Organizing Christmas Decorations

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The Feast of Epiphany or the Twelfth Day of Christmas (January 6th) is traditionally the day all the Christmas decorations need to be down.

Well I have finally done it! I un-decorated, took my tree down, and cleaned up the Christmas holiday mess. The bins and containers I used were the same ones I have used for years. My goal was to simplify my collection enough to fit in just the three bins, a wreath case and the tree.

This is what I purged...

Red fabric ornament case
Evergreen garlands
Tree-top angel with broken plug
Extra Christmas balls
Snowman candle holder, wine stopper and paté knife set
Snowman ice cube tray
Red urn candle holder or vase
Red soldier candle holders
Bows and a few other things

Some of these things I really struggled with letting go. I argued with myself that I could use the garland on my back deck and I could get a new plug for the angel.

Reality check…no one’s going to see my back deck and it will be one more thing to take down, and if I can actually find a new plug for the angel it will probably cost as much as the whole angel did in the first place! Yes, I could use it just as a decoration on it’s own, but I don’t know where I would put it.

I re-used Christmas gift boxes to store special decorations...

Christmas Balls...

I used to store my Christmas balls in clear shoe boxes. This is a great idea, especially if they are breakable. Mine, however, are just plastic, and I found the shoe boxes took up a lot of room in the bin. I would never be able to put everything in just the three bins if I kept them.

My solution this year was to place them in zip lock plastic bags, organized by colour.

Christmas Bins...

Before putting anything in the bins, I washed them out and removed the original labels that were starting to peel off.

I re-used some Christmas cards by laminating them and then taping them on the bins. Using my trusty labeller, I labelled the side and the end of the bins.

Exterior and other Christmas decorations...

My exterior decorating is very simple – some little clear lights on the front porch which I leave up all year round. There are a couple of garlands up on the porch banisters with red bows -and that is it.

I have a wreath on my front door and one on the door going to the back deck. This year I put up some paper star lights that I bought last year on clearance. By the back door I also had a mini pre-lit Christmas tree.

Throughout the house I have a few other decorations and ornaments. There is a large stuffed snowman that I received as a secret Santa gift years ago. My favourite and most sentimental thing though is a little plastic Santa and his sleigh with two reindeer.

Christmas table and kitchen accessories...

I almost forgot about these that were in a separate basket in my coat closet. Other than a red plaid hand towel and a couple of hot pads, I didn’t use any of them this year. The red tartan place mats and napkins and Christmas tree napkin holders I have had for about thirty years and I still love them. The reason I didn’t use them this year was there are only four of each place mats and napkins and six napkin holders – but I had fourteen people for dinner.