Every so often, we’ll be sharing cleaning/organizing tips and tricks from innkeeper Beth, who always has it together and does it with a big smile and a laugh too! This month she’ll help us undress our Christmas trees.“This is as much a tradition for me as putting the tree up,” says Beth. “I start out by putting on my favorite Christmas music!”
You’ll need three things to get started: a flat sheet, one turkey baster (no partridges here), and a bath towel or two, for easier and faster cleanup.
1) After gently removing the skirt around the tree, drape a flat sheet under and around the tree; this will catch needles as you remove the tree ornaments.
2) Using a turkey baster, remove as much water from the tree stand as possible. By placing the towel on the floor there is less chance of breaking your special ornaments. Beth finds by starting at the top and going around and down, you’re less likely to miss any ornaments (don’t overlook the ones that you may have tucked inside the tree).
3) As you remove tree ornaments and balls, place on the bath towels on the floor; Beth suggests putting the balls on one end (by color), special ornaments on the other end.
4) After removing all the ornaments from the tree, start from the bottom up, lifting sad, wilted branches and looking for hidden ornaments. Drag the towel of ornaments to the area where you’ll wrap and store them.
5) Remove tree lights last, replacing any bulbs before wrapping. Marking your boxes with contents will help organize them for next Christmas.
6) After undressing your tree completely, gently gather the sheet together to shake outside, to remove the dropped needles. Wrap the sheet around your tree, gently remove tree from the stand and take the bottom of the tree out the door first, to dispose. Voila! Very little mess in the house.
7) Using your narrow vacuum attachment around the baseboards and doorway should help alleviate needles from resurfacing all year.
We hope your holiday season was shared with family, friends, and heartwarming memories. Happy New Year! – Beth
