PACKING AWAY CHRISTMAS?

Alone in the house, is this happening? It's always weird after everyone is gone, leaving behind fragments of the holidays: scraps of paper & ribbon, the famous Tyler Tags, merry decorations, leftover food, receipts, dirty sheets, towels & coffee mugs, empty couches and chairs, no one reading and sprawled in front of the fireplace, Christmas recordings in a cluttered heap and a lonely tree with most of the lights no longer twinkling.
Packing away Christmas, getting their places back to normal seems to be something people feel is an accomplishment after the holidays... or a competition as I hear people at work comment exuberantly, "Everything's back in the attic" or woefully, "I haven't even started yet!"
As I put everything away so many memories come flooding back .... of the last few days, years and decades. Every object(nearly) has some sort of sentimental value as it calls out to me "remember when....?" How do I pack all this stuff away without giving way to tears as I reflect on the significance of everything from the truth of God With Us to me alone in the house?.... good thing I am alone in the house.
As I carry a closed box of carefully packed items, I hear the somewhat muffled but distinct sound of a cherished music box -the wooden one with Mary "chasing" Joseph around the manger; though packed away it still plays Silent Night as I jostle the box trying to get it up the stairs. There is a message for me in all this: I can't pack up real Christmas, nor should I try...it's music must play on in my life even through my temporary tears.