The day you begin to put away Christmas decorations is always bittersweet, isn't it? In Vermont, Christmas helps us fight the darkness just a little longer. When the sun slips behind the mountains at 4:30 pm, we light our trees, welcome loved ones with candles in our windows, and fill our homes with warmth. That's what makes decorating for Christmas so special—it's fleeting.

Make sure you have your future-self's back. The way you pack away your Christmas decorations today determines how smoothly next December unfolds. These battle-tested strategies come straight from my years running Trees with Ease, my Christmas decorating service, where I learned that the key to swift assembly lies in the groundwork you lay the year before.  They'll save you time (and sanity) during a time we typically need BOTH! 

My number one decorating tip has nothing to do with December—it has everything to do with January. Organize your Christmas decorations when you put them away.

Edit and Eliminate (Because Less Really Is More)

Before you pack a single box, do yourself a favor: discard ugly, moth-eaten, misshapen, and unused decorations. They take up space and create unnecessary stress. Sorting only the keepers will streamline next year's decorating.

If you're downsizing soon (or "right-sizing," as I prefer to call it), sort your children's handmade ornaments and ask if they want them for their own trees. Keep the most sentimental pieces and give yourself permission to let go of the hot-glued popsicle stick stars. Your storage closet—and future self—will thank you.

The Smart Way to Store Ornaments

Forget everything you think you know about ornament storage. Those pretty divided boxes? They're a trap. Your ornaments are either too large for the slots or you're left with awkward gaps that waste precious space.

Here's what I do: Remove all ornaments from their original containers.  Those boxes are space hogs that serve no purpose once you're home. Skip the individual wrapping too; it's tedious and unnecessary.

Instead, grab a storage tub and line the bottom with a layer of bubble wrap. Place your ornaments directly on top, add another layer of bubble wrap, and repeat. This method protects your ornaments beautifully while maximizing every inch of storage space. You'll fit twice as many ornaments in half the containers.  Because the layers are naturally in reverse order it makes setting up the tree next year that much easier! 

Pro tip: Tuck a bag of ornament hooks into each container. Next December, you won't waste twenty minutes digging through boxes looking for hooks! 

Color-Code Your Collection

If you're someone who changes your Christmas color scheme (or dreams of doing it), sort your ornaments by color family before storing. Keep all the reds together, all the silvers together, all the golds together. When you're ready to refresh your look or stick with tradition, you'll know exactly which containers to grab.

Ribbon That Stays Perfect

Wired ribbon is an investment, and crumpled ribbon is a disappointment. I can't tell you how many times I've had to iron clients wired ribbon because they didn't store it correctly.  An easy tip: Save those empty paper towel rolls or wrapping paper tubes.  Wrap the wired ribbon on and then cover it with a layer of plastic wrap. Your ribbons will look as crisp and perfect as the day you bought them, and they're ready for use. No creases and no stress!

Untangle Your Christmas Lights Forever

A lot of people, myself included, have pre-lit artificial Christmas trees.  The issue is they NEVER have enough lights so I alwasy add additional strings of light.  The rule of thumb is 100 lights per 1 foot of tree.  So, save your future-self aggravation and wrap each strand of lights around an empty paper towel roll, but here's the key—wrap them the opposite way you'll need them. If you start decorating your tree by plugging in the lights first, keep the plug on the outside of the roll. That way, next year you simply grab the plug, plug it in, and unroll as you wrap the tree. It's genius in its simplicity.

The Photo Hack that Makes Decorating Easier

Before you dismantle your beautiful holiday displays, pull out your phone and take photos. Lots of them. Capture the vignettes, the mantel arrangement, every perfectly styled corner.

Create a folder on your phone called "Christmas Decorating" and store these reference photos there. Next year, instead of staring at a pile of décor wondering how it all fit together, you'll have a visual roadmap. It cuts decorating time in half and eliminates the guesswork.

Even better? Print a few key photos and tuck them into the corresponding storage containers. When you open the box next December, you'll immediately see exactly how everything should look.

The Container System That Speeds Everything Up

If you have the storage space, this is the game-changer: create dedicated containers for each area of your home.

• Mantel tub
• Tree tub
• Banister tub
• Entry table tub

Corral all the items for each vignette into its own container. When it's time to decorate, you're not hunting through five different boxes to style your mantel. You pull out one tub, and everything you need is right there. Same goes for taking it all down...everything goes back into its dedicated home.

This system also makes it easy to skip areas if you're short on time. Not decorating the guest room this year? Leave that tub in storage. Simple.

The Bottom Line

The secret to stress-free holiday decorating isn't buying more fancy ornament storage boxes or spending hours bubble-wrapping individual items. It's about working smarter: maximizing space, creating systems that serve you, and building in visual reminders that make next year effortless.

Take the extra time this January to implement these strategies. Future you—standing in your storage room next December—will be incredibly grateful you did.

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