You have been up since 5 am, you have slaved in the kitchen since the sun came up, you have handed out presents and broken up squabbles between the kids, you have eaten enough to feed a small village, twice, you have smiled and entertained more than Hugh Jackman and now you have come to your favourite part of Christmas Day – bedtime!

Ah, the imminent Christmas night mood; for some, it feels like the crescendo, for others a sense of sadness that all that build-up and excitement has come to an end.

Laying in bed Christmas night, I feel a mixture of the two. I take a moment to myself to think about those I will never get to spend Christmas with again, in particular, my Mum. Oh, how I miss her dearly, especially at Christmas, but I am also so very grateful that I got to spend so many Christmases with her… I allow those first few tears to fall, my heart’s reaction to the emptiness of not having her here to talk to, to cuddle her, to listen to her laugh, and then my mind takes me in another direction as I ponder the days ahead and the dreaded clean up!!!

There is so much for an overactive mind to consider, especially at bedtime on Christmas Night.

Do we have enough room in the recycle bin for all the wrapping paper, and when is the next bin night, and did I throw out that Bunnings voucher with the paper? How many days can we make the leftovers last, and how long does roast meat keep before going off? But the most pressing issue of all to consider is when we take down the Christmas Tree?? After being in such a rush to put it up in the first place, adorned with all of those decorations the kids made at pre-school years before, baubles and trinkets, now we can’t wait to get the darn thing down because we’re sick of picking up pine needles! It’s a conundrum, as we wonder if its bad luck to take it down too early. Should we keep it up all of January, or just leave it there till next Christmas?? Regardless of when the right time is to take it down, there is the added challenge of making all the bits and pieces fit back into the box it came from. Squashing and folding (for imitation trees), poking and kicking, it is not unlike trying to fit a sleeping bag back in its bag (I swear the bag shrinks every time). This is the only time I think how much easier it would be to have a real tree you can just throw out had it not been for allergy concerns.

After considering the issues above over and over, I know I will eventually fall asleep with a half-drunk cup of tea on the bedside table and an After Dinner Mint packet between my fingers. While the Christmas Night Crash befalls me every year, I know I can close my eyes with the acknowledgment I have achieved what I set out to do from the moment the season approached and that was to show my friends and family how much I love and appreciate them. Mission accomplished.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 19 December 2024.