Now it’s time for cleanup
By By Michelle Blaylock, Mom’s Corner
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We spent Christmas with my parents in Tennessee. Only one out of my six siblings was able come in so although there were 13 people there it still seemed like a “small” Christmas. Especially when you consider when we are all together we number around 28. Overall, it was a good Christmas. We did have a few rough spots, like when one of my kids broke the chain on the upstairs toilet and flooded the bathroom making it “rain” into the downstairs family room. The upstairs floor was still drying when we left three days later. My dad just gave me the “look.” Thank goodness mom and dad’s downstairs ceiling is a drop ceiling so it is just ceiling tiles that have to be replaced instead of drywall. Thank goodness that was our worst mishap all weekend.
My sister and I came up with a great present for my parents this year. We went together and got them a digital picture frame. My sister contacted all my siblings and had them send via e-mail pictures of their families. We spent hours scanning pictures from as far back as my parents childhood, putting them onto flash drives and then adding them to the picture frame.
Mom and daddy were thrilled. I think it was one of the best presents we could give to them. My sister and I also copied the flash drive, so we each have copies of the pictures.
Now it is about time to take down the decorations. Over the years I have worked out my own system for taking down our decorations. For example, I used to fight a tangle of lights every year, now as I take the lights off the tree I wrap them around cardboard. I know many people have the pre-lit trees - I’m thinking about it but for right now I still have the old-fashioned kind. Since I also do “themed” trees I put all the things from each tree in their own box that way I don’t have to try and remember exactly what I put on each tree from the year before.
Both my parents and John and I have run into a problem of trying to remember where we put what decorations in our house each year. Needless to say we do a lot of Christmas decorating! One of my daughters came up with the idea of taking pictures of the decorations so we have a reference guide. This is also a good idea for insurance purposes in case of a fire, tornado, flood, etc. Always hope for the best and plan for the worst. You should also store these pictures in a safe deposit box or make copies and give them to family members for safe keeping.
Speaking of “safe keeping,” over the years I have had problems with broken ornaments. After looking at what was available at stores for ornament storage I decided I could make my own. I took a plastic storage container cushioned the bottom with a couple old sheets. I needed to be able to layer my ornaments so they could all fit in one box, but I didn’t want any weight on my bottom ornaments. After looking at the way the ones in the store were made, I came up with a similar idea. I took 8 pieces of cardboard that were about one-inch wider than the height of my largest ornament and cut the cardboard the length of the box. I cut four slits half way through each piece of cardboard starting about two to four inches from the end, and then I slid the pieces of cardboard together to make a “T” shape. When I was done I had 25 squares. I also wrapped the more fragile ornaments in bubble-wrap or left over Christmas tissue paper. Since my box was deep enough for more ornaments I cut a piece of cardboard to fit on top of the bottom layer and made another set of cardboard “T’s” to hold another 25 ornaments. This worked quite well. This same plan can be adjusted to fit any box just use more or less lengths of cardboard. I also make a point of keeping as many of the original ornament boxes as possible.
When the kids were younger and I was in more of a hurry to get Christmas things put away we used to have an “un-decorating” party. I would put out snacks like a veggie tray, chips and dip, little sandwiches, and little smokies. Over the course of the day the kids and I would take down the Christmas decorations and munch on yummy food. When everything was put away we would celebrate with a movie and ordering in pizza. (This was largely due to the fact, by that point, I was ready to collapse!)
As the years have passed I have collected more Christmas things, and it takes longer to put it up and take it down.
I usually do one room at a time now and space it out over several days. I have more batteries to take out Christmas things.
I have more ornaments to store, more trees to box up, and, in general, more “stuff” to put away. Although, I’m a little sad each year as I put things away, by the end I’m already thinking about next Christmas and what I want to do for it. After all I only have around 330 days to get ready!
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