I just came across this thought in a magazine (Your Child in Banyule & Nillumbik to be precise) and loved it:
one of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the lounge room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.
I love that mess (especially compared to the mess my kids usually make…) all the wrapping paper and packaging strewn across the floor, new clothes, books and toys scattered around, topped off with tinsel and decorations around the room. It evokes happy feelings of sharing and giving, and its bright and colourful. Love it!
I never clean it up before we go out for Christmas lunch, and generally leave it for Boxing Day (isn’t that the point of Boxing Day anyway??) Does that make me unusual?
That’s cool Ashley – thanks for sharing it.
I don’t tidy up the presents, etc on Christmas Day either so I don’t think you’re unusual! We now host Christmas dinner so I do tidy up a bit – the wrapping paper is at least contained in one area and the presents are put to the side/corner so no one steps on something. Even with our guests I think the ‘Christmas mess’ adds atmosphere 🙂
Everyone is happy to explore their new thgins on Boxing Day – if they’re still out in the family room, I find they’re mor elikely to dothat exploring in teh same room and invovle each other so the family time goes beyond Christmas Day.
I kind of enjoy Christmas mess too. It’s very festive. But after I gather up the discarded gift wrap, I don’t throw it away. I run it through a paper shredder and use it as packing material for shipping fragile items. Shredded gift wrap can also be pretty as filler for a gift basket or gift bag instead of those tissue shreds they sell in the gift wrap section of stores.
I would never have thought of buying shredded paper for packaging gifts, but shredding your wrappings is a great alternative! You’re full of great ideas today, ACSAPA, thanks for sharing them with us 🙂
I guess you could also use the shredded gift wrap as filler for Easter baskets instead of that plastic grass they sell. It’s kind of a waste to buy that Easter basket grass that just gets thrown out.
When my kids have made Easter baskets at school or kinder, they’ve just used shredded office paper or newspaper – works perfectly well. At home, my daughters once filled their basket with grass (like the Easter Bilby eats!) but weren’t happy with the shrinkage overnight, lol!
With a large family the mess I have to admit is the one thing that really doesn’t please me. We started years ago assigning task to make clean up a breeze. We have a Santa, a trash man , a recycler, table setter, table clearer and the quick sweeper. The tasks or chores trade off each year. We put the chores in a hat on New Years day and pick your chore for the next year. Since I do the cooking, I don’t have a extra chore and we all pitch in with the dishes.
Rotating chores so far in advance – you are so orgnaised, pocs! At one extended family event I used to attend I couldn’t get an answer about the Kris Kringle (like the dollar cap and who to buy for) until a week or so before Christmas! Half the family was disorganised and the other half refused to act alone in making decisions! Drove me nuts.
While cleaning for  upcoming entertaining for the holiday I try to clean as much as I can daily. I keep a laundry basket in the living room and dining room to throw odds and ends into, once filled I simply carry the basket around and put things back where they belong.
Keeping on top of cleaning does help before entertaining, etc. On Christmas Day (or Boxing Day really) I let the kids move their new things as they wish – they’re so excited by their new things I don’t want to just tidy up and make decisions for them
Like I’ve said before I’m touched with a little OCD. I have so many things going on if I’m not organized, it would all fall apart and as you can tell by my pervious posts, the more I can plan ahead, the better.