CarrollBlog

On a rainy, gloppy, post-snowfall Monday, city crews are finally taking down holiday decorations that were strung up in November. Multicolored ornaments that doubled as street lights, giant many pointed stars that hang above the sidewalks, more. The final, municipal sign that the Christmas season is officially over. Standing at the counter of a café, I watch two men high on a crane disconnect one of these stars. When it’s detached from its moorings, they drop it into the back of their truck on top of other decommissioned stars. It’s a pretty forlorn scene—crummy wet weather, Christmas stars dumped unceremoniously into a truck as if they were pesky tree branches that had gotten tangled in electrical wires during a storm. The waitress watches for a moment too and then smiles at me. “I’m just glad my kids aren’t around to see that,” and then goes back to work. Exactly what is needed at those moments—a café philosopher who puts it all back into proper perspective with one sentence.