bye-bye. He got a panicked look on his face and started saying "Nonono!", so I suggested we say goodbye to all the ornaments. We said goodbye to everything from the angel on down. Then Tom got out the cardboard box and we showed Ben how to put the ornaments away. He enjoyed flinging everything into the box, and then he watched as we unplugged the lights and dismantled the tree. He helped put braches in the box and said, "Bye-bye, tee."

This year, taking down the tree made me sad. Ben loved it so much; he loved nearly every part of Christmas. Looking at him, I realized that "next year" is meaningless to him, and it made me remember how much more slowly time passed during my childhood. I was sad to think that the child who sees the tree next year will be different; he'll know the difference between a bear that is pooping and one that merely has a tail. He probably won't be as wholeheartedly enthusiastic about putting all his most beloved objects on the tree. What will be under the tree next year? I can't even guess. Even so, I took consolation that all the tree, the ornaments, and the decorations, will all be back again.