While I tend to be a take it down in January gal, my mother takes Christmas down when Christmas is over…on December 26th. Here are a few tips that may make next year just that much easier as you take down the Christmas decor.
- Take pictures of where you placed your decorations so that you can remember what worked well when you decorate next year.
- Write out directions: how many sets of lights you used on the tree, how many spindles you wrap the garland around on the railing, the date your elf shows up.
- Throw away broken or unused decor and clean out storage totes.
- Put tree bags over your artificial Christmas trees when you store them. Each of our kids has a mini Christmas tree that their Papa purchases them an ornament for each year and I put a bag over these trees each year, making it simple to keep track of whose ornaments are whose. It makes this tradition easy to maintain.
- Start a tote for your kids’ Christmas projects so you can admire them next year and get the projects out of your drawers.
- Frame a picture you loved from this Christmas to take out next year.
- Tuck your Advent book and your kids’ books about Christmas in with your decorations so you can find them next year.
- Leave yourself a list of priorities tucked away in the boxes, things you enjoyed from this season, or maybe didn’t fit in but wished you would have. A list will guide your calendar planning when you open the boxes next year.
- Write yourself a quick note about where your heart is and what you would like to remember next year. Last year my dad had cancer at Christmas; this year, there was a calm that I wouldn’t have realized if I hadn’t taken time to remember. This year Teddy talked to our elf each morning, and it was a sweet piece that I want to remember about this year.
- Grab a coffee and savor what just happened over the holidays. Give yourself a minute to celebrate the joyful moments your hands helped to create.
As we seek to make the things that can weigh down during the holidays a process and leave the variables up to our God, we can ask Him to speak, fill the gaps, and deliver us through the season with the comfort and joy it promises.
You may be happy with how things turned out or wish things had been different. Even if you are tired of all that was Christmas, don’t forget the sweet parts amongst the busy, and the thrill of hope that is still there as we begin this new year together!
HLLF,
