Organizing Christmas Décor

Since heading off to college, I had moved on average once a year for ten years.  I didn’t prioritize Christmas décor during this time.  It didn’t make sense to store things for so long for just a short period of time.  Recently, I’ve changed my mind.

I bought a house a few years ago and it’s taken longer for me to decorate.  I spent the first two years decluttering.  Over the years of moving into bigger spaces, I’d accumulated a lot of things that I really wasn’t aware I had.  A lot of paper.  Tons of books.  Many bankers’ boxes of textbooks!  Why?  Christmas no, but heavy textbooks…yes?

Of course, I hadn’t really been intentionally gathering things, I just hadn’t been intentionally letting them go until I moved.  Then I’d scramble for a week trying to figure out what to get rid of and another week packing in a frenzy.

I moved into my new house in a blizzard.  Actually, they delayed my move by more than two days for a blizzard.  Then moved me.  It was madness.  It took all day for a cross-town move.  I had a plan as to where things should go but nothing was labeled.  Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake and assumed that my box spring would fit down the stairs because I did.  Ha!

Anyway, it was a mess of boxes for more than a year.  I had what I termed “the box room” for two years.  It still has décor items that I haven’t figured out if and where I want to use them.  In my last apartment, I had walls that went on forever, and I bought a lot of artwork that is big.  48″ wide or tall big.  In my new house, each room is notably smaller than any other place I’ve lived…except maybe the dorm and dorm/apartment I started in.

In a small house, it doesn’t take much to go from cozy to overwhelming.  So I unloaded all my furniture and worked everything out of the boxes first.

Borrowed Christmas Décor:

A few Christmases ago, I’d started thinking about the concept of Swedish Death Cleaning (I haven’t read the book yet).  None of my grandparents displayed any Christmas items anymore and even my parents were only displaying half or less, so I asked my mother if I could borrow some of her decorations.  I’d been decluttering furniture so I have fewer surfaces and no mantle for classic Christmas stockings scenes.  I “borrowed” a few wood deer, a wood Joy sign, my favorite Santa and Elf climbing a ladder, small tree, and my mom sent me with two of “my” Christmas decorations.  A woodblock Santa with a rope beard and a wood angle was bought at some holiday craft fair. 

My mother found some precious décor of her own and put them out that year but overall she’s finding it too much effort to haul all of that down and find a place for it and all the people.  This last Christmas, no one that I visited had Christmas décor up.  My sister’s family didn’t have a tree due to her toddler.  I missed it.

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Adding Christmas Décor:

I love singing to music and putting my Christmas tree up.  I’ve also been missing having some changing décor spread throughout the house as well.  Additionally, my house is very visible but takes on heavy winds and has no outside outlets so I’ve been missing Christmas lights as well.

I did buy some Christmas décor for the front entrance.  I decided on some cheap garlands to wrap around the entrance rails.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to try it out due to last-minute siding repair and bad weather following.  It’s now packed with the tree for Christmas.

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Simplifying Decorating:

This year I bought and was gifted two ornament storage containers.  The first was fabric and I’ve stored my colored bulbs in there.  The one that I purchased is a clear divided one so I can see all the Hallmark and oddball ornaments.  Together they are enough to decorate two trees but I enjoy going simple with decorations some years and busier others. 

However, I’d noticed that I too was avoiding digging out all the Hallmark ornaments due to all the boxes, so now they’ve been pulled out and set in the container for easy decorating.  Next year, I’ll decorate with these and see what will work well for one set of décor.  The main theme for this decoration is children’s toys as decoration. 

I’ve been getting the Fisher-Price Hallmark ornaments for toys that I had as a child.  However, some years they haven’t offered toys I had so I will probably go back through and declutter down to the toys that were memorable to me.  I’ve been collecting these with the intention that I will not keep the actual children’s toys (buried somewhere in my parent’s attic likely).

There are also many ornaments as gifts from people, but most of them are people who have come and gone through my life and I should be able to pair these down as well.  None of these are actually from my childhood.  I suppose this is the next Swedish Death Cleaning category.  Go through my mother’s collection and divvy them up.  I’m fairly confident my mother is over the old ornaments, though she may not want to part with all of them. 

Complicating Christmas Décor:

She too has been enjoying themed Christmas trees.  She had a Barbie tree and a Chief’s tree.  On a year that no one but me was into decorating, we made paper airplanes of Easter-colored paper and threw them into the tree.  It was actually pretty.  My brother says he plans to decorate this way in the future.  The good thing about that is you don’t have to keep any of them and if you do they will fold up flat.

Seasonal Décor:

I purchased stone that was carved into tree shapes many years ago.  I love how they glow and shine without being specifically Christmas trees.  I break these out for the season and keep them out long after Christmas.  Additionally, I’ve added some pillow covers to fit my existing pillows.  I’d also like to change out photos and artwork for the seasons.

I swapped a few photo frames for the JOY sign.  I may also pack away some of my wood carvings from Thailand for a season.  The other place I’m thinking about incorporating seasonal décor is my table centerpiece.  I call its theme “sea trash” as it’s mostly things I pulled from the sea and a recycled beer bottle candle and some scent things.  There’s no reason I couldn’t swap the scent things out for winter-themed things.

I have a small nook in the kitchen that I could also swap something into.  It typically holds my ceramic-colored soup bowls, but they are an extravagance and could be moved elsewhere or just paired down.  In the office, my plant pots could be swapped for neutrals that could be decorated with tape or ribbons.  In my bedroom, I just rotate a few décor items on the dresser top clustered with my alarm clock.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I will add a few items on top of my jewelry cabinet.

Those changes really would be enough to make the entire place feel like the seasons have changed.  I also need to coordinate the colors in bedding, throws, and pillow covers.

Green has been my pop of color in the living room for a decade.  I have a small coffee table (cheap one from Target), a cube, and a chest in which I keep my sentimental items, all in green.  It’s not practical to store multiples of these but I could store alternate coffee tables if I use this type or make the furniture a bit more neutral or cover them with other things

Future Decoration Storage:

I am hoping to fit both Christmas and other seasonal décor into the same storage plus maybe one container.  Most of the season-specific items can be limited to items I already have and some furniture covers so it should contain nicely.  Once I figure that out, I will need to finally decide and declutter the remaining artwork and décor that won’t fit the spaces.

My basement storage unit is currently full of empty drawers and boxes for donation.  It also has some building supplies leftover from projects.  All of this can use to be tidied up.  The organizer drawers could be broken down.  You can see how I emptied these drawers in the first place in my post about my office/craft room declutter post.  It’s very likely I won’t ever need these file drawers again.  I still need the outer pieces to hold the desk up.