Ghosts of Christmas Past

Anyone who saw my mother's huge assembly of Christmas decorations when I went to clean out her duplex last spring knows she is a woman who loves the holidays. It used to take her at least a day to decorate and a whole day to take it all down. Yesterday, she took down her door decoration and her stocking, 2 of the 3 things we had up. It took me another 5 minutes to bag her tiny tree and place it back in her storage area. Mom seemed a little down, she didn't allow her longing for the traditions of our past ruin her holiday spirit, but I could tell it had finally caught up with her yesterday. Everyone has that let down feeling after the holidays. They complain about the January doldrums when there's no celebrations or even much good weather. But I think for the elderly, it is especially hard. Mom's whole building was absent of the festive trees in every common area. Although I started complaining about the singing, dancing Santa that went off anytime I got on the elevator, I even missed Jolly Old St. Nick on my visit yesterday. There weren't many people chatting in the lobby when I came in and for the ones who were milling about the common areas, they looked a little more tired than usual. I only heard one excited conversation going on about the New Year's Eve bash, which had a good band and good food, in this person's opinion. And even that conversation focused on looking back, rather than forward.