Storing the Stuff

As I was vacuuming the basement at 8:30 PM last night, I realized that I would not be completing my To-Do list for the day. Time just ran out last night! We had a wonderful visit with Jimmy's Aunt Julie and her family, and being out of town for the afternoon just prevented me from "getting it all done". And that's OK. This list is still there, and I will add a few items to it and tackle it today.

A friend recently asked me about storing the Christmas stuff. I store my Christmas stuff the same way I store everything....in plastic boxes. I have ornament boxes for the ornaments--they have these little cardboard dividers inside. The two boxes that I use for ornaments for our tree are actually these drawer things--two drawers each. I have regular ornament boxes for the various balls and pinecones that I have displayed around the house. All of these boxes were purchased over the years at Wal Mart. Other items that I store in large plastic boxes include the Christmas books, greenery from the light fixtures, small lengths of garland, and my various Santas and other Christmas decorations. I keep the lights for the tree, the tree skirt, the stockings, and the cords and remote control for the tree lights all in one box.

I hang the wreaths and long strands of garland that hang on our stairway on nails on the wall in my Christmas storage room. We have storage area upstairs that I use only for Christmas decorations. If you have to store your Christmas decorations in an area with other storage items, you will need to number the outside of the boxes and then list the contents of each box on an index card or on a master list of box contents.

In addition to completing yesterday's list, today I want to:

1. take down the stairway garland

2. take down decorations in my bedroom

I hope you are being productive at your house too. While the Christmas decorations are so pretty, I am enjoying the "clean, uncluttered look" I am achieving as I put each item away.