Tag: ornaments

An Organized “Deck the Halls”!

It’s time to deck those halls!  Boughs of holly, optional.  Here are 6 tips to help with christmas-clip-art-holidays_christmas_holly_1the process!

1. First-Out-Last-In Box: There was a moment over the weekend when I silently thanked my January 2015 self for taking a little extra time and care putting stuff away after last Christmas.  Our First-Out-Last-In Box is just that – the box of decorations that comes out at the beginning of Advent, and most of the stuff in it stays out until after New Years.  In January, the box sits, mostly filled, in my laundry room for a few weeks as the last few straggling decorations get corralled and put away until the next Christmas.   Which leads me to….

2. Remember what is important.  For me, Christmas is about the spirituality of Advent, the birth of our Lord, and spending special time with family and friends.  Therefore, we put out our Advent wreath and Calendar and and Nativity Scene first.  The creche stays up until we celebrate the Epiphany on January 6th.  We add table runners, candles and a wreath on the door, and the tree and the rest of the decorations wait until mid-December.


Edited, 11/29/2016: 

2.5. As you decorate your home this year, Consider the scary and unloved decorations that haven’t made it out of the box this year, or for the past few years (see my recent Halloween Decor article, http://peaceofmindpo.com/2016/10/18/what-if-your-hal…ot-in-a-good-way/!). Now is the time to toss the icky stuff!  Pass things along to loved ones, sell stuff on FB, donate items to your local charity – NOW, while they are accepting and re-selling Holiday decorations.

3.  You have two options, pick your favorite.  One option is to bring all your holiday decorations into your main living space, unload them all and distribute your stuff (then put the boxes away).  The other option is to open the boxes in your storage area, take out just what you need and leave the boxes in storage, then decorate a bit at a time.   Both options work, just choose.

And when you’re ready to put up your holiday decor:

4. De-decorate.  Take down the every-day decor.  Honestly, there’s not always room for both. every day and holiday.  Dedicate one of the empty holiday decoration containers (you have nice, solid, plastic water-and-bug proof containers, right?) to the non-holiday decor, and leave that container close to your storage access. This will make re-decorating after the holidays so much easier!

5.  De-decorate,  then dust.  Then decorate for Christmas.  Then vacuum.  Glitter, pine needles, glitter, scraps of paper, glitter.

6.  Put your empty decoration containers away.  Yes, all the way away.  Don’t tuck them in a closet, or leave them piled in your basement. Put them back in the crawl space / attic, etc.  Your holiday stuff could be out for a month, do you really want to stumble over empty boxes for that long?

Enjoy!!  Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa- la-la-la-la!

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Slow Down. Smile. Breathe. Merry Christmas!

2 Comments

I spend a lot of time organizing others and myself, but I remind myself often “Why?”.  My personal “Why to be organized” reasons include running our home efficiently, using our resources responsibly, setting an example for my kids, and taking care of tasks so we have time for other things.  Above all, to me, being organized means I take good care of my family.

I attended a scripture reflection gathering last weekend.  60 minutes with 4 wonderful women, and my mindset for the holidays was blessedly changed.  I was reminded that everything we do for others this time of year is a blessing. Our labors and service are all a gift, to us and to others and to God.  Hope and Faith and Glory.  Ahhhh….  (that was me sighing a contented sigh).

We discussed how the ornaments on our tree reflect all the different places our lives have been.  For example, the ornaments my husband and I brought from our childhoods when we got married, and the ones we have received over the years since.  The “baby’s first Christmas” ornaments from each son, the cactus ornament from our anniversary in Arizona, the Irish ones we received at a family ornament exchange, the Mickey-shaped one we carefully brought home from Disney.  The hand-made ornaments from many school parties: angels with little hand-shaped wings; the same photo ornament of each boy holding the Velveteen rabbit in the same preschool classroom; banners and bells and beads and glitter.

A friend stopped by the other day and exclaimed over my handmade ornaments on my tree.  Since I consider myself totally not-crafty, I hadn’t really realized that we had more or less handmade ornaments than anyone else.  I did look at my tree anew though, admiring my sons’ crafty work: the ornaments they have made, and the fact that we all decorated the tree together and they chose which ornaments to put out.  My heart warmed when I realized how they have come to value the history and present life that the ornaments represent.

Our lives have gotten busier and busier as the boys have gotten older.  And I have been cranky at several points this holiday season about the apparent lack of time for our family traditions.  But I guess they still understand and appreciate and love our traditions, even if they haven’t figured out how to help, or haven’t made them their own.  And that’s ok.

So my organizing idea for you this week is to slow down and appreciate the Holidays for what they are.  An opportunity to get closer to God, to your community, your friends, your family and to your own self.   Admire and embrace anew your own traditions.  Appreciate the time and focus that being organized has afforded you, and reap the benefits now.   Slow down and smile and breathe.  I know I will.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

The Day the Decorations Come Down!

It’s that time of year again, When the Christmas decorations come down!  Do yourself a favor for next year, and try these 5 ideas today:

  1. Permanently purge the stuff you did not use this year. We have a pile of items we have not used for a couple of years, and most will go away permanently, via donations or recycling.
  2. Invest in quality storage containers. Stackable, sturdy plastic, bug proof.  A client had pests in her storage area over the summer, and her boxes and favorite decorations were destroyed.  Water and moisture, mice and termites are just some of the threats to your treasures.  We use 18 gal. Rubbermaid or Sterilite containers.  Clear containers are great, too, and allow us to see what is inside, but clear ones can be more expensive than comparably sized containers.  Also available are containers made specifically to store ornaments.
  3. Tag your ornaments.  We received an ornament from a friend tagged with a label listing the date, her name and a wish for us. I love that idea, and will tag a few more this year myself!  Next year and for years to come, we can remember where our favorite ornaments came from and appreciate our friends anew.  This will also help on that day far in the future when I distribute ornaments to my sons as they start their own homes and families.
  4. Last-In First-Out Box.  In a recent blog, I mentioned my Last-In First-Out box, and a few of you asked me about that.  Here is the explanation:  In one well-labeled container, I place all the things that I use for the duration of the Christmas Season.  For example, around December 1, we put up just a few things, like our nativity scene, heirloom advent calendars and table runners.  Those are the first-out decorations, and the extent of our decorations until mid-December.  They are also the last items to go back into storage.  So we keep those few things that we use for all 6 weeks in their own container.  That way, I only have to grab one container to get us started, that same one stays open in the laundry room (the entrance to the crawl space) as we put things away, too,  and is placed on top of the pile until next December.
  5. Make some notes about this year to review next year. Here are a few of mine:
    1. More Christmas cards next years.  I underestimated our numbers, and had to reorder cards and buy more stamps before I could mail my business New Years cards.
    2. I noted our menu for the various meals we hosted, and party ideas that worked or not.
    3. I listed gift giving challenges and successes.
    4. I added “Christmas photos” to my October list, to print them sooner.  I love the collage photo cards now available.  I can use great parts of a number of photos instead of relying / waiting for one perfect (yeah, right) family photo.
    5. I have a spreadsheet, too, for my holiday planning, but I make these Christmas notes in a notebook, and they are personal and reflective, more like a journal to keep from year to year.

So, while your memories are still fresh, take a few minutes now to reflect on and savor your holiday season.  And take a few more to make next year’s holiday season even better!