Cleaning up Christmas....

After Hubby and I took the Littles out feeding the sheep and the cows, Miss Peach overheard me talking of taking the decorations off the Christmas tree.  "I want to help you take the decorations off the tree, Grammy."  How could I say no?  She enjoyed plucking each ornament off the tree and placing it carefully in its proper ziplock bag.  We wrapped every glass icicle in a paper towel and put them in their bags too.  All the candy canes were unhooked from the branches and one candy cane slipped itself immediately into her mouth.  The rest were put in a blue mason jar for later.  I unwound the lights from the branches while Peach watched me.  It was fun to sit amongst the lights!

Most of the Christmas decorations are packed away, but we decided to keep the Cowboy Christmas tree up for awhile.  She calls it the Cumbleweed.  Peach thought it needed a few pink balls added in with the white and silver balls.  It looks just right for the New Year!

The candles will stay out all winter long and I'll keep the pine cone garlands up around the windows for awhile.  I also like to keep my evergreen and barb wire wreath at the front door through January.

I was looking around on Blissfully Content (Julia's blog) and found the niftiest gift wrapping idea.  Most of us are all done wrapping gifts, but I have a couple of January birthdays to think about so this newspaper gift wrap & matching bow looks like fun!  The instructions are here.  Enjoy!

I'm beginning to think about January organizing and tidying-up.  I like reading all the magazine articles on home organization and tips for cleaning.  Better Homes & Gardens has a good issue on organizing the home this month.  I'm sure there are others out there.  Maybe we can share ideas with each other when January rolls around.  Until then, enjoy these last days of the Old Year.