Un-Project #2 Where is your Christmas Hiding?

by kathilipp | Dec 28, 2011 | Christmas, Home | 2 comments

Isn’t it amazing how Christmas decor can take over every nook and cranny of your home?

I tend to spread my Christmas cheer over multiple rooms. I have some towels and soaps in the bathrooms, some snowman/log cabin dishes in the dining room, some winter-themed goblets in the kitchen, and table runners in the living room. Every year, I get everything packed up and put away on the highest shelf of the garage, only to discover that one of the Wise Men made a run for it and has been hiding out behind a throw pillow on the couch.

So today, go through every room and gather your Christmas wares. Here are some places you may want to check:

• The Living Room
• Guest Bathroom
• Kitchen (including cabinets)
• Dining Room
• Bedrooms (for any stealth wrapping that may have taken place,)
• Laundry Room

And here is a list of things with a Christmas theme to be on the look out for:

• Candles
• Soaps
• Tablecloths/table runners
• Mugs
• Dishes
• Paper Products
• Ornaments
• Kitchen towels
• Napkins
• Christmas Cards
• Wrapping Supplies
• Stray decor

Get it all into one place – ours is hanging out on the kitchen table. Make some decisions about what stays, and what gets repurpose or recycled.

Un-Project #1 Wrap Up Your Paper Stuff

by kathilipp | Dec 27, 2011 | Christmas, Home | 9 comments

When to take down your Christmas tree is a very personal decision. Bringing it up in mixed company (me and my husband Roger,) is sure to bring up “issues” in our marriage. (Suffice to say; before we were married, my tree was down on December 26^th. WE are leaving it up until New Year’s Day this year. Sigh.)

So I’m going to leave it up to each household as to when “undecorating” is done. I just want you to have the “stuff” ready to go when you do want to pack it all away.

Project #1 Put Away the Paper

Today’s task is to put away all the paper-related parts of the holiday.

1. Wrap it Up I am a box and ribbon saver. So sue me. I feel that I’m helping the environment, and have a secret thrill to see how many times I can use the fluffy Santa bag before it looks trashy. The key to being able to reuse each year is packing them up well. Before you destroy those great sturdy boxes that all your presents were shipped in, keep the best of them to store your Christmas boxes, wrap, bags, tissue and ribbon. I’ve even created some cute labels for you to print out and put on your boxes to make them easy to find next December. Go to my Facebook Author page at http://www.facebook.com/kathilipp.author to download the free labels. You’ll thank me next year.
2. Leave Notes to Your Future Self If you’ve purchased your Christmas cards this year (50% off!) for next year, put their exact location on your calendar (wall calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.) so you don’t forget and then have to go buy more December 15^th – only to find them on the 20^th…

I put a note on my calendar for October 1 that reads, “Don’t buy any Christmas Wrapping – You Have ENOUGH!!!)

3. Update Your Christmas Card List NOW! While you know where all those envelopes bearing return address are. Don’t wait – seize the after Christmas day!

So tell me where you fall on the wrapping paper scale in the comments below:

A. “I always run out about December 20th.”

B. “Everyone in my family could come and wrap their gifts for the next five years and I would still have paper left over to wrap gifts for the next couple of years…”

C. “Doesn’t matter. Every year I lay in a new supply on December 26th!”

The Five Day Christmas UN-Project. Putting it away well… (So there will be less drama next year.)

by kathilipp | Dec 26, 2011 | Christmas, Home | 1 comment

Hi Friends – I hope you had an amazing Christmas with Christ at the center of it all. Now that you’ve had a day to recuperate and clean up some wrapping paper, I want to give you an opportunity to pack up, clean up and put up the trimmings well so that next year, it will be drama free.

We will have a five day un-project. Starting on Wednesday morning, I will give you five days of instructions so that next year, you will have a head start on everything Christmas!

If you’re not already signed up for the blog, just go to KathiLipp.com and sign up for my blog. You will have each and every project delivered to your inbox.

Blessings on you this week friends!

Kathi

My Christmas Project #20 Tableclothes, Napkins and Foof, Oh My!

by kathilipp | Dec 13, 2011 | Christmas, Home | 0 comments

Do you do the mad scramble the day on December 25th to find all the napkins, rings table clothes and foof to make your dinner look beautiful?

This project doesn’t need a ton of explanation. Go and find all that stuff NOW so you have one less thing to scramble with on Christmas day. Go and find:

• Tablecloths
• Napkins
• Runners
• Napkin Rings
• Christmas Plates
• Silverware

Oh, and if you are doing paper or plastic this year, make sure you purchase that way in advance so that you don’t have to make a last minute trip. (Just be sure to recycle everything that you can in the gift wrap arena to lessen your paper impact on the planet.)