Yearly Wrap Up (of lights, anyway)

(Disclaimer:  While this is not a soul-moving or seriously-salvational blog post….it just may save your holiday spirit in 2016.)

This year I am going to make a HUGE seriously big and life-altering resolution.

Actually…that’s a lie. My resolution is going to be one that is attainable, practical, and that will bring me great joy next holiday season.

This year I shall put away my Christmas lights in such a manner that there shall be NO TANGLES next year.

This is something I have honed and perfected over the years, and have come up with a basically fool-proof method that my organized brain is very happy about.

First….grab the receiving end (not the end you plug into an outlet!) of the lights, hold it in your hand, and wrap the rest of the lights around your hand a few times.

Then slide that off of your hand and start wrapping the rest of the strand around it–but make sure you don’t just wrap up/down or left/right.  Alternate it so that eventually you have a lovely little bright ball.

When the string of lights comes to an end, gently push the “plug-in” end into the ball of lights.  It will stay! Repeat this handy little method with all of the other strands until you have de-Christmas-fied your house.

Next year you just pluck out a ball and plug it in. You’ll be able to tell instantly if the whole string works…or if you need to save it until the very end of decorating and spend the time replacing fuses and checking bulbs (or just chucking the whole thing!).  If the whole ball lights up then you have an easy way to unwind the strand and decorate to your shiny heart’s content.

See?  Easy way to wrap up un-decorating, and easy resolution to keep.

Now. If I could just find a way to detangle those egg-nog pounds from my muscle…..