Design Crafters

One of my favorite holiday traditions is decorating the Christmas tree with my family.  We make the entire evening into an event.  We turn down the lights, light candles, play holiday music, and eat Christmas cookies while decorating.  Over the years, I have learned a few helpful tips to make tree decorating run a little smoother…

• Pick a tree that fits your home.  This sounds like a no-brainer, but I have seen many people purchase a gigantic tree, only to have to squish it into their living space.  You can have a beautiful tree that fits your home - size is not the most important factor.
• Choose the height of your tree by measuring the height of your ceiling. If the tree is too tall, you won’t be able to fit a star or an angel on it, or you may have to trim the top.
•  Choose a healthy tree.  If you squeeze a tree branch, the pine leaves should not fall off into your hand.  This is a sign of a dying tree.
• Decide on a holiday color scheme.  Last year we decorated in gold and white, this year we are doing a multi-colored tree.  By choosing a color or two, you can make the tree a beautiful addition to your home.

Hopefully these tips will help make your decorating cheery and bright this holiday season!

Have you even noticed when you’re organizing and tidying up things tend to get messier before they get tidier? At least that’s the case with me. Then there are those superhuman friends that you envy because they seem to get it all done super fast in a super organized fashion.  If you’re anything like me, you probably dread putting away the Christmas decorations.  I dread it for two reasons. #1 The mess factor, #2 The house seems so naked once the decorations are down.

Well, here are some tips I ran across that may help both you and me out with the post Christmas cleanup.

• First and foremost, remember that you don’t have to do it all at once. Do one thing at a time and try really hard to stay focused on that one thing. This will help keep the messy chaos to a minimum.
• Use sturdy plastic containers (like the Rubbermaid kind) vs cardboard boxes. It’s a little more expensive than regular cardboard boxes at first but in the long run it’s worth it. These will protect the Christmas decorations from moisture and rodents. One year one of our cardboard boxes had somehow gotten wet in the storage shed. When we opened it up at Christmas, the fabric items had gone moldy and reeked to high heaven. That was the last year we had cardboard boxes. I even found some red and green containers that now help me know immediately which ones contain Christmas items. The guess work and rummaging is taken out this way.

Stay tuned for tomorrows photo Christmas cards blog on more organization tips.