Chistmas all year long!

I dismantled Christmas. It took a few days and some negotiation, but it's 99% done now. The negotiation stem from my husband's insistence that things should stay up until January 6th, the Feast of the Magi. As you know, I vote for taking it down December 26th at 12:01AM but, to avoid being called Grinch or Scrooge,  I don't really start barking until New Years.

We had a dinner guest on the 3rd so I agreed to leave the tree up if we could take down all the other paraphernalia/decorations.  Now the tree is gone too. The platform the tree was on is still in the living room, but that's going today. The Nativity scene can stay up until tomorrow so the Three Kings know we were expecting them. (I'm hoping for myrrh, but frankincense is always nice too.)

Even though the decorations are gone, the gifts just keep on coming! Yesterday we received a wonderful package of things from Vanya, one of our German exchange students. It is easier to imagine her at home with the book of pictures from her region of Germany. It looks incredibly beautiful. That was fun and Maggie loved her new scarf, which is a bit more stylish than her usual kerchief.

Later in the evening, we received another set of gifts from Emily, Maggie's former teacher who is visiting from Poland. Maggie looks cool in her new shirt for the Euro Cup (which will take place in Warsaw this summer) and I have a lovely porcelain bell.

Steve's present was the best, however. Everyone is familiar with the Russian Nesting dolls - those lovely wooden dolls that have smaller and smaller ones inside. Little did we know, however, that the Russians were such 49er fans. It cracks me up that these dolls were inspired by the San Francisco 49ers, made in Russia, purchased in Poland and traveled back overseas to San Francisco.

These will be displayed through the Superbowl. No negotiation needed. We just have to hope the real 49ers  are still in the hunt.

'scuse me. I have a platform to move.