Christmas 2020

What? You’re done thinking about Christmas? Everything’s packed away and you’ve eaten your last Christmas bonbon, and vacuumed the last of the Christmas tree needles sprinkled around the floor? You don’t want to think about Christmas again until Halloween next year?

Hear me out – this post is a bit delayed, I know, but I am so excited about the idea behind it, and so is Mon Cœur (MC)!

I am surprised I was able to pack the wrapped packages away before she began unwrapping them. Yes, I wrapped packages before packing them away this year.

Why? The idea behind the wrapped packages is that each day from the first day of December until Christmas, MC will have something to unwrap, allowing her to enjoy the season and destruction of wrapping paper throughout December and not just on Christmas morning.

We have never gone overboard with gifts for her, however it’s always fun to unwrap a gift. I realized this this past Christmas as I was placing gifts for our family under the tree and MC was immediately grabbing it to open.

With MC starting to understand the holiday, we have begun to collect various Christmas accoutrements. Festive items such as advent calendars, nativity scenes, stockings, cookie cutters, movies, vinyls, books…

The idea is for MC to unwrap one package a day – most days she can choose any package, however there are certain days labeled. For example, I wrapped the advent calendar and labeled that to be unwrapped December first. Stockings will go up on Saint Nicholas Day, December 6, and we’ll unwrap and read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

Other items – jingle bell ornaments & The Polar Express, ornament kits and Christmas crafts, nativity scenes, Christmas dresses, and such will be chosen and unwrapped by MC throughout the Christmas season. It will give us something new to do each day and create a bit of novelty and anticipation for each day.

My hope by starting this tradition is that MC can experience the Christmas spirit throughout the season instead of the ritual cycle: set up tree and decorate December first; open everything Christmas; forget about it by the 26th; and then pack everything away until next year.

Mom always tells us it’s Christmas every day. I want MC to feel that, too. We should celebrate the spirit of giving, the cheer of the season, the anticipation and hope for new things to come every day.

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Repurposing Christmas Cards

Every year after Christmas, as we are boxing away the decorations, I take all of the holiday cards off display and I place them in an envelope and pack them away with the rest of Christmas…they take up precious room in the plastic tote that is dedicated to our Christmas decorations. After a few years’ worth of cards, it gets out of control and I have to do something with them.

It’s not like we bring them out again the following year, or that I ever do anything with them…I just can’t stand to throw away or recycle all that Christmas cheer.

When the bundle started to infringe on the precious storage space, I had to think of something to do to repurpose them without just getting rid of them. I took those cards out, looked back through them all and chose some to make a paper Christmas wreath by cutting circles and arranging them in a circle. Want to make your own? It’s easy peasy!

I liked the way it turned out, and this year when we were unboxing Christmas decorations, I realized it was again time to cull down the card collection. I found my trusty quilter’s circle templates and I used all of the sizes this year to create the wreath. This year’s wreath is extra special, as I used a stamp from a special delivery from Tokyo.

I am very nostalgic although I am averse to clutter, so I love this idea of keeping cards from friends and family while keeping the clutter down. The paper wreath is so easy to pack away and adds a little bit of Christmas cheer to a wall that may need a little bit of joy.

What do you do with your Christmas cards after the season’s over?