Well it is the time of year for holiday decorating. Everyone has their own traditions - traditional Christmas, modern Christmas, minimal Christmas, Chanukah, the new traditions that have come with Kwanzaa, etc. I tend to over decorate. We don’t really get gifts, so the decorating is most of the non-religious part of the holiday for us and I get a bit carried away.
We have our outside lights up - we put them up Thanksgiving Day weekend - we put color small lights on some bushes and a small Alberta Spruce (“Christmas tree”) and white small lights on other bushes and a holly tree. Last year we added small red lights around the white base to our standing mailbox - sort of makes it look like a candy cane. We have also added gold garland last year and this to the tree. This year we also added light up candy canes. Now most of this cannot be seen - our van is parked in front of it on the driveway, but it is there. We have a plastic wreath on our side door and a larger one on our front door - the one on the front was copied from one we saw several years ago at Colonial Williamsburg - only we used plastic fruit on it, so it can be reused year to year. There are plastic greens hanging from the lights on either side of the front door.
We store the outside decorations in our garage and in our shed. We have a large plastic box in the garage - kept in the rafters - which holds the lights. The lights are wrapped up (I use my shoulder and elbow to wrap them) with 2 bag ties around them to hold the circle together and then each is put in a gallon size zip bag which has the air removed and is closed. Also in this box are the needed extension cords (always use one rated for outdoor use if you are using them outdoors) and 2 boxes that spike into the ground and each allow 3 cords to be plugged into them. We put one on the each side of the front of the house to allow us to plug everything in. It is hard to reach the rafters where the box is kept, but it is the most convenient place to keep it. Do you have your outdoor decorations packed so they are ready to go next year? It makes it easier especially if the weather is bad. Last year I fixed a set of lights after we took the lights down - I made a note in my computer/cell calender so I would not forget it this year as it was stored in a different spot - we did need to replace 2 other sets though.
Inside the house I have taken out my assorted fabric decorations from their box in the basement. I collect teddy bears so I have a number of them for the holiday along with dolls, angels, a couple of elves, reindeer and a snowman. Some sit on the back of my sofa, one reindeer - Rodney by name - sits on top of the door bell chimes box, some sit on a side table - the doll gets to sit (“ride”)on a reproduction of an 18th century toy horse my husband made. There will be more soft items to come - ones we have made as well as larger ones we received as gifts in the past. Our Christmas stockings are also kept in this box as is a Santa hat. We have 2 sets of Christmas stockings - the ones we use and the ones I embroidered - both sets are hung up at opposite ends of the living room - but not yet - it is too early for stockings. We also have a stocking that husband put up as boy at his parent’s house and another smaller one he put up at his grandparent’s house. I also put out some decorative candles I have.
Much of my decorating stuff has to come out in a certain order (and go back in reverse) as items have to be moved. I had, for example, to move some teddy bears in the upstairs hall to be able to get to some items stored in the trunk they sit on - but to move those bears, I had to move others onto their line to see Santa so the bears moved from the trunk have a place to “sit”. That has been done and I have access to trunk. I have been moving boxes of bear figurines to the living room (and managed to drop the trunk top on my arm once - Ouch!). Tonight I set up the angel bear figurines on top of our TV (it is an “old fashioned” analog TV as we don’t use it much - mostly while setting up and taking down Christmas decorations). The rest will go on 2 shelves in my corner unit and as I go some figurines there get packed into the boxes as they get emptied - hence why the angels get set up first and packed last. This takes a bit of, yes, organization to get everything out and then stored back. Do you have stuff that has to go in order like this?
I did take time to donate some items and get them out of the house. Last year I put aside some Christmas items - a very small tree, a box of serving pieces I once received as a gift, and window candle lights (we have replaced them with LED ones). DARN! - that reminds me I have not set up the LED candles in the window! Hold on a minute while I run and take them out and make a note so I don’t forget tomorrow to turn them on and set them. .......................... Okay, I’m back -thank you for waiting. After I finish the post I will make sure they still work (and have batteries). I also donated 3 jackets, some gloves and some sneakers and a pair of shoes I have never really worn. I have a decorative wall gift received from a friend - not my style and it went in it’s box, along with some small household items we don’t use. More room in the house and someone else can use it all. (Plus the income tax deduction.) I plan on collecting some more items to decorate next month - but that is another post. Remember anything you donate now, before the end of the year you can take as a deduction for this year when you file in early 2016. (Tax deduction mentioned for US taxpayers who itemize their deductions.)
Well, this post is getting a bit long - I will have to continue the subject next week - but the important thing to remember is that it all has to be organized to find it easily and set it up, and then to re store it afterwards. Do you know what you will be doing for Christmas yet? Can you find your decorations? Please feel free to join the conversation.
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