Post-Christmas Tips

The holiday season is over but it does not stop there. It’s time to clean out our homes and pack all those decorations. On my end, we have practiced the same ritual year-after-year:

Christmas Tree

Make sure to wash your plastic Christmas Trees and garlands before storing them.

Since they would have accumulated a lot of dust during the holiday season and you wouldn’t want to store them particles as well, would you?

Just make sure that they are dry before putting them back into their boxes. We also suggest that you wrap them with newspaper to absorb moisture while in storage.

Remember that it will be stashed away for another ten months or so and it needs all the protection it can get.

Trimmings and other decor

If possible, wash the Christmas trimmings and other decor as well.

If this is not feasible, wipe every piece with damp cloth and let air dry before storing them.

For those that are breakable, use bubble-wrap or newspaper before putting them back into their storage boxes.

Collections

For those with elaborate collections, such as Christmas Villages, dust off each item using a miniature broom (this is specially made for small items and can be bought at the market), then wipe thoroughly with clean with a dry cloth.

Since each piece has a different design, they will need to be stored in their original styrofoam boxes.

We suggest labeling each item with a number that corresponds to the box.

Write the numbers on stickers and attach them to the bottom of each piece; do the same to the box.

This may be tedious, but it’s all worth it, considering the amount of money and effort that you spent in acquiring such a collection.

Un-delivered gifts

Set your schedule and deliver those gifts to friends once and for all.

If they are out of the country and will not be back anytime soon, put them in a place where they can be seen so that you will not forget to send them as soon they get back.

Excess gifts

Place them in a box with a label that says “excess gifts”.

If you’re really up to it, list the items inside the box so that you would not need to open them every time you need a gift. Updating the list regularly will also save time in the future.

While these items can be used for the next Christmas or other occasions, please make sure that you don’t give your friends the same gifts as last year.

How do you do this? The next tip will be helpful.

Make a list

Think of yourself as Santa Claus. But aside from a naughty and nice list, include columns to record the items you gave during the previous years and those you received.

This will not only prevent you from giving duplicate gifts, but more so in recycling gifts that were given to you.

The last thing that you want to do is to give the gift back to your friend.

Wrappers

It is customary for us to buy wrappers in bulk to save time and money. Since these will not be used for the next ten months, you can keep them in a dry place.

Roll and cover all wrappers with newspaper and label them “Christmas Wrappers”.

 

Finally, while the above list talks about stashing away things since the holidays are over, the last tip is for us to keep all those acts of love, generosity, and forgiveness. Not only to the ones that are close to our hearts, but even to those people whom we do not know but need it.

Let the air of Christmas remain in the air until the festive air of December comes back again.