In the aftermath of Christmas there is quiet.
The guests have gone,
The leavings
leaving us in the company of good gifts
Good company
and the familiarity of old, sweet companions.
The security of familiarity
We have had a lovely few days of celebration and family but now it’s time to put away the carefully saved wrapping paper and ribbons, until next Christmas,
Packing up for next Christmas
and time to resume normal household activities, like hanging the clothes out to dry,
Washing a waiting for the sun to shine
and conversing with the watchdog watchcat who keeps the threshold of my home close to her heart,
Keeping the threshold
and tells us how good it is that we don’t have to flee from Herod, but can rest secure in our own dwelling, in the aftermath of Christmas.
© silkannthreades
From Innocent’s Song:
“Watch where he comes walking
Out of the Christmas flame,
Dancing, double-talking:
Herod is his name.” Charles Causley (1917-2003)
silkannthreades 
Beautiful and quiet…that’s the way it should be. Nice time to reflect. I always find I get back from travelling during the holidays and I’m plunged right back into work etc., and don’t get a breather. But it was great to have a few days away, to visit with family and friends.
That’s a difficult transition to make, but, as you say, lovely to have had time away.
I love this post… I can almost hear a quiet sigh as I read the captions to your lovely images!
A quiet sigh…yes…..in fact, in my family, I am always teased about my sighing! It’s a bad habit but my family might not know me if I stopped doing it 😀
That’s sweet!
🙂
Looks good to me – a rest well earned.
Yes!
You created such a serene setting in this post….the bottle of wine setting on the table…the stack of books…and the furry friends curled in a circle. Who wouldn’t want to be here my friend. Happy holidays to you.
Happy Holidays to you too. Not all Christmas times are serene so it felt good to be able to record the peacefulness of this one…glad you could join me in spirit 🙂
As I get older I enjoy the post Christmas relax more and more! What a precious dog and his toy! All the best for 2014.
Isn’t it great that some things get better as we age? 🙂
Cancel laundry Gallivanta ! Have Christmas every Monday 😉 Ralph xox 😀
With all the trimmings? Okay, sounds good.
😀 hehe
Nice books and cat! Hope you had a lovely christmas!
I did thank you 🙂 And I hope it was the same for you.
peaceful summertime christmas. wow. and I love how you made the round tags your own! they definitely look like little paper jewels 🙂
over here we’re enjoying the quietness and the peace (only interrupted by saluting guns and such… they’re so awfully loud, you can’t call them fire*crackers* anymore…)
They were like little paper jewels but now I can’t bear to throw them out so I will have to think of another way to recycle them 😀 I suppose the firecrackers will go on and on till New Year?
the firecrackers will go on and on until they run dry. mid-feb, most probably. they also start very early, in november.
if you attach the tags to some fabric ribbon, they make fantastic bookmarks 😉 and it seems like you’ll be needing a few! 😀
LOL! You are right. It will make a lovely bookmark.
😉 I sometimes just use plain ribbon leftovers for bookmarks. if it’s a delightfully beautiful ribbon, it is a standalone. if the ribbon is thin, a flat bead looks fab… etc. etc. let your recycling fantasy run wild! 😀
I will!
what a lovely post, i guess it’s a best quality time for our family then…..
btw, my mom was a politicians and civil servant and then the guesses is coming by all over until now, i guess i must be a little bit patients for christmas aftermath moment…
Your turn will come 🙂
Books!!! The perfect Christmas present! I still have the Christmas Tree up until New Years. That’s when I put on Pachebel Canon in D Major! I’m looking forward to a new year and have adopted the quote below to bring along as I bade a fond farewell to the amazing 2013! What adventures we had! And there is more to come! So very glad that we are on the same pathway, even though separated by oceans, mountains, valleys.
“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Such delightful music to take with you in to the New Year. I may take it too. I can’t think of anything more beautiful to the ear. All good journeys must have music and song to travel by 🙂
Oh it looks so peaceful and lovely! I’m envious. I’m off to track rattlesnakes with my son tomorrow. My hubby and I are in another hotel and I daresn’t put on my PJ’s yet as my son’s installing the trackers on the snakes and I’m waiting to crash before I know I don’t need to meet him at the ER!!!
I’m TIRED!!! Adult children are exhausting!!!!
And I thought newborns were!
LOL!!
Happiest & Healthiest of New Years to you!
Your home looks so lovely and soooo peaceful!!
LOL, indeed. Adult ‘children’ ( I must include myself as one) can be every bit as wearisome as the newborn. However, I don’t believe I have ever worried my parents with rattlesnake tracking activities…..You do have adventures, Cindy. They will keep you young in spirit and beautiful.
It’s so nice to see a glimpse of the old traditions, you’re a wrapping paper saver! Even nicer to see a glimpse of the garden through the picture window…and is that a cork floor I see?
Definitely a wrapping paper saver; bubble wrap and tissue paper too! And that is definitely a cork floor you see. I love cork floors. They are cosy and forgiving ( of dropped crockery and glasses!) and comfortable underfoot. Also, I went back to the US Ambassdor’s Blog and read more of his posts on Eleanor Roosevelt; absolutely fascinating. So pleased you pointed out the posts to me.
I think it’s a great public relations move for him to have a blog. I will be checking it out a little more, too! 🙂
Me too. It’s full of great posts.
Bittersweet, yes. I always get a feeling of loneliness and maybe a tear or two will be there as well…Then, as you say, it’s lovely everything is getting back to normal. Wish you pleasant reading time!
Even though I read slowly, I do love to read. I will grab all the moments I can; there’s so much to read, isn’t there?
Serenity, even the laundry… Simple pleasures 🙂 .
Yes, the Christmas spirit enabled me to be serene about laundry…wow. How long will that last?
I love that thought that we don’t have to flee Herod–what a different, fascinating perspective you bring to things! I’m glad your holiday was happy–friends/family, books, pets–a wonderful place to be!
“KerryCan”, you are such fun in the way you pick up my little references. When reading Causley’s poem I was reminded of Childermas or the Feast of the Holy Innocents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Innocents which is held about this time. I also thought of Syria today and the children (and families) fleeing to neighbouring countries. It seems to me there is always a “Herod” out and about in the world and ,so, it behoves us to guard our thresholds against ‘Herod’ by making sure that, in our goings out and our comings in, we take the love and goodness of the Christmas spirit with us. And, Yes, our holiday was happy as I am sure yours was too.
Gallivanta – It’s always good to remember the visits of family and friends but it’s also nice to get back to nornal. Enjoy your usual day!
Thank you. Your grandfather was good at enjoying company and then making sure he still maintained his usual routine of letter writing even on the busiest of days.
Love your pile of books–the best of the best kinds of gifts. Enjoy the calm of the aftermath–I’m still tidying, but the quiet is bountiful. Happy holidays and it’s a joy to think about “seeing” you in the new year.
I still have a wee bit of tidying to do. The remnants of the wine remain on the table because I can’t decide if I am going to drink it or put it in my store cupboard for cooking…..decisions, decisions 😉 And then there’s the decision of which book to read first…. 🙂 Or I could just sit and enjoy that quiet……
Happy to read you had a nice Christmas.
I had no guests … just the two of us.
So no mess to clean up. 🙂
Hooray for two tidy people. 🙂 I can be an awfully messy one person at times 😦
I spent Boxing Day morning “cocooning” (cocoon is now a verb in my house) in order to save up strength for a family gathering..on the other coast! One day of traveling and then my whole family (sans papa) will be together for the first time in decades. Sweet!
Cocooning should be a verb in everybody’s house. Excellent idea. Happy Travelling and Happy Family gathering.
seeing the laundry gave me a chuckle, but seeing your sweet watch cat touched my heart! lucky you to hve so many new books!!!! seeing a book w//an english title around here is a rare moment, and most are in used-book collections which are books that no one really wants!
enjoy the calm after the storm!
z
I am so lucky to have easy access to books. Even though you don’t see many English titles in your neighbourhood, do you still manage to access all the books you need (via internet, for example, or book parcels from home?)
And so a sense of quiet relief echoes around the world! My lounge looks like a bomb has hit it still! xxx
Don’t forget I have a head start on you and you may also note that no photos were taken in the IMMEDIATE aftermath of Christmas. Enjoy the mess (temporarily)…it means you were surrounded by love and laughter and wonderful people.
There is no paper saved in our house – all ripped to shreds:(
Some of ours was ripped to shreds as well. I saved what I could. In families there are always those who save the paper and those who delight in shredding; or so it seems to me 🙂
It is defi itely a personality trait!
Yes, and not one shared by my son and my nephews.
😦
Isn’t the ebb and flow of Christmas so bittersweet. We have had a couple of days with our Edinburgh family. And we are soon to be joined by my sister and her family from Southern England for a few days – we rarely see them in person, so I am greatly looking forward to their visit. I won’t want them to leave….
Bittersweet is exactly right. I didn’t want my family to leave either, yet , somehow, it is good to have everything back to ‘normal’.
lovely – now get on with some reading
Yes! The problem is that I still have a heap of birthday books that I haven’t finished yet. And my birthday was 9 months ago 🙂
I see you’re not as addicted to books as I am…I had to get a heap of books out of the library before they closed for Christmas
I am not up to your speed. 😦 I was the child who always had her nose in a book but that sort of concentration and dedication and speed seems to have deserted me as I age.
probably because you are so busy doing all sorts of lovely, creative things
Let’s hope so. As a child I didn’t have to stop every so often to cook or clean or to do the washing or the shopping, either 😀 😀
Enjoy your quite ‘nothing to do time’. It looks like you are well set up on the reading material front. 😉
I am a very slow reader so that’s enough reading material to last me for a year, at least!
I’m in the midst of the same transition, silkannthreades. I hope you are enjoying the peace of home after all the busy-ness.
A little sadness over such a brief visit, but feeling blessed to have had family around at all. And definitely enjoying the post-Christmas ‘nothing much to do’ scenario. Wishing Peacefulness and quiet days to you too.