I REFUSE

It was November 29th and I was walking around my neighborhood.  As I was walking, I saw several houses completely decorated for Christmas and several neighbors out decorating.  I started hearing this little voice in my head start to clamor for my attention:  

Peggy, you are already so behind.  You don't even have the first Christmas thing out of your attic. 

Peggy, look at how pretty that house looks decorated.  You decorate the same way every year and your house needs painting and your roof needs fixing and you should use fresh greenery and, and, and.......

Well, as I continued to walk I decided to take hold of that voice and replace it with my own real thoughts and truth. 

Peggy, you are not in a competition for how your house looks at Christmas or any other time of the year.   Is your home welcoming?  Does your home have good memories?  

You will eventually get your decorating done, it doesn't have to be done today, tomorrow or even the next day.  There are no Christmas police that will come knocking on your door to ticket you for not being decorated.  

Peggy, your home is not their home.  It does not have to look like theirs, it doesn't have to look perfect; it has to look and feel like you and your family. 

Peggy, stop comparing.  It is a dead end street.

So, all this to say, I REFUSE, to let the joy of Christmas be taken out of me by the voice in my head. I REFUSE to let that voice be in control.  I CHOOSE to listen and think truth and keep my priorities and values in line with who I am, where my life is right now and my schedule. 

Are you comparing yourself with others lives or perceived perfection?  Are you allowing comparison to be the thief of your joy? If so, pull those thoughts out of your head, replace them with truth and live a freer, less stressful and simple life as a result. 

One side note:  I do want to be the Christmas police in February when people still have their wreaths on the door......just saying. 

Taking Down the Christmas Tree and a Little More

The final step of Christmas "take down" is the tree.

The first step is to remove all the ornaments.  I lay a towel out so I can see them all on my oriental rug.....some of them can get lost in the pattern of the rug.  I sort them, on the towel, by kid's ornaments, fragile and non-fragile.  Then I start boxing them up.....wrapping the fragile ornaments in tissue paper and then placing them in a Ziploc bag.  The other ornaments are placed in their original boxes or in an ornament box I have.

Each of my children's ornaments is organized in their own box and labeled with their name. 

When the time comes, they will easily be able to take their ornaments to decorate their own tree.  

After the ornaments are all packed up snug in their beds, it is time to remove the lights from the tree.  

By this time you are ready to throw the lights in a box and be done but when you open that box next year, you will be sad you took that approach. 

I take each light strand and wrap them around these "wheels" I purchased several years ago.  

Each wheel holds 2-3 light strands.  They then fit nicely into their handy, dandy carrying case.  On top of the wheels, I place the cord that houses the "on/off" button for the lights. 

Then the tree goes out the door to where my Christmas elf takes it to dispose of in our woods in the back.  Therefore leaving me with mounds of pine needles to vacuum.  Years ago, I stopped up my regular vacuum cleaner by using it to vacuum up said mound of needles.  After that, I purchased my Shop Vac and it has done the job from that point on.  All that being said, no matter how much I vacuum, I will still be running into and finding pine needles in this room throughout the year......hard to get rid of those pesky needles! 

Here is the "and a Little More" part of the subject line.  In my last post I failed to tell you about my Christmas serving dishes and how I put them away.....so here

 is the rest of the story. 

Each of the dishes is wrapped in a Christmas Dish Towel to protect them while storing the Christmas towels......a two 

for one! 

AAAAAHHHH, finally the Christmas decorations are put away and stored safely in the attic.  And just like every single year, I walk downstairs celebrating and find the one.  There is always one decoration I seem to miss every single year, no matter how hard I try.......there is still ONE!  This year's winner......the pillow.

So I grab the pillow, put it in its place and then know I am done until next year, with the way time flies it will feel like next week. 

Now on to 2016!  Make it a great year!

Taking Down Christmas Decorations - Step by Step

It is that time of year.....you have enjoyed the Christmas decorations but now it is time to take them all down.  

Here is a step by step process of how I attack my "take down".  Hopefully you will find something here you can use while putting your decorations away. 

 Gather all your "like" items together. Your "like" items will be boxed together so it makes it easier to attack one box at a time when you are putting them up this year and when you are ready to decorate again next year. 

 You can see, from the pictures below, the "like" items I have:  Santas/decorative items, stockings/pillows/tree skirt, Nativity sets, framed Christmas photos and plaques, dishes, books, window lamps, window greenery, bows and outdoor spotlights and cords.     

Then it is time to box each of the items into their "labeled" boxes.  I wrap the fragile items in tissue paper I reuse each year or tissue paper I keep from the pile left over on Christmas morning.  
The bulbs of the window lamps are separated into a ziploc bag to protect them.    

Each year, as part of my Christmas decorating, I use decorative ribbon tied to lamps and candlesticks. To store my decorative ribbon, I wrap several pieces around a toilet paper roll or a cut paper towel roll and secure the end with a paper clip.  I then store them in a ziploc bag to keep them fresh 

from year to year.  

Lastly I attack the tree.  That is in my next blog post.....so go get the decorations done then come back and read about "tree take down"!