Am I the only one who loves to see Christmas come but really love to see it go? I woke up yesterday and just wanted my house back. Everything is out of place and I want it to be normal again. I feel like such a Scrooge but I want the tree down, the nutcrackers put away and the lights off the house. Until next November, then I’ll be happy to see it all again.
Usually I wait until New Years Day and take everything down in one fell swoop. This was pretty much organized chaos. Next Christmas would roll around and I would have to unpack all of the boxes because everything would be mixed together. I finally got smart and start the day after Christmas doing a little at a time.
I start with all the decorations that are sitting around. I collect nutcrackers and crazy colored metal trees, they look like Christmas trees from Whoville. Those are the first things to be put away. I have boxes for ornaments and boxes for lights. This way everything is together, I don’t have to dig through boxes to find what I’m looking for.
I label all the lights as I take them off the tree. We have three Christmas trees so it helps to remember how many strands were on each tree. I just use those sticky labels, folded in half and write one, two or three on them so I know which tree they go on next year. I do the same thing for the ornaments. Each tree has a box and everything goes in it, lights, ornaments and that cut little polka dot garland.
I do the same with the lights for the house, label them so I know where they do next year. This cuts down on decorating time and enables me to recreate a really pretty Christmas scene. Then all the boxes, well really plastic totes, are labeled as Christmas decorations and stacked in the box for next year. What a wonderful feeling when it’s done!