I am always excited for the holidays, but they are exhausting! My home is turned upside down, furniture rearranged, and I am on the run constantly. Seeing the magic of the Christmas season unfold before my eyes is worth every bit of craziness and exhaustion the holidays bring.
When I take our Christmas tree down, I also reorganize/rearrange the living room and the kids’ bedrooms to accommodate new Christmas treasures. If you are like me, most presents stay under the tree until January when we have time to clean and rearrange.
My first to-do is calling to set up Christmas Tree recycling center to come pick up my tree. I have found there are more and more places to recycle Christmas Trees every year. I love that recycling my tree helps to feed birds and fish, used as an erosion barrier, or made into mulch. (Fake Christmas Trees stay in landfills forever!)
When tackling the kids’ bedrooms I make three piles, keep, donate, and sell. There are so many local non-profit organizations to donate gently used items. I pick one or two that is meaningful to us and donate away! Some only take clothing, some everything but clothing and some take it all.
January sets the tone for the entire year. If I start out organized and in a good mind frame, I stay that way. If not, I seem to struggle for months.
Do you have a similar system to start the new year?
