No time of year conjures more warmth in your heart than Christmas. Friends and family, food and merriment, all come together in your house to make the holidays special. The backdrop of it all is the festive atmosphere you create with your favorite decorations and heirlooms.
Because these precious reminders of holidays-past are so important, you need to be sure that you pack them away safely at the end of the celebration.
Storing Fabrics
Fun towels, stockings for Santa to fill, and cloth picture frames to hang on the tree are part of everyone’s holiday trimmings. If you are like most people, you probably keep these in poorly controlled environments where temperature fluctuations and humidity can wreak havoc on delicate textiles.
The best way to store your cloth ornaments safely is inside vacuum-sealed bags. Removing the oxygen from the bag with a dedicated machine or your vacuum cleaner will prevent oxidative stress from degrading the delicate fabric fibers while ensuring they are protected from the molds of mid-summer dampness.
Ceramic Nativities and Snowmen
Whether a scene of spiritual bliss or just a happy snowman couple, you probably have several ceramic statuettes which grace your shelves and tables through the Christmas season. The primary concern with this type of ornamentation is protecting them from shocks and impacts.
Storing them in inexpensive felt bags, and then packing the space between each piece with crumpled newspaper, will keep them secure, so they do not crack during the rough business of lugging them to the attic.
Glass and Thin Plastics or Metals
The Christmas tree is the most ubiquitous symbol of the holidays, complete with many fragile ornaments whose thin frames are particularly susceptible to being crushed and shattered. If at all possible, you should store them in their original boxes as they were most likely designed by their manufacturer to serve as a shock absorber during shipping.
However, if you are the inheritor of an antique set of heirlooms, you may not have that luxury. It that case you will want to consider making your ornament trays from craft foam which you can then cut to size for any small box you have available to you.
Rustic Wooden Figurines
Many a nutcracker has succumbed to the ravages of wood rot. These ornaments tend to be made from unfinished wood which has only a thin base of paint to protect them. Years of packing and unpacking can easily leave scratches in this covering which can be colonized by fungi and bacteria that degrade wood. You can protect them from this fate by wrapping them in a layer of bubble wrap and then sealing them away in plastic bags.
Your home is the center of your holiday traditions and your ornaments transform it into the festive scene of memories you will keep for a lifetime. Whether wood or metal, ceramic or cloth, each material type has its own packing needs. Taking care of them will ensure they last for all of your family’s holidays to come.