Raise your hand if you’ve already taken down your Christmas tree. Neatly packed away all the decorations? Sigh. Not me
. Part denial of the new decade coming, part wanting to still enjoy those twinkling lights. Mostly just having fun and getting other stuff done.
As I look at all those sweet ornaments on our tree, it reminds me of a simple habit I discovered years ago. Ornament storage. Sorry, no special tub with dividers. We use our Christmas stockings. Each child finds all of his ornaments and packs the precious pile away in his own stocking.
Three benefits:
- Soft stockings cushion delicate items.
- Ornaments are sorted for next year. Taking the tree down doesn’t have to be such a chore.
- Each Christmas the children pull their own ornaments out, enjoying each one while helping decorate the tree. “Look how little I was Mama!”
Bonus tip for the new year! Y’all may already do this as well. During December I store my year ‘round mantle decorations in the Christmas greenery box. I take the Christmas greenery out of its storage box. Then I put the year ‘rounders right down into the Christmas tub. A few weeks later, when it’s time to take the tree down, I can actually find what I need. It’s all in the Christmas tub. And my poor ol’ mantle doesn’t have to go through January looking all bleak and bare.
Do you have a handy way of storing decorations? Or when do you usually take your tree down?
Kerri says
December 29, 2009 at 11:00 AMI love this simple but effective idea! Each of the kids has a plastic shoebox for their ornaments, but I might use stockings for the ones that don’t fit in those.
And I do the same thing with my everyday decor, too 🙂
We usually take our tree down around New Year’s Day – in time to recycle it at Home Depot.
Thanks for sharing!
Angie says
December 30, 2009 at 4:56 PMAwesome idea! I usually have verything down by NY Eve but this year I got it all down the day after Christmas. I do still have our Nativity and the wee little tree for our 12 days of Christmas ornaments/devotions and the nativity out.
Thanks for the great idea for next year.