Good ideas there!
Our church just took down the Christmas decorations! The Christmas tree was hauled out to the lot out back, and someone had the bright idea to burn it.(Pun intended there). The flames were SO deep and orange they didn't even look real, and a fresh pine scent went all over the church. It was kind of an unusual finale to the Christmas season!
But I still haven't spent my Christmas money....

But I still haven't spent my Christmas money....

Hmm! The next Public Holiday here, is Australia Day on 26th January. If I still had any Christmas money left, I'd be worrying about the beginning of the School Year the day after, when the summer holidays are definitely finished, heatwaves or not. School fees, school uniforms, second hand or not, text books, writing materials & school backpacks to carry it all daily, like little tortoises, whose hope will be to get there eventually, to go up to the next class, along with the class hares of last year. This year, reused single use shopping bags won't be an option any more, having been phased out to protect the environment. The charities are out in force, showing how disadvantaged children may suffer when the basics are not met. Home schooling is an option, run by the State, the same as the network of state schools. OTEN & the School of the Air, were established for children in remote areas who have to travel long distances to get to the nearest school, or for those who for one reason or the other cannot attend a regular school. So now conferencing softwear, laptops and PC's are a must.

You may know an Australian dollar by Her Majesty's head on the obverse & a mob of kangaroos on the reverse. An Australian dollar is currently worth 0.71% of one USD. Now how many of these coins should I bounce into the collection tins at cash registers at the local supermarket, in aid of "Support your local school" sponsoring schemes? There are probably much more urgent causes, such as Drought relief, to worry about I agree. Not to mention the necessary work done by Salvos, Vinnies, Anglicare, Australian Red Cross and Smith Family, not only overseas charities like World Vision, UNHCR etc. After all, even countries considered relatively wealthy by world standards can't help natural disasters happening, especially along the Pacific Rim, the so-called Ring of Fire.

Most of our decoration are still up. We did change the Christmas tree ornaments to silver, gold, and blue after Epiphany. Also changed the tree skirt to a navy blue and silver one that mom bought a couple years ago just for January, the mantle greenery has bits of silver and blue in it, and Christmas village is still on top of the family room bookcases. I do miss having a live tree, but a fake tree can be left up until the end of January or even into February.

For Epiphany, we got some small gifts. The younger siblings received the final season 1990s' Zorro show. And once again we didn't have a special dessert. January is full of special dates for my family, so we don't have big desserts for all of them.

We've mostly stopped listening to Christmas music, still have the instrumental Christmas albums on all the cellphones and computers.

SnowAngel