“Keep Christmas with you… all through the year.” Good song. Good thought. Good spirit.

After a months-long, multi-million dollar buildup to the climax on Christmas day, December 26 kills it stone-cold dead. No more carols, no more commercials and sale fliers, no more sales, no more hopes or expectations. Hunt in vain for Christmas specials on TV. The lights and decorations go back in the box. The tree goes out by the street for pickup. I’m getting depressed just thinking about it.

This year we had our own “drag” on the spirit of Christmas… both before and after. Christmas was on Saturday, and on the Sunday just before, my wife’s sister died unexpectedly in Colorado. Sixty-seven years old.

We still had Christmas. We still enjoyed it. We watched the movies, she knitted baby hats. We gave gifts, and had a good Christmas morning with our younger son, and spoke to the rest of the family by phone.

I hope your letdown is not so severe. But we kept Christmas going, and we’re STILL keeping it going. Here’s some ideas so you can too.

PLAN to take down your tree. Make it a de-decorating party. Play the music, enjoy reminiscing about the ornaments again, have hot chocolate. Packing things away can be part of your Christmas. When I told my mother about this, she said, “That’s so much better than my system, which is to scream at people until it gets done.”

When our kids were young in Pennsylvania we drove quite a few miles each year to drop off our tree at Nockamixon State Park, which chipped them for use on park paths. Some folks load their tree with bird or squirrel goodies, and put it out in the yard.

International “Christmas” holidays ramble on for another couple of weeks. You might not get much out of Boxing Day, or St. Stephens Day, or the martyrdom of St. Thomas à Becket. But we used to invite friends to an annual Twelfth Night/Epiphany party. We’d play the Christmas music one more time, serve festive foods, and have a good relaxed time enjoying, and saying goodbye to, the holiday.

Thanks to the magic of CDs, DVDs, MP3s, streaming services, and more, you can enjoy the music and the movies for as long as you like. Did you miss a favorite Christmas movie? Watch it now! If anybody else thinks it’s goofy, fine. They can go home and watch “Judgement at Nuremburg.” You’re entitled to watch, and listen to, whatever you want, and do it WHEN you want. Your pleasure isn’t chained to the calendar.

It’s still the season of giving. Just as retail business (even grocery stores, believe it or not) go down for a month or so after Christmas, so do donations, including blood donations. But the needs are even higher at this time when the weather often gets dangerous. So, think about whom YOU’D like to support a little extra “at this festive season.” Just a few days ago we mailed checks to Finger Lakes SPCA and Food Bank of the Southern Tier, not to mention our church. Give in the spirit of Christmas, and you can extend your Christmas. All through the year.