Star light, star bright

Long time blog readers may remember my habit of touching salt water on a daily basis. Astute readers may have noticed that I haven't mentioned it in a long time. Unfortunately, that's not because I just didn't think to mention it. It's because I haven't been doing it regularly. (Not that I stopped completely, but it hasn't been anywhere even close to daily in a long time.) New years are good times to work on new (or old abandoned) habits (good ones, anyway...the bad ones seem to stick without any work at all!), so I've started making time each day to touch salt water again, as I used to.

I have a handful of favorite salt water spots, but for the last few nights I've been going to the edge of Silver Lake after dark. It has been a lovely experience, reminding me of why I used to enjoy doing this every day. One great thing about cold winter nights is that the sky is generally clear, making for wonderful star viewing. Last night was no exception, and I enjoyed gazing up at the wonder above me. I love how looking at the heavens at night makes me feel small, and yet a part of it all.

There's an extra star visible right now, as well. It's across the harbor on the former Coast Guard station (now the NCCAT building), and it goes up every year for about a month for the holidays. I suspect it will come down soon, along with the stars and angels on the light poles, holiday lights on the homes, and my own Christmas decorations, including all five trees (yes, five...but three of them are tiny). It's a little bittersweet to me, this ending of the Christmas season. I love everything about Christmas - parties, concerts, carols, Nativity scenes, advent count downs, traditions...but most especially, I adore Christmas lights. (I drove around the village 4 separate times this year to look at them again and again.) So last night, in addition to touching salt water, I drove by and looked at the house which was my favorite in terms of lights (and also well-liked by the judges: it won the "Most Traditional" award). Then I went home and did what Karen (who lives in that house) told me she was going to do before they took the lights down: sat in my living room with all the lights out except the ones on our trees, and enjoyed the sparkle (along with a glass of wine).

I was glad to enjoy looking at the trees one last time this year (until late November, anyway), since I'll probably start the process of taking them down today. I say "start" because putting away our trees is a somewhat lengthy ordeal. I collect gold plated Christmas ornaments, which come in sets of 12 each year, so they must be put back in the correct boxes. The sorting sometimes takes a while, as the dates are stamped on them in the tiniest possible font, and often in odd places, so this is a task I undertake literally with magnifying glass at the ready. I'll just think of it as prolonging the joy of seeing my ornaments!