January is by far the saddest month of the year.

All the holiday decorating that we feverishly do the weekend after Thanksgiving, has to come down, get boxed up and stored……

Saddest month of the year, (Hugh Sigh)

So where does it go in a small house?

The big vintage ornament wreath has been a tradition of mine for the past 15 years.

The ornaments are individually hooked onto a chicken wire wreath form every year…one at a time.

They come down the same way. One at a time.

We box them up in the boxes they came in, or between layers of bubble wrap, then fill tubs. 6 tubs to be exact.

The tubs stack in the attic. Now this is a little controversial because glass ornaments need to be kept somewhere where the temperature is constant…..or they will age faster. I actually kind of like the age spots they get. Makes them look “loved”.

So the attic is fine.

But not for the glass Radko ornaments on the tree……

I don’t want them to age at all.

I fill mixing bowls with them as we take them off the tree.

Then these guys are individually bubble wrapped and stashed inside the banquet in the kitchen.

Once the cushion and pillows are in place….no one would ever know that they were sitting on top of a few hundred ornaments.

Everything that isn’t a glass ornament; bubble lights, reflectors, plastic clip-on birds, spinners, and glittery balls, are bagged and boxed.

The tree itself is wrapped in white sheets and stashed in this perfect, but odd, little space on the side of the chimney in the garage.

Jamie has the outside lights down to an exact science.

He removes all the bulbs from the light strands – this keeps them from breaking – and every strand goes in a labled ziploc.

Same with the garland around the front door….

The lights and berries are bagged and labeled….

…and these tubs fit perfectly on the shelves we built over the garage door.

Yes sir,

Organized Hoarding at it’s finest.