Three Unusual but Effective Ways to Combat the After-Christmas Letdown

First, a word to the wise: Next year, consider following the tips at the end of this article and you might not experience any letdown. But this year, it's too late for a whole new way of approaching the season.

This year, see if any of the following tips can help you banish that sad feeling that can follow the holidays. These are not ideas developed by researchers or psychologists; they are just ways I found helpful at combatting that weary feeling that sometimes sets in on and after Christmas. I hope they help you as much as they did me.

One: Add "Winter-Spring" Lights

Taking the tree down can send us into a tailspin. Where there was a glittering, pretty, lightsome decoration, there is now a dark corner, and maybe a few needles or pieces of tinsel stuck in the carpet. It's enough to depress anybody. It's as if a loss has occurred, and just about all of us have had quite enough losses in life, thank you.

Put up a lighted floral arrangement, birdhouse, or spring wreath in place of the tree. It doesn't have to be exactly where the tree was, but make sure it is somewhere you will often see it. I have a lighted birdhouse that straddles the line between winter and spring. It's decorated in white, pink, and red, and it has little red lights on it. Get a birdhouse, finished or unfinished, paint it and wrap fake flowers or vines on it, and twine a short string of lights on it. You can use white lights and keep them white, or get those new colorful Sharpies and just color on the bulb with the color you like. I have some pretty pale green bulbs from coloring plain white bulbs with a light green Sharpie. Just make sure the color means "happy" and "sparkly" to you.

You might be thinking, "Well, I don't want to 'jump the season' and start pretending it's spring so early." Well, you have just been through the most grevious case of "jumping the season" ever -- around here, the stores start putting out Christmas items in July. Don't think of it as skipping over winter, which can be such a pretty, pretty time of deep reflection and burgeoning hope. Think of it as bringing the chance of a lightened heart into the season. If you fear it's an attempt at skipping over winter, then make your birdhouse, flowers, or wreath in frosty colors of flowers and white, to give beautiful winter its due. Use glitter or mica to add an icy touch.

By the time spring actually arrives, you will be over that sad, dark feeling and you can either put away your lighted decor item or even decide to decorate it year-round. I keep mine up all year and change the flowers on it to fit the season. Candles glowing in the fireplace can also give a happy feeling to your day (make sure the candles are behind the screen or the fireplace doors. I do NOT suggest ever having candles burning outside of a protected fireplace, it's just too hazardous).

Two: A New Tradition: Feast of the Epiphany and King Cakes

I was raised in New Orleans, in that city's heyday. Ah, New Orleans, the City that Care Forgot -- and one reason for that carefree feeling was that the old-timers there knew a thing or two about banishing the blues.

Beginning on January 6th, with the Feast of the Epiphany, which is often celebrated with a big "Sunday-style" dinner or a big shrimp boil, comes many Cajun's favorite time of year: King Cake time -- leading up to Mardi Gras! From January 6th on up to Mardi Gras day, people have King Cake parties where a big ring cake is served. In one piece is a little plastic baby. No one can tell where that baby is. Everybody takes a piece of cake. Whoever gets the baby has to give the next King Cake party. In my youth, you had to take your duty very seriously, and the parties came fast and furious, at least one a week.

YOU can be an honorary Cajun and join in this fun. You can take a cake to work, you can have a party at your house (strangely, in New Orleans we always said, "by" instead of "at," as in "I am going to go by your house for the party" or "I'm having a party by my house..."), you can adopt this tradition in your family and have a nice focus for each week. You can make a King Cake yourself, or you can get a store-bought cake, like a yeast coffee cake, and stick the baby into the cake from the bottom (babies can be found at almost any party store, hobby store, or big-box store in the baby shower area). We always let either the oldest person there pick what piece they wanted, or the youngest -- you WANT the baby because it's so fun to have yet another party. The parties are mainly for yakking, yakking, talk talk talk. They are just low-key and something to brighten winter days.

You can further keep the blues at bay by preparing your own "Mardi Gras Parade." The parades were just so neat -- I make little floats out of cardboard, paper, and fake flowers and add a new piece each week until I have a nice long "parade" of my own -- the kids can get into this, too -- what you need after Christmas is a goal, some festive decorations, and something bright and pretty to look at, and your parade will do all these things. You have to let go of all your "shoulda-coulda-woulda" self-talk and your "what-will-others-think" talk and be free in your spirit and open to new things.

Three: Feed the Birds

This is one of the most sure-fire ways to stop that let-down feeling. You have a new job to do: Bird feeding in the long, lean days of winter. Fill up the feeder or scatter seed every morning. If you leave your house to work, you know that while you are gone, they are eating. It just buoys me up to know they are eating up the food I provide. It's so hard for them to stay warm without full little bellies. If you are home, watch their antics. It may take a day or two for them to find the food you put out. Be patient. If you can do so, give them a source of water, too, in a shallow pan. They sell heated birdbaths for cold climates, too. I take the bird-feeding very seriously.

NEXT YEAR:
Don't funnel all your hopes, fun, attention, and money into the big one-day celebration on December 25th. No, make a season out of it, like in the old days. The colonials made a whole season out of it, as do the Europeans. It begins December 1 and lasts the whole month through! Treats aren't hoarded just for the Big Day, but are eaten and enjoyed the entire season. Games and gifts come early, middle, and late!

Some old-time stuff and some new stuff that is great to add to your Christmas: Begin early -- have lots of special foods each week -- cut out loads of snowflakes and put all over the place -- read all the old poems, carols, and stories aloud or to yourself -- celebrate St. Nikolaus day on December 6th -- tell ghost stories in the evenings -- try old-time recipes like syllabub and cloves in apple juice -- make pull-taffy -- play old-time games like "Poor Poor Kitty" if you can (some of us are alone and we have to just do some of these fun things virtually or in our minds) -- start thinking of your Mardi Gras floats -- keep bright colors around you --

The key is to have the season be your focus -- not the single day. When that single day is the focus, so much can go wrong, and no single day can bear all that weight of hopes and dreams and baggage without somehow failing you. But viewed season-wide, you can have lots and lots of fun and little triumphs -- be open to new things -- add this-and-that tradition you hear about or read about to the ones you already have (it ADDS to the fun, it doesn't diminish the previous traditions!) -- and try to see that Christmas and winter are not set apart from the rest of the year, but are just a part of it -- make gifts the LEAST of it all, for you and the children in your life -- segue into January naturally and let yourself feel connected to the natural order of the seasons and the days to come.