It's March!  The daffodils are starting to stretch their little stalks out of the ground and wave hello.  The birds have rediscovered their songs and are merrily chirping outside while I get ready for work.  My back garden is free of snow and I can see my hyacinths starting their journey to the light.  But indoors? My Dickens village is still up - the last remnant of the holidays - and it's time to pack it up.  Probably past time, but my family so enjoys how the village cast its soft glow all night in the family room, so I keep it up until the last snowflake has disappeared outdoors.  Good-bye, London!!

 Goodbye, charming little residential area on the outskirts of town, where Charles Dickens writes at home at his beloved Gad's Hill...

 Goodbye to the hustle and bustle of the market square, Victoria Station, St. Martin's in the Fields, and Buckingham Palace...

  Goodbye to all the wonderful performances at the Globe!  Your merry band of entertainers have kept us well amused over the holidays.

Goodbye River Thames and brave little skaters!  Goodbye to the gin distillery that provides me with all the gin I need for my lovely Pimms Cups!

 Goodbye loyal and faithful Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London!  Keep the ravens safe and well fed until next year!

 "They're changing guards at Buckingham Palace

Christopher Robin went down with Alice..."

 Goodbye wonderful musicians whose beautiful strains of God Bless You Merry Gentlemen you can hear very softly at night, if you listen with your heart instead of your ears...

Please keep the chestnuts hot and the gingerbread crispy until we meet again!

Dickens Village, you bring me so much joy!  That is, of course, after I forget about the hours of unpacking and assembling, arranging and re-arranging, multiple trips to the hardware store for replacement light bulbs, plus the countless trips up and down the basement stairs to pack it all away again.  But as Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a time for everything, and I suppose that also means a time to unpack, and a time to pack it all away.  Thank you, sweet sweet memories, for all the joy you bring my family at winter time!  And now?  On to spring decorating!

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,    

 a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build, 

     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.