Undecorating

I pull down the cobwebs and return from my month long sebatical from dusting. Dust is the essence of Halloween, isn't it? I pack away all my fun decorations and eradicate any indication that Halloween was just a few days ago. It takes amazingly less time to undecorate than it did to decorate, and within the next few hours my house will return to normal. The pictures will no longer be crooked and covered in dust. The spiders will return to their resting place in a plastic baggie in the basement.

There's a kind of mourning that goes with putting away the decorations. I feel the same way after Christmas. Another year is past. Gone. Never to be had again. I wonder if all the effort I put into the decorations and the parties is really worth it. But then I remember the smiles and the fun and I know it was. And I know I'll do it again next year. Because I love it and I love the end product. And while I may question the hours of work for a few hours of enjoyment, I know I do it for the kids, which in turn rewards me to no end. They love it. It's tradition. And what is family life if not activities centered around traditions.