What a nice word! I just invented it! It refers to the process of winding down and clearing up after Christmas. It is potentially very useful, and I hope it will catch on.
Denatalification is what I have been doing today. It started this morning when we went for walk in the woods around the St. Ives estate. The purpose of this, of course, was to begin the process of correcting the effects of the extra calories we’ve accumulated over the festive season. Then this afternoon I cleared away the decorations. We have been very restrained this year–even more so than usual, because we spent Christmas itself away from home. I know that today is not the customary “Twelfth Night”, but I had a feeling that I needed to orient myself pretty firmly towards the future. So: although the vases of evergreens, of which I am very fond, had to go, it seemed like the right moment. Dinner saw the last of the Christmas pudding.
I did wonder during the afternoon where this commitment to the future had come from. Then it struck me that through the Christmas season a great deal of my energy has been directed to drawing together threads from the past. A large part of that had to do with ordering, sorting and disposing of old correspondence. More than that, however, I finished this afternoon a picture that very much has to do with my reflections upon an old friendship.* Suddenly it really does feel as if we are beginning a new year, and making a fresh beginning. Hence the emphatic commitment to denatalification.
*I noticed a small correction that needs to be made this evening, but then I hope to clear away the acrylics and get ready in the coming week for my planned re-engagement with printing.