how to prepare for next Christmas
I know it sounds crazy to start talking about next Christmas when we just finished celebrating this Christmas. If you take advantage of when this Christmas is fresh in your mind, it will give you a jump start to prepare for Christmas next year.
With a few tips on how to document this last Christmas and by taking advantage of after season sales, it will put you ahead of the game next year.
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a few tips to prepare for Christmas
Make Notes
Before I start decorating for any particular season I like to look at what I have done in prior years. Things I really liked and want to do again.
Make notations of all the details you liked this year so you can duplicate them next year or even better, expand on them. Also things you might be tired of, which you want to maybe not bring out or get rid of all together.
Mercury glass ornaments are some of my favorite.
Take Pictures
Take photographs of everything since a picture is worth a million words. The pictures will show you how all the small details interact with each other, including textures, colors and shapes.
Actually pictures are great when you are decorating anything. A photo will show things in a different point of view than with the naked eye.
Plan Themes
Things I have been crushing on the last few years include bells and velvet ribbons, which I would like to keep using next year. I love this bell garland and this is some of the velvet ribbon I used and this.
New motifs I focused on this year are nutcrackers and gingerbread houses, which I will also expand on next year. Look around and make notes about the themes you enjoyed this year to repeat again. These are the nutcrackers I used at each place setting for this table styling.
Organized Storage
Put everything away as orderly as possible so when you start taking it out next year, it makes sense. I know many times we are in a rush to put everything away, and we throw things in bins with no rhyme or reason.
A few years ago I labeled all our bins with the contents, which has been immensely helpful. This way I can start taking everything out and decorating with purpose rather than digging through all the bins, searching for a particular item(s).
Scour End of Season Sales
This is a great way to add to your decor repertoire and collections at an affordable price. I’ve added so many great, key pieces in after season sales.
I wrote a post about this here {Christmas past, present & future}. The post has a some good tips about end of season shopping. I am partial to finial tree toppers.
organized & inspired for next Christmas
I hope this helps you in some way to jump start your Christmas next year by maximizing your organization and inspiration.
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“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.”
Bob Hope
Great suggestion. I also think if there are things you use before you get all of the decorations out that you make those accessible label the box and make a note to yourself where the boxes are located.
Yes! That’s a fantastic idea. There are some things I start using over Thanksgiving that I like to access first. Thanks for the great advice. Happy new year! XO- MJ