As Christmas Ends…
The afternoon of Christmas Eve the kids and I finally began decoating our tree. This year (first time since Emeraude was born) we used the artificial tree. The day prior, Lloyd had assembled it while we were out running errands (thank goodness!) so it was time to pretty-it-up. We had company visit during the afternoon which was really nice, a cousin I hadn’t touched base with in quite some time (who happens to be a great role model for Lloyd – has always work hard to acheive his goals and seems to have great balance in his life) and his g.f. -who has been a great addition to our family from the start (super friendly, sweet, hard-working like her man)- this slowed down our progress a little (well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it haha). So, once our company left we got ready for Christmas Mass, had a quick supper and then were out the door.
Having returned home that evening we continued our work of decorating the tree; in between Lloyd & Emeraude decorated some cookies for Santa (ok, I did too lol) then Matt arrived (Lloyd’s friend who is like family) and pitched in as well. Natural trees take a lot more decorations than artificial trees and so we were challenged, especially near the top where the tree was very dense it was difficult to get any decorations in but we had a lot of fun and in the end it looked very, well, I’ll call it festive 🙂 lol.
Now the countdown is on for when I will take it down. Today from Martha Stewart’s daily Organizing Tips email was advice on packing up your Christmas Tree. They have a real tree as an example but much of it applies regardless of whether you use an artificial or natural tree. Here it is, from http://www.marthastewart.com visit and subscribe to receive daily organizing tips in your mail box
Here’s the best way to take down a Christmas tree(from www.marthastewart.com) :
1. Detach ornaments: Wrap them individually in tissue paper and return them to their boxes, or place them in sturdy plastic containers with cardboard dividers. Group the ornaments and label the boxes so next year you can find what you need easily.
2. Take down lights: Start where you finished when you put the lights up, and work backward. Wind each strand into a neat bundle, and place strands in separate plastic bags so they won’t get tangled. Or wrap them on a spool (the way garden hoses are stored).
3. Take down the tree: If you used a plastic tree bag, envelop the tree and the stand, then take them outside. Once outside, remove the plastic and the stand, and discard the tree. If you haven’t used a tree bag, take the tree out wrapped in a sheet. Or clip off the branches, bag them, and take them outside. Sweep up as many needles as you can, then vacuum the remaining dirt; needles aren’t good for your vacuum cleaner.
Before you throw away the tree, you may want to remove small branches to use as mulch in the garden (or place the entire tree in a chipper-shredder to make a finer mulch). You may also wish to take your tree to a local recycling center.
There you have it, good luck, I will try and add a few photos of ours on the right of the blog here as soon as I have a chance to upload them onto my comp. Happy Holidays everyone!
