AFTER HOLIDAY THOUGHTS

On this freezing afternoon just three days into the new year, I'm settling in to the fact that the holidays are over. I have safety tucked my holiday decorations into the basement where they await next year's festivities and I'm left with the post holiday blahs.

I'm sure a lot of you can identify with the feeling I'm having...it's like your heart and mind have been filled with the spirit of the season as well as all the hustle and bustle that goes with it and then it's January 1st and someone seemingly flipped the switch to off. People aren't even wishing you "happies" or "healthies" at every turn, which means life has gone back to normal.

Pondering this, I peer out the window into our sleeping garden covered with a cozy blanket of snow. There I see our raised vegetable beds. My husband is already fervently planning his crops and eventual harvest, Burpee catalog in hand. My baby Magnolia has buds that are preludes to a gorgeous spring. And my favorite part right now...a winter green arrangement my husband made for me. It was made from leftover clippings and berries, but I think it is so beautiful. A little taste of the season still hanging out on our deck.

So I'll gaze out the window at my little bit of the holidays to remind me of the spirit I so dearly covet and wait for my next favorite event ...the first crocus that peeks through a late March snow.