The holidays are over…but I say they're not fully and finally over until at least six out of the following eight events have taken place:
* It's after Saturday, January 7th, which is Orthodox Christmas for millions of Coptic and Eastern Orthodox Christians.
* The trees left out at curbside for pickup by DPW have all been hauled away.
* The houses decorated with holiday lights, wreaths, and roping are returned to their original, pre-festivities condition. (Those who decorate their trees or bushes with tiny white or blue lights are allowed to keep them up as long as the cold weather is with us. That’s because after January 2, the lights simply morph into winter lights that make the long, cold nights seem a little less bleak.)
* The holiday cards get taken down from the mantle and from other flat surfaces around the living room.
* The credit card bills with all the holiday gifts have been paid.
* Any college students among your extended family have returned to their campuses. In the case of some colleges, that may mean that "the holiday break" lasts until the the end of the three-day weekend for Martin Luther King's birthday -- midway through January.
* We've celebrated Squirrel Appreciation Day on January 21. This is one of those obscure and wacky little holidays that you may never have heard of...and in that case, you've really been missing out. You can read more about Squirrel Appreciation Day in The Huffington Post, http://huff.to/f7IppL , or at Holiday Insights, http://bit.ly/vqpj.
* Or you could extend the season of celebration to take in the goings-on at the opposite end of the earth (from us), where it's the midsummer's holiday of Australia Day on January 26. It's also called Foundation Day or First Landing -- see http://www.australiaday.com.au/ .
So, until then, an ongoing holiday greeting to you, whatever you are celebrating!
No Peggy, those with lights, white, blue, or colored, are not allowed to keep them lit and they must be unplugged after January 10. It's the rule and the Christmas police will come by and ticket any house that remains lit after then.
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