Well people, it’s time to be putting all our Yule do-dads away for another year. It’s always weird, I’m sad to see them go but I’m also glad to be getting back to normal.
Anyhow, I thought I’d share this prayer, yet again from Jason Mankey’s book Llewellyn’s Little Book of Yule. It seems a good way to close out the season.
The End of Yuletide
For most of us today, New Year’s Day marks the end of the Yule season. Those of us with a deep and obsessive love for the holidays might try to make the season last until Three Kings’ Day or even Plough Monday, but despite our yearning for a longer season, it does eventually come to an end.
By January 7, most of the Yuletide decorations at my house have been taken down and the festive energy of the winter holiday season begins to recede. I don’t shed any tears while packing up a lifetime’s worth of Yule decorations every January, but it’s a task that’s always accompanied by a touch of melancholy.
Many of my friends tease me about keeping my Yuletide decorations up past New Year’s, but there’s a lot of precedent for it. In medieval Europe, decorations often stayed up until the first of February. Today it’s generally considered unlucky to leave decorations up past Twelfth Day, so it’s best not to procrastinate too much.
As I pack up my holiday treasures every January, I can’t help but perform one more act of Yuletide magic. As I lovingly place stockings, candles, Yule logs, and other miscellanea in large red and green plastic tubs, I say the following blessing as I place the lids on my bins:
With joy we celebrated the holiday,
And now we pack our mementos away.
Gifts we have received and gifts we have given,
Tales of sun, child, and Claus to all who would listen.
Twinkling lights, fire in the hearth, and candles bright,
All to drive away the darkness of the night.
May we remember the magic, laughter, and cheer,
And be with those we love at Yule again next year!
Mankey, Jason. Llewellyn’s Little Book of Yule (Llewellyn’s Little Books 14) (p. 226). Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD… Kindle Edition.
Happy New Year, folks! May 2025 be kind to us!
) year. Thankyou for putting this post up. 
I’m going through something similar with decorations my grandma has had since we were kids - they’re little angels and we each have one with our name on it. She passed in 2020 and no one can seem to find them in her things. I keep asking, but someone always passes the buck to someone else and I go 'round in circles 
We can both do that, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of new decorations and memories as the years go on!
Amethyst,
This you has been definitely a harder one for me because my parents were gone and it was the first Christmas that I actually got to stay home and I could’ve went over to my cousin’s house but I didn’t and next year I will not be working on Yule and Next year will definitely be able to spend time with family! I hope yours was magikal! I honestly don’t mind calling it Yule or x mas cause I really don’t exclude anyone’s beliefs! I have interwoven many beliefs into my being! Honestly I will be honest I even have Jesus as an archetype that is woven into my eclectic witchy style!
This has been a lovely post, so nice to see everyone’s Yule/Christmas and whatever else is out there ( must find someone somewhere who has a sparkly tradition for January! 
