De-Clutter the Decorations!
In the hopes that we will be doing Simple Christmas from now on I had decided to sort through, trim down, throw out, and unclutter the Christmas Boxes.
Honestly, I did not do the best job.
It is so very hard to get rid of lovely, once beautiful ornaments and wall hangings! We have been on the receiving end of so many once loved Christmas items from friends and family. I have been blessed to be given pretty things when we had no money to buy anything decorative.
So blessed that I now have too much.
Hence the need to pare down our Christmas pretties.
We did however get rid of the broken ornaments and old, moldy looking snowmen.
I have a small box of give-aways started but I may just keep them
for our annual Gag Gift Game that is tradition for our family Christmas celebration.
Today I tried to de-clutter a bit more!
I kept all those decorations that have sentimental meaning.
The candle holder with the kitten by the fireplace that I remember using as a child.
A sock snowman Princess Peony made me when she was 7.
A wreath my sister and brother gave my first Christmas I was on my own with two small children to provide for and barely money for food.
Our stockings are hung with care next to a string of lights my daughter hung painstakingly.
The tree is broken but usable so it is still up. (I'm not that cleaning crazy ... yet. See here on my inclination to clean. )
What didn't make the cut?
A nativity set with more pieces missing than present. (I feel so sorry for that, but it isn't like I'm throwing out a real baby, so what is with the guilt?)
Several wooden ornaments that I think I bought for that first on my own tree with no sentimental feeling other than perhaps the desperation I felt that year.
A beyond fixable ceramic tree. (No gorilla glue was gonna fix that thing again!)
And a few more randoms that just have no connection and no room in my rambler.
Now to re-purpose and reuse some items!
I have kept every piece of artwork and school made Christmas bag for years.
I even have coloring pictures the kids have done.
I also keep any Christmas cards I get. I love them!
But what in the world do you do with them after rereading them? Many times.
My idea is to save all the favorite pictures and paintings and place them into a Christmas binder with a section for each child. I will probably add a section for old Christmas messages and photo cards. Then every year we can peek at it. Instead of digging through boxes of scattered bits and pieces we can have a one of a kind coffee table book.
All the extras will be used to wrap small presents for giving away. Perhaps for a few stocking stuffers?? Why buy paper when we have some pre-decorated wrappings made by beautiful, little fingers clutching fat crayons?
My plans for all the broken off pine cones, leftover red bows, mini pieces broken off of ornaments that I have now thrown out, and the ribbon chunks are perhaps slightly ambitious for our Simple Christmas theme. I just have such a hard time throwing out things that can be useful! I would like to use them to make some lovely gift tags so we aren't buying those sticker ones. I plan to employ the glue gun, arm the children with some Elmers and let them just go to town! These artistic creations will be appreciated by our family and most especially by grandma.
There you have it. Clean the clutter! Less clutter means less to set up and less to take down. Less to dust around and less to find a place to store.
Dispose of the broken.
Give away what you don't need.
Reuse and re-purpose the extras.
Honestly, I did not do the best job.
It is so very hard to get rid of lovely, once beautiful ornaments and wall hangings! We have been on the receiving end of so many once loved Christmas items from friends and family. I have been blessed to be given pretty things when we had no money to buy anything decorative.
So blessed that I now have too much.
Hence the need to pare down our Christmas pretties.
We did however get rid of the broken ornaments and old, moldy looking snowmen.
I have a small box of give-aways started but I may just keep them
for our annual Gag Gift Game that is tradition for our family Christmas celebration.
 |
| One of seven mini stockings. Why do I have these? What do they hold? |
I kept all those decorations that have sentimental meaning.
The candle holder with the kitten by the fireplace that I remember using as a child.
A sock snowman Princess Peony made me when she was 7.
A wreath my sister and brother gave my first Christmas I was on my own with two small children to provide for and barely money for food.
Our stockings are hung with care next to a string of lights my daughter hung painstakingly.
The tree is broken but usable so it is still up. (I'm not that cleaning crazy ... yet. See here on my inclination to clean. )
What didn't make the cut?
A nativity set with more pieces missing than present. (I feel so sorry for that, but it isn't like I'm throwing out a real baby, so what is with the guilt?)
Several wooden ornaments that I think I bought for that first on my own tree with no sentimental feeling other than perhaps the desperation I felt that year.
A beyond fixable ceramic tree. (No gorilla glue was gonna fix that thing again!)
And a few more randoms that just have no connection and no room in my rambler.
Now to re-purpose and reuse some items!
I have kept every piece of artwork and school made Christmas bag for years.
I even have coloring pictures the kids have done.
I also keep any Christmas cards I get. I love them!
But what in the world do you do with them after rereading them? Many times.
My idea is to save all the favorite pictures and paintings and place them into a Christmas binder with a section for each child. I will probably add a section for old Christmas messages and photo cards. Then every year we can peek at it. Instead of digging through boxes of scattered bits and pieces we can have a one of a kind coffee table book.
 |
| Lovely bags made by my kidlets in years past. |
 |
| A few of these will make the Book. The elf was colored in 1998 by Pirate Rob when he was just a wee little peg leg. |
 |
| Bows, baubles, and bits of cards to be made into gift tags. |
Dispose of the broken.
Give away what you don't need.
Reuse and re-purpose the extras.
Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)
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Linking up with some Of These Fine Blogs:
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