Packing Away the Holidays
IT’S BEGINNING TO look a lot like . . . the end of Christmas. By mid-January, the lights have lost some of their sparkle, the shiny baubles have lost much of their glow, and the imitation evergreens have lost a lot of their wintry illusion. When this happens, you know that the time has come to start putting them back in storage. Remember to remove all the decorations and lights from your Christmas tree before disassembling it.
If You Have Already Disposed of the Boxes... Recycle old newspapers as wrapping paper and padding. Wrap individual decorations in a sheet of newspaper to prevent scratches,and then pad their container with crumpled wads of newspaper before putting them in. Use the same padding in between the decorations themselves, so that they don’t damage each other bumping together.
*Note that it is better to use a wide, flat box for these rather than a taller box, because stacking breakables too high may mean that the weight of those on top may crush those at the bottom.
Get Crafty
If you are the ‘crafty’ sort ready to take on a project, here’s a little DIY for you: Cardboard compartments to fit
into your storage containers.
For Christmas balls (two-inch spheres):
Materials
cardboard box that is about 21”x6” (If you have bought a new plastic container for your tree, then use its old box for this project.)
measuring tape
pencil
ruler
cutter
PROCEDURE
1. Measure each ball using a measuring tape to ensure that it will fit a bit loosely into each small compartment. Then measure your container to determine the lengths of the cardboard strips you will use.
2. Measure 21”x2½” strips. Make 5 strips of these. Then, measure 6”x 2½” strips and make 20 of these.
3. Cut 20 slits in the 21” strips, and 5 slits in 6” strips. These should be a little over two inches apart (so that the individual balls fit) and be half the width of each strip. That is, if each strip is 2½” wide, the slit should be a little over one-inch deep.
4. Put the strips together by fitting the slits of the 21” strips into the slits of the 6” strips, until they look like little ‘pig pens’ or a 3D multiplication table without the numbers.
5. Lay the finished grid at the bottom of your container and put each individual decoration (wrapped in newspaper for extra protection) in its own small ‘box.’
Depending on the height of the box, you may be able to stack several layers of these dividers, separating them with newspaper.
GREEN MOD
• New use for an old thing. A ‘green’ alternative would be to recycle a toilet paper roll as a Christmas light spool. This may seem counter-intuitive to the new drive to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but it is the nonbiodegradable decorations that turn out to be the most environment-friendly.
• Recyclable décor. Long strings of popcorn will just rot in a box, while the more durable homemade crafts molded from flour and water ‘clay’ may yet attract pests. Some crafts with great sentimental value, however, may be protected from insects by a coat of varnish — or a thin layer of the kid-friendly ‘glaze’ of white glue and water.
