Really?
I have to UNdecorate my home now? But it looks so lovely!
…what will replace them?
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It’s a time-consuming task to decorate for the Holiday Season when you’ve got many other balls in the air but very much worth you time and effort because the rewards are priceless and even though it happens year after year, it never gets boring…it’s like with the extreme temperatures here in my hometown, when the three-digit temps hit we are always SURPRISED as if we didn’t have them last year..jajajaaa, well it’s the same for Christmas and all it entails… (OMG, talk about a run-on sentence)
Howeverrrrrr, undoing the deed is a whole other story, there’s not much to look forward to but a blank canvas, because after having so many lively colors and shiny lights, well my house does turn into a blank canvas again (I don’t think my husband would appreciate knowing that I AM GOING TO HAVE TO INVEST IN SOME MID-SEASON DECORATIONS to liven things up around here)…
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How much longer is it ‘correct’ to keep the decorations up? Here, many people keep them up until DIA DE REYES -that is, January 6 when we celebrate the day the Three Wise Men visited Jesus, Mary and Joseph to bring him presents…and that’s tomorrow…btw, a tradition here is to leave a shoe out and the Three Wise Men will leave you a little trinket – candy is the most common….oops, sorry this only works for children’s shoes! Of course, that’s how it works for all of us who got presents from Santa…but in the rest of our country, it’s until tomorrow DIA DE REYES when children get their gifts …I’d love to one day do this but I think with all the info out there on children’s rights, my children would consider this child abuse or something really awful…jejejejeeeee
Anyway, I love this tradition, it does make more sense but geographical and cultural influence cannot be fought (or maybe it’s not worth fighting, I don’t know…I’ll do it with my grandchildren…yes, that’s what I’ll do, I’ll make it a tradition with them to expect their gifts from us on DIA DE REYES…I like this…I’ll have to make a mental note)
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So back to the task at hand: PUTTING AWAY OUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS…
There are many tips and tricks out there, though before getting into that I have to say that the best tip is to…
NOT THROW AWAY THE ORIGINAL PACKAGING…that’s where your decorations were kept to transport them, get them out of a trailer and into a warehouse and then stacked in a store…SO YOU CAN BET THAT’S THE SAFEST PLACE FOR THEM, right?!
but, if you were so excited to get decorating that you or your children just tore everything open, then I recommend you RAID YOUR CLOSETS FOR STURDY SHOE BOXES, as many as you can find! and hopefully you’ve got some…
TISSUE PAPER left over from your gift wrapping, or…
a few sheets of KITCHEN PAPER to protect and cushion your ‘heirloom’ decorations
Of course there are plenty of products out there that are made specially for storing Christmas decorations. Off the top of my head I can think of the ones made by The Container Store (you can think of it as an investment in your SANITY)
corrugated ornament storage trays/archival ornament storage boxes/ MY FAVORITE @ $16.99 wing-lid ornament storage box/ foam envelopes
MY FAVORITE, comes with three layers of corrugated dividers, it fits OMG 75 medium-sized baubles…do I even have 75 med-sized? IT’S JUST SO COOL!!
Well, that’s the storing for the ‘easy’ decorations…if you’ve got decorations in other shapes or faux greenery, I’d do the same…in SHOE BOXES with TISSUE/KITCHEN PAPER (don’t use newspaper, the print, specially in hot or humid climates, can transfer and Christmas is not a time to be reading the year’s bad news on your lovely tree!)
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Now, GARLANDS and WREATHS…these are the toughies…let’s try some DIY ideas
Somewhere I read that WE SHOULD’VE KEPT THE TUBES FROM OUR WRAPPING PAPER, hmmm, a bit too late for that!!
But if you did, well here’s an environmentally conscious use for them…SLIDE THE GARLANDS INTO THE TUBE WITHOUT DECORATIONS… BUT (huge BUT) you need to have boxes that’ll fit the length of your tubes (according to the site), however don’t despair, if you don’t, well you can just store the tubes in a little corner of your closet, they’re thin, they won’t take up much space….
Never the less, keeping with the tubing idea, which is what I plan to do: I’m going to buy some metres of corrugated cardboard and make some short tubes…you know what, so that I force myself to do this, and get all excited about UNdecorating, I’m going to put together a tutorial (if it works, if not MAKE BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T READ THIS)
Then there’s The Container Store…the products they have are labeled for STORING WREATHS but I feel they could also be used for garlands…
santa's wreath storage bag/ all-purpose storage bag (green & translucent)/ clear wreath box
MY FAVORITE… because I did get a lovely and specially delicate wreath this year…SNAPLOCK WREATH STORAGE BOX @ $14.99
CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTS, what a mess they can turn into! The best tip I’ve found, and this’ll be the first year I do it (because I just found it, Thanks MARTHA STEWART) is to WRAP THEM AROUND A PIECE OF CARDBOARD, or the green alternative, those gift boxes that you haven’t thrown out…and the boxes they came in can be used for storing other decorations!
tip from MARTHA STEWART Organizing Tip of the Day
Don’t forget to cut a small slit on both extremes of the piece of cardboard to ‘hook’ in the ends of your lights!
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BAUBLES, check…GREENERY +, check…GARLANDS & WREATHS, check…TREE LIGHTS, check….THE TREE!
My artificial tree has to be taken apart LIMB BY LIMB (sounds like a torture scene) and I HAVE KEPT THE HUGE BOX (which looks like a coffin, spooky). On this one I have no other DIY alternatives to offer but KEEP THE BOX…though, you can go buy you know where…don’t forget to measure your tree, the height is (right next to the price) what’ll help you make the decision…
4' vertical tree storage/ wheeled tree storage/ discotheque inexpensive tree storage
MY FAVORITE (though I need to save for it) THE UPRIGHT TREE STORAGE BAG, @ $62.00 it’s a bit on the expensive side, but HORIZONTAL land property in my home is quite a commodity, so I’M GOING VERTICAL
HOPE THIS IS USEFUL
and makes your
UNdecorating a
practical task!!
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Before we end this, bear with my nostalgia at watching my house lose its Christmas cheer (not it’s spirit, it has to be with us all year round!!) and let me end this post with a few other iPhone vignettes of my Christmas decorating efforts… HUGS PEOPLE!
ACT. REACT. or just THINK about it! 