Taxes bleh...

Taxes=A Study in Patience.
Taxpayers wait for all the W forms to arrive.
Waiting about 1-4 months as they trickle in.
Then we either DIY or Trust others to prepare the paperwork,
and we wait for those forms to be calculated.
While we wait, we budget and prepare to pay our 2 cents.
Meanwhile, and all year long, we pay sales tax, gas tax,
sometimes state tax, property taxes, business tax, payroll tax,
income tax, gains tax, gift tax, this tax, that tax...
Name one thing in life that is free. 

Happy MLK Day!

I love Federal Holidays!
Celebrate Life because God knows what He's doing

-It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
 -Lamentations 3:22

   

When to Take Down Your Christmas Tree Tradition

 Abandoned CHRISTMAS Trees Everywhere..! 

When to take down your Christmas tree..? 

  

The Traditional Answer

Traditionally, Catholics do not take down their Christmas trees and holiday decorations until January 7, the day after Epiphany. The 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day; the period before that is known as Advent, the time of preparation for Christmas.  
The 12 days of Christmas end on Epiphany, the day that the three wise men came to pay homage to the child Jesus.

Cutting the Christmas Season Short

Some may not keep their Christmas trees and other decorations up until Epiphany if they've forgotten what the "Christmas season" means. For various reasons, including the desire of businesses to encourage Christmas shoppers to buy early and buy often, the separate liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas have run together, essentially replacing Advent (especially in the United States) with an extended "Christmas season." Because of that, the actual Christmas season has been forgotten.

By the time Christmas Day comes, people are ready to pack up the decorations and the tree—which they may have put up as early as Thanksgiving weekend—it's probably past its prime. With needles turning brown and dropping and branches drying out, the tree may be an eyesore at best and a fire hazard at worst. And even though savvy shopping and proper care for a cut tree (or the use of a Live Tree that can be Planted Outside in the Spring) can extend the life of a Christmas tree, let's be honest—after a month or so, the novelty of having a major piece of nature in your living room tends to wear off.