Organize the Christmas Decorations and Prepare for Next Year

I spent this weekend taking down all of the Christmas décor. Some reason it took me the span of two days to pack it all away, yet a month ago I was able to get everything up and in place within 4 hours. I think it might of been just because it was way more fun to decorate!

Every year, when I spruce up our house for  the holidays, I seem to leave more and more items in the boxes. And every year I say I am going to get rid of those things I no longer use. Then that time in early January comes around, and I want to hurry up and finish with the task, so I just throw it all back in the boxes just to be done with it. Well this year it was time to break the cycle.

The big reason for my motivation was my current storage system was not working. Ok, actually, I'll be honest, it had started to smell like old newspaper, because well it was old newspaper. After our first Christmas as a married couple, I wrapped all of the ornaments into newspaper and put them into cardboard boxes, and that same newspaper was still being used to this day.

On one hand it was a bit of a time capsule to see what was in the news on that day. Do you notice that I must of packed all of the Christmas things away while it was still December?! And look at me this year, all proud of myself that the house is back to normal by mid-January. Of course that was before the kids, when I was well rested and had oodles of time.

My first trip was to the Container Store for an ornament organizer.

I then transferred all of the things we no longer use into a pile to donate. Everything left over like the lights, stockings, garland, etc. went into plastic bins.

Last, I turned my attention to the Christmas cards we received from family and friends.

Now first let me say, I love getting these cards in the mail every year. We have moved a few times over the years, so this is one of the ways we keep in touch with those we no longer live near. It is just great to see how kids have grown or find out what people are up to.  But we have enjoyed looking at the Christmas cards for over a month now, and it was time to take them down. I knew just what to do with them. When my mother sent us her gifts, I commented on the beautiful gift tags on the presents. She told me that they were all made from Christmas cards she had received the year before.

After a few snips on our cards, I have my own tags for our future holiday gifts. I am already brain storming creative ways to use them.

When did you pack away your Christmas decorations? Do you have a way to keep everything organized?