Tree Take Down Made Easy!

Christmas Morning 2010 {Their new Christmas Eve Pj’s from my parents say “Don’t wake me, I’ll wake you!” which is very fitting if you know my early-rising tots!}

I love Christmas! I love the decorations, the excitement, anticipation, family, friends, food, gifts and of course, celebrating the marvel of our Savior’s birth! My mother used to put up our decorations right after Halloween and not take them down until after my January birthday. My husband has a firm rule: no decorations before December 1st. Given that; I like to leave them up until mid-January for maximum enjoyment.

But I hate taking down Christmas decorations…especially the tree. It’s packing and that is something I don’t enjoy! I’ve done a handful of moves in my life and unpacking is so much more fun than packing up. Unpacking, it’s exciting to discover what is wrapped in each package and then find a home for it. Packing? Blah!

Tree Canvas Tote

My biggest issue is the tree. When I unpack it, I fluff up each branch so it looks glorious. After Christmas, trying to get that tree un-fluffed and back in the box is a next-to-impossible feat; akin to getting a tent folded and stuffed in the little bag that it so nicely came in. This year I have a solution: a rolling canvas bag from Lowe’s to solve my tree woes. About $14.00, it was a great investment! It was so easy; the bag is roomy with a huge opening, there are straps inside to secure the tree and it has wheels to roll it  out to the garage. I will say that perhaps it’s a little too big and it will take up a  lot more storage space but that’s DH’s problem to figure out. My job is just to the tree into something for storage, not to actually make that something fit in storage. Yep. I’m a bad wife today.

Rubermaid Christmas Bins

The other product that I’ve used for several years and love are my Rubbermaid totes in red and green. We have a big one that houses the mat, wreath, star, wrapping paper, Jesse Tree and other miscellaneous longer items while the other two totes house our Disney tree ornaments. It makes for easy packing, easy transport and the contents easily identifiable. It also means that I don’t have to worry about cardboard boxes crushing or items being damaged.

Ferrero Roche

Another thing I started using a few years ago was Ferrero Roche plastic chocolate boxes to store delicate ornaments. We have a pinecone with a ribbon on it that was given to my family when I was a child from another family in the church. I think it was 1981? Along with several other ornaments that, wrapped in tissue, would still be damaged but in these hard cases? They’ll last for years! These are the perfect size for a handful of small ornaments or one larger one and I can see in each box. {Bonus: you get to eat the chocolate so you have these containers!}

My Christmas Take-Down Routine

1. Wait until the littles are down for a nap.
2. Gather a snack and drink for myself 🙂
3. Clear dining room table {central location}.
4. Remove all decorations from the tree and place on table. Wander around the house and gather up all remaining decorations and put in dining room.
5. Unplug tree, remove stand, de-fluff, put into box or fabulous canvas bag.
6. Use bungee cords or similar to wrap/contain tree. {Canvas bag has these built in}.
7. Sit on tree in attempt to make more compact, then give up and zip up bag or bungee-cord up box and be done with tree for another year.
8. Package up all ornaments and decorations, storing in appropriate boxes and bins.
9. Work quickly to accomplish during naptime and avoid extra “help”. {I love my little helpers helping me do everything under the sun BUT package up Christmas!}
10. Enjoy snack and drink!

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• I’m participating in Works for Me Wednesday and Transformation Thursday, though full disclosure, I actually did this on Tuesday.