the pondering pomegranate: taking down Christmas & putting up a New Year

for once, i was as ready as anybody to pack up the vestiges of Christmas & move cleanly into a bright, new year. often, i engage in the dismantling with reluctance, bargaining about what might be left up just a few more days and what must be returned to the attic eaves prior to the first of january. but this year, i diligently scoured the house for hastily-placed festive ornaments, which i had tossed up on those random nails a few short weeks ago. i gathered them like a bird gathers nest-making material - the string, the twigs, the shredded plastic bag or torn junk mail that inevitably floats away from the recycling truck as it barrels down our street every other week.

denuded

Christmas nest-making

scratch-and-sniff

i had left the tree-decorating primarily to our youngest this year, so the tree was filled with his favorites (straw animal ornaments, golden nativity scenes, and sparkly globes). i did end up hanging my three snowflake angels, and a metal angel always tops the tree. & i added to my angel collection this Christmas with a find at the antique store near my parents' house. it is, i believe, identical to the angel in the creche set from my childhood, and i remember loving to curl my fingers around her slim legs and press a finger to each of her open palms. i like how her wings are tight to her body, as if preparing for flight.

so, we took down Christmas.

and the blankness, cleanness of the house

always inspires me to move tasks

from the to-do list to the done one.

so i put up the suet feeder & was quickly rewarded

which inspired me to have hubby help me put up

my new birdhouse!

i am oh-so-hopeful that the pair of bluebirds

who came to the feeder yesterday

will find it a perfect place to nest.

in the spirit of the 'done' list

and putting things Up for the new year,

hubby also hung a pretty tile i've had for too long

(i always knew where it would go, just never quite got it there)

and re-installed a hook i had taken down

when i painted the bathroom

about half a decade ago.

i took it upon myself

to hang up some laundry

to dry in the crisp winter sky.

this is the beginning of winter around here. we've still autumn leaves to rake, but the chance of a balmy day has likely left us for the next few months. just now, i am waking up to frost on the grass and curled leaves beneath the ice crystals. i love the geometry of winter.

isn't it funny how just a slight rearrangement can show you something new? i've been enjoying this painting ever since i brought it home from an art show nine months ago. i thought i had absorbed it quite fully, until the light hit it just right last night ~ and i spied not one but three shiny blue stars! the artist paints under the name Dot Blue, and i am captivated by her patterns and colors.