Hello everyone!  I’ve missed you.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family.  I know I did!  Family is everything to me so just having family gather together is one of my greatest joys.  Being able to feed them good, real food is another joy of mine.  Shh….don’t tell them that I was feeding them healthy food.  It sure was delicious and other than too much white sugar, I think we did a relatively good job of keeping it real through the holidays.

Last night on the Juggling Facebook page, I asked the question…….”When do you take down your Christmas tree and décor?”  I was surprised by some of the answers.  Celeste said, “February or May or maybe never”.  My friend Roberta said that she might keep up the tree and decorate for the various holidays throughout the year.  Jannese said, “Right now” because it has “been up since November 1st.”  Most of you, however have decided on January 2nd to take down your tree and décor.  I want to keep my tree and décor up for a little while longer so that I can enjoy it without the pressures of holiday prep.  I’m not ready for the Christmas spirit to fade yet.  However, I am totally ready for the Christmas mess to go away.  Today, I am sharing my tips for getting rid of the holiday mess even when you want to enjoy the holiday décor.

 

Christmas Clean-Up Tips

• Remove gifts from packaging.  Recycle boxes and throw away any packaging that can’t be recycled.
• Find a home for your new gifts.  Everything should have a place.  Take some time with children because they can help and they need to understand the organization system so they can stick to it.
• Put away wrapping paper, tape, tags, scissors, bows, and ribbons.  Throw away any little scraps of paper.  You really don’t need to store those till next Christmas.  Make sure you search for scraps in all of the little places you stuffed them right before Christmas.  I do crazy stuff trying to keep Christmas secrets.  I bet you do too!
• Return Christmas craft and card-making supplies to their proper location.
• Put away Christmas dishes.  The special cookie platters and holiday dishes don’t need to be out anymore.  Store them away till next year.
• Clean out the refrigerator.  That thing is a mess with all of its use during the holidays.  For more tips check out my spring cleaning your refrigerator post.
• Wash the extra linens (guest towels, wash cloths, tablecloths, and cloth napkins) you used during the holidays and return these items to their proper location.
• Run the sweeper over carpeted areas and sweep any hardwood or tile floors.  I’m amazed at how this simple task makes everything seems so much cleaner.
• Make a real-food meal plan for the week.  You can grab my printable meal-planning calendar here and find new recipes to try here.

 

• Check your calendar.  Life goes on.  Do you have bills to pay?  Do the kids have activities that you need to get them to?  Make sure you have everything ready to go.  I know I need to get my daughter’s dance clothes in the wash.  All of those things that you declared could wait till after Christmas.  Guess what……..it’s that time.

Plenty to do this week even if you want to keep your Christmas décor out a little longer.  I find that cleaning things up gives me a more relaxed feeling and I am better able to enjoy time with my family when the chaos is held in check.  Leave me a comment below and let me know what tasks are most important to you after the holidays?

The Real Food Experience 2016 is starting January 4th.  If you desire to feed your family more real food in 2016, this free program is for you.  Find out how to sign-up here.

 

You might also be interested in this post from my friend Gaye who blogs over at Calm.Healthy.Sexy.  She has lots of great ideas for the week between Christmas and the New Year.