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fidgiegirl
10-8-11, 8:13pm
How do you organize your holiday stuff, particularly Xmas ornaments and all the little chotchkies?

Ours is neat and protected and in boxes, but I suspect it takes up more room than it needs to. Someone on here MUST have a handy trick . . . :)

rosarugosa
10-8-11, 9:03pm
Well, this suggestion isn't for everyone, but I got rid of most of mine. As I get my house more & more the way I want it, I am less inclined towards doing holiday decorations. So I have three plastic storage boxes, one is xmas/winter holiday decor, one is halloween/autumn motif, and one is valentine stuff. We store them in the cellar. For some holidays, I have only a token thing or two. Thanksgiving for example. I have a little turkey candle and some turkey napkins. Since my halloween stuff is really more autumnal stuff, some of that lingers on through Thanksgiving.

Zoebird
10-8-11, 9:13pm
yeah, mine is also "insane" like rosarugosa's. :D our stuff is goners.

so we do seasonal in this way: picking flowers (or dried branches), origami, and candles. we make decorations, and when we are finished, they get recycled, composted, and are away. it makes preparing for the holiday pretty special, too, because we have specific outtings we need to make at specific times to bring it together. :)

that being said, prior to being rid of all of it, i had ONE rubbermaid bin that had ALL holidays in it. By making it a controlled size, nothing could come in without something going out. And it was christmas, easter, 4th of july, halloween. I dont' really decorate for thanksgiving. And now, I just do "christmas" (or winter), easter (spring -- we currently have some flowers in a jar), 4th of July -- coming up with something here, as it will be celebrated 4 january, since that's summer), and halloween will be skipped, and thanksgiving continued in late april (would be may in the normal american schedule, but i decided to push it forward to match the "easter" school holiday plus the canadian tradition of doing it in october when they harvest stuff. :D ).

fidgiegirl
10-8-11, 11:13pm
Well, yes, we have done pretty well with paring down, but will not be getting rid of it completely. DH loves his holiday stuff. We only have Halloween stuff and Christmas stuff. It's the Xmas stuff that is packed in round tins and solid colored boxes. Maybe I just need to put it in clear, square boxes to feel better about it.

goldensmom
10-9-11, 6:48am
All of our Christmas decorations are kept in 2, medium size Rubbermaid totes, the kind that went on sale after the holidays several years ago, red bottom, green top. They are stacked in an upstairs closet and take up little room. If I get something new or different and need more room, than something old goes. We do no seasonal decorating so 2 totes, that's it, no more.

babr
10-14-11, 4:45pm
i have just half a tub of xmas decorations; last year we didn't put up a tree; well wait we did; one of our little fake trees and it was very simple; but its refreshing and great not to have to haul out all the stuff or buy what is hot this year

Fawn
10-21-11, 9:23am
I have one half-filled 18 gallon clear plastic bin. It contains:

Christmas: 6 stocking holders, 6 stockings, 18 silver and green glass ornaments

Halloween: a special serated knife for carving pumpkins

Summer: 12 fake lemons


I stopped putting up a Christmas tree 2 years ago, which everyone thinks is blasphamey as I still have kids at home.

My holiday decorations consist of silver colored wire basket that rests on the coffee table and I place "this season's" decorations as follows:

Spring: depends, last year I stuck an Amyrillus in it until the cats chewed it
Summer: plastic lemons
Fall: miniture pumpkins, this year they are all white ones
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas: the glass ornaments go in the wire basket and the stockings are hung on the mantle
New Years to Spring: pine cones and evergreen sprigs

Float On
10-21-11, 9:45am
I use to have enough christmas stuff to fit into 4 GIANT storage boxes -(2'x2.5'x4.5'). They roll right into one of the attic storage areas. I'm down to 1 box. Slowly I've gotten over putting out anything and every thing. Every window, door, and porch railings no longer need greenery with lights. At the start of every christmas I really go through every item and ask "Do I really love this? Does it convey what I believe and want to celebrate?" So I've kept my nativity collection (mostly handmade pottery ones - maybe 8), the tree is only decorated with lights, metal stars and blown glass ornaments (having a husband who is a glassblower comes in handy - I can change to whatever color I want any year I want to do so). I'll probably open that one box this year and will weed out some more. That box also holds my cloth gift bags that I've sewn over the years, I'll probably add more to it this year because I like to pick up pretty fabric whenever I find it at a good price. Some people return the bags and some don't - that's ok as long as they pass them along and reuse them. I've made them in all sizes. Just add pretty ribbon and done.

If I didn't have the attic storage I'd probably use under the bed size storage boxes. I can't see taking up a closet space on something that I only use 3-5 weeks out of the year.

Float On
10-21-11, 9:52am
Thought I'd add I don't decorate for Halloween or fall or 4th of July or Valentines or St Pats or???. Maybe during fall a couple of pumpkins on the porch steps and some years we collect pretty leaves and string them and hang in one window but that's it. Oh, I forgot I have a beautiful pottery turkey that holds candy corn. He's out already because you can only buy candy corn before Halloween. I don't even like candy corn but its tradition.

Aqua Blue
10-21-11, 6:24pm
I don't put up a tree anymore. But, I took my favorite ornaments and put them on a fake wreath. It is so easy. I get it out, fluff it up a little and hang it where I usually have a picture, so the nail is already there. All of those ornaments mean something to me, so it is nice to see the once a year. That and my nativity set and I am good to go.

fidgiegirl
10-21-11, 6:34pm
Lovely, all. That's kind of how I feel - less is ore. DH likes his decorations, though, and they all look good and he doesn't put it on me to accomplish like some kind of perfect wife. He does it himself, so it's all cool. I would like to get down to one or two boxes.