Christmas Day is over, and now the debate begins. When do you take the opened presents out from under the tree? When should you take the tree down? Do we leave the other ornaments up til after the New Year?
Many years ago, our dog decided for us. As he wondered through the living room and looked out the patio doors behind the tree, his collar got caught on a tree branch. As he ran away from the tree there were branches, needles and ornaments and electric cords everywhere. This gave us a wonderful opportunity to clean up, we had broken ornaments, and we discarded them, we then looked at all of our tree ornaments and determined what we would keep, and what we would donate. The poor tree went in a bag to end up in a landfill site (artificial).
Instead of waiting for your animal to determine what your next step should be, decide on a date when you can take the time to start this process, block it in your schedule or on your calendar. In the meantime, grab a few packing boxes, hopefully the ones you can see through, if not those then boxes that glasses came in that have dividers are wonderful, and some used or new tissue paper.
Start with an inquiry, do you have any ornaments you did not put up this year? If so, dig them out and go through them. Decide why you did not put them up,. Should you gift them to another member of the family, keep them for next year, dispose of them or donate them. Have a box ready for each of these categories. Put the item in the right box.
After you have reviewed the unused Christmas decorations, take the tree ornaments from the tree one at a time. Go through the same process. Pack each one away with a wish for safe storage to enjoy next year. Take those you are disposing of the garbage area. Collect those you are gifting to others and prepare them for their journey. Take the box of those you are donating and put them aside. Make sure you label each box.
Now take the tree down, whether it is going in a box or to the curb, do this cautiously and with the help of a friend or family member. Take the tree skirt to the door and shake it out if able to or gently brush off the leftover Christmas jewels. If you use a power bar, put it in the box with the tree stand. Label the box.
Once this is over, pat yourself on the back and take a break. Remember, take your time. Tomorrow you can focus on the rest of the decorations. Linens and dishes. Great Job!
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