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COFFEE TALK 12.29.19 ☕️

Well, good morning! It’s been quite the long, drawn-out holiday week here.

While Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were fairly quiet with just the 5 of us, we’ve had family in town this weekend, and yesterday we hosted a big family gathering for about 20. It was so much fun, and now I feel like the Christmas holiday is complete.

Of course, we still have New Year’s Eve to look forward to, and the kids are out of school for a few more days, but now that our final Christmas celebration is behind us, I feel like I can start to dismantle the holiday decorations and start putting my house back in order.

I’m not ready, to be honest. I love the Christmas season, and every year it seems to get shorter, but I’m also not one to let the holiday decorations linger. I like things clean and tidy and in order, so we’ll definitely start putting things away this afternoon.

We always start with the live tree in our family room because, well, it’s live! It was a little saggy to begin with, and it’s started dropping needles, so it’s time for it to go. And we’ll probably take down the live greenery in the foyer as well.

But I’ll leave the faux tree in the living room for a while. It’s so pretty in the dim light of dawn when I come downstairs in the morning, and the colors are neutral, so I feel like it looks more wintery than Christmassy. I think I’ll leave my lighted Snow Village in the foyer for a while as well.

When do you start taking down your holiday decor???

I love a fresh start, and I’m excited to get everything purged and organized for 2020, so that’s how I plan to spend the next few days.

Like most of us at this time of year, I find myself caught up in self-reflection and planning, re-thinking how I want things to look going forward, both here on the blog and in my personal life. I’m not much of a goal setter or list maker, but I do like to re-evaluate my priorities and set new boundaries at the end of each year.

I’ll be sharing more about my plans for the blog in my 2019 Year In Review, which I’m hoping to post this week sometime.

Meanwhile, I’m focusing on my household — getting things back in order, purging, cleaning, all that jazz. My closet is already done, so I feel like I’m a little ahead of the game.

I had another shelf put in when the closet installers were here working on our mudroom on Friday, so I took that opportunity to tackle that area. I was able to consolidate my jeans and pants to one side of the upper hanging space, and now I have a shelf on the other side for more folded items.

This is especially helpful in the fall/winter when I have so many sweaters. I won’t need that folding space in the spring/summer, so I may use it for hanging again, or store some of my shoe boxes that I normally move to the basement in the off-season.

Best of all, it gave me the impetus to get my closet cleaned out and reorganized.

Speaking of that basement storage area, it is a disaster. I am definitely going to need to spend some time down there this week, putting it back in order.

Any-who. That’s where my mind is these days! I’m sure I’m not alone.

I also want to take a moment to wish my Grampa in Maine a happy 103rd birthday! He doesn’t read my blog, so he’ll never see this, but I’ve been thinking about him a lot this morning. He’s a really special person in my life, and I wish I could be there.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your holiday, and have a relaxing and blessed Sunday!

Join The Conversation

29 Responses

  1. I don’t get in a big hurry to take down the Christmas decorations. I love all the warm colors and lights. They help make the color dark days in South Dakota more bearable. Happy new year!

  2. Ditto to all you said. I worked on taking decorations down yesterday but may finish today. I always look forward to the new year. Fresh start. Less food I hope. 🙄 thanks for your inspiration. Happy new year.

  3. 103! Wow!  Happy Birthday to your Grandpa!  What a great life he must have led to experience so much! How blessed you and your family has been to have him in your life so long too. Mine would have been 102 earlier this month and we lost him 35 years ago so it’s hard for me to imagine that kind of time with him! It’s my youngest’s 12th birthday today too. Enjoy the rest of your holiday! Happy New Year!  

  4. Wow, 103….happy birthday grandpa!   When I put up Christmas decorations I leave them up until the end of the 12 days of Christmas so January 5th or 6th Just depends on available time.  

  5. I’m not ready!!! I’m sitting with my cup of tea looking at 2 trees twinkling with lights and I’m not ready to see them go yet. I love relaxing in the morning and the evening enjoying my decorations. We won’t pack up until later in the week as we’re having a group of friends over for New Year’s Eve for dinner. Like you, Jo-Lynne, the live tree will come down first– though ours is still looking great. I’ll keep my faux tree that’s in our kitchen/eating area, but can be seen from my favorite chair, into next week. I love the light! But by mid-January, everything will be gone for another year. I wish we could slow the holidays down so we had more time to enjoy the decorations, our family and friends and the happiness
    A happy birthday to your grandfather, Jo-Lynne!

  6. Growing up and right up to the Christmas before last we always had a real tree. So taking the tree down was a must by New Year’s Day. That was the tradition and usually all the remaining Christmas decorations came down as well. However last year was our first year to have an artificial tree, so the tree and decorations stayed up longer… which was nice. But I did a major purge last year that I started on the 26 with going through all the kitchen cupboards, pantry, my China cabinet and the linen closet and the bathrooms, my dresser drawers etc… our daughter also got married in May so we did Our repainting and switched up some rooms ( I now had a guest room) and our son took her room.  So a lot was done then. I’m afraid if I purge much more my cupboards will be empty lol… I will be working on my personal closet though and getting rid of stuff I’m not wearing and will start a pile of clothes that will go at the end of season. I also want to spend time re organizing our Christmas stuff which I’ll do once everything comes down after January 6 th… it’s a little late but we are hosting Christmas with my sister and her family and our son doesn’t go back to classes on January 8 th… so on the 7 th I will have it all down, put away and reorganized getting rid of Christmas decorations I don’t use anymore.. Happy Birthday to your grandpa!!! What an accomplishment:) Have a great Day

  7. Your blog is wonderful!  You asked when we take our Christmas decorations down.  I like to keep them up through Ephiphany, and I haul the tree to the curb on the next recycling pick-up day after that.  The whole Christmas season — from the start of Advent through Epiphany –is so beautiful that I like to celebrate Christmas for several weeks.

    1. I hear ya. We start decorating up on Thanksgiving weekend, in fact, the faux tree up a week before that, so we do get a good month or so to enjoy them. I’ll leave the faux tree up for longer, but the real one gets really scraggly, and I’m always eager to take it down.

      I never heard of Epiphany until I moved to Philly, but it’s interesting how many people mention it when I ask about taking down Christmas. I totally understand leaving it up until then if that’s your tradition. It’s so much work to decorate, I like to enjoy it as long as possible.

  8. I’m debating when to take mine down as well.  My living room is a hot mess – we had a fireplace insert put in this month and have yet to figure out wood storage    I also purge my house every January and can’t wait to get started.  Happy birthday to your Grampa – you are lucky to have him

  9. Our Christmas decorations won’t come down until January 6th or so. I love them and love having them up until Epiphany. I just don’t understand those who rush to take them down. I’m all for organization and fresh starts but I can do that with Christmas still up! Happy birthday to your grandpa! 

  10. NYD has been my traditional take down the decor day. Recent years we’ve been at our vaca home the week of NY’s thus throwing a little wrench in my tidy tradition. I will take down our decor up here in WI on NYD but the big job at home awaits. Looks like Saturday is the start day for that project. It will take at least 2-3 days to box it all up and put away. As much as I enjoy our beautiful Christmas decor, I love how the house looks so bright and clean after everything is put away. A fresh start for the New Year.  Happy 103 to Grandpa, amazing. So, hey, that’s a mighty gene pool you’ve got going for you. Nice. 

  11. I was wondering if you got your usual small in the BP pajamas? I’m either a small or x small and not sure which way to go. Happy Birthday to your dear grandpa. I wish you could be with him too!

    1. Hey Shelly, I actually went with medium in the BP. pjs. My daughter, who is smaller than I am, but the same height, has them in a small. They’re long, but cut on the thinner side. I hope that helps!

  12. Hi Jo-Lynne!
    Would you mind posting a pic of your winter village?
    I’m always looking for new inspiration on transitioning my Christmas decorations to winter!
    Thanks for all you do🙏

  13. I love how my house looks at Christmas. It always seems blah and very drab when everything gets put away.   Probably do it on Epiphany when the wise men have been. 

  14. I’m with you. Mine all came down and got packed away yesterday. My husband even obliged and took down the lights outside while the weather was great. Last year we took it down on Boxing Day, so I’m surprised my inner Grinch lasted until the 28th this year. I love Christmas, but it was so wonderful to get rid of all the clutter and de-glitter the house. Our artificial tree rains glitter all over the place, so some serious vacuuming was in order after things got packed away.

  15. Happy 103 birthday to your Grandpa! We take our decorations down on NY Day. I like the decorations to stay up till the new year. Like the idea of Wintery decorations though. Can you share some pics? Always curious of other decorating ideas. Also, would you feel comfortable sharing before/ after pics of your newly organized mudroom? I’m not on IG. Have a relaxing Sunday!

  16. Happy Birthday to your grandpa!  I have slowly started taking down the Christmas decorations; with the impending rain I tackled the outside first since everything was dry.  I love our inside tree that I decorated in soft neutrals and white lights because it fits nicely in a corner, and don’t want to take it down.  However, my goal is to have the house back in order by the end of next weekend.  I also want to tackle my closet at some point.  Have a great day!

  17. It’s all coming down today. As pretty as it is, I’m looking forward to getting it back to normal. It’s time to start a diet as well. I’ve been overindulging and it shows. 😢 

    Happy 103rd Birthday to Grampa! 

  18. I have two faux tress up, one in our family room and one in the home office. I love sitting and looking at them in the evening. I hate to take them down, our tradition is New Years Day. I may start taking down all the other inside decorations this afternoon since it’s raining here in NC. Happy birthday to your grandfather!

  19. Just woke up wondering if I could make it to New Years Day….my usual take down of decorations and tree day.  For some reason I’m ready early.  Our tree is real and its starting to have a sore smell.  But…..it is so pretty and I do like the lights in the early morning and at night.  Its easy to put off as I dread the take down process.  Things look a little bare at first, but then the decluttered look feels good.  The weather has been dreary and rainy, so its good weather to stay in and get this type of thing done. I feel the holiday season comes and goes so quickly and that seems strange, since you start seeing Christmas in the stores in Sept. LOL  Have a good day.  Looking forward to what you have for us in 2020.  So strange to even type. 

  20. Undecorating will happen next Saturday. I usually like to have it all done by NYD, but the way the holidays fall and working, and hosting… Love the fresh, new start for the new year. Purged a lot of decorations this year.
    I know this is a fashion blog – but please consider showing us your mudroom changes and storage clean up. Love to see how other people handle dealing with their ‘stuff’. Loved when you showed us your laundry room and storage after working with your friend. If she has a blog, can you please send the link?
    Happy New Year to you and your family (and Grandpa)

    1. Hey Carol, she sure does. Here it is: https://heartworkorg.com/blog/

      I don’t mind sharing pictures, I just didn’t feel like I had enough to make a full blog post about it. Plus, I haven’t really organized the insides of the cupboards yet. But it is nice to get some of the cleaning supplies and extra paper products out of my pantry and hallway closet.

  21. Totally get wanting to reset the house.  Ours do stay up longer than most….through the Baptism of Jesus, this year on the 12th.  

    We rarely use a regular light bulb through the Christmas season…plenty of Christmas lights everywhere to illuminate the house.  

    My family calls take down time “the saddest week of the year”…so though I’m sure my neighbors are ready for us to pack it up, it usually stays till around the 15th.

    By then I am ready to clean clean clean!

    Enjoyed all your holiday sharing!

  22. Wishing your grandpa a happy birthday!! 103!!! Wow!! 
    We are going to put all Christmas decorations and tree away next weekend. 
    Happy New Year!! Wishing you and your family good health, joy and peace in 2020!!

  23. Happy 103rd birthday to your grandpa! That’s super amazing 😀 The last time I remember decorating/taking down Christmas decor was in high school. I always find myself away from home or in a transitional space during this time of year. Soon, I will finally settle done in a place for more than a year.

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