Thursday, December 04, 2008

Christmas Decor: Behind The Scenes

My Christmas decorating this year is not going as smoothly as I would like. I have run into all sorts of snags with my outdoor lights and my Christmas tree, which I love, picked this year to give me trouble with its lights. Good grief. I don't have that many decorations but the few I have I really enjoy and I usually have them up before this point in December so that I can enjoy them longer. But, despite all the extra work this year, they will go up eventually. And I will enjoy them. Maybe more than usual!

In the meantime, since I can't share my new tree decorations with you, which I am so excited about, I will share some of the shortcuts I use for decorating and storage.

First, this one will save you money, will help you recycle, and will keep your fabric-type Christmas decorations nice when you store them all year...even if you keep them in the attic like I do. Here's the trick: save those sturdy plastic boxes and packages that your duvets, sheets and other such linens come packaged in. They have zippers and like I said, sturdy plastic that keeps the products fresh and away from moisture, dust and anything else. They sometimes even have a pouch on the inside, which you can use for labeling like I have. Then, I place these inside my large plastic storage tubs.

Photobucket


And are you wondering what to do with your old VHS tapes? Or maybe you're smart and have already unloaded them. I still have a couple of stacks that I just haven't replaced despite the fact that we no longer own a VHS player. In any case, besides taking up space in one of my closets, they do come in handy around Christmas time to help prop things up on my mantle. These work great because they are slim, I can stack however many I want to acheive the right height, and I won't miss them for the month they're up there because I can't watch them anyway!

Photobucket


And finally, you may remember last year when I had so much trouble remembering things. I have used the following technique when trying to navigate the craziness of Christmas Day every year except last year. Who knows why. I can't explain it. But, I am using it this year already. So, my helpful hint is that after wrapping family presents that won't be opened in my own home, I put them in paper bags and label which house I'm supposed to take them to. That way, they're all ready to go when we are and I won't forget anything.

Photobucket


3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Once again, you prove that you are the most organized person I know! Good tips, Rachel!

Emily Cade said...

Great organizing tips! You inspire me to try and be organized. Seriously. I think you should take your super-organized ideas and go Martha Stewart with it. You're so good at it, I can definitely see a Rachel Cooke organizing empire. Anyway! I actually just wanted to say how much I love your profile pic! Cute fam!

Anonymous said...

You should send in your suggestion of using the plastic packaging for sheets and linens for Christmas organizing in to "Real Simple."
You know how they always have that section of "Aha!" uses of everyday items!?! I think they would definitely go for it!