Every year my family celebrates Christmas with a real tree. Once the season has passed, I offer my children two incentives for helping me put away the decorations.
First, as we strip the tree and our home of decorations, ornaments and lights, my children and I pack everything away except for the strings of white lights. Once all other decorations are put away, I let them hang the lights in their rooms for the remainder of winter.
Second, instead of putting our tree at the curb for garbage day, we find a spot close to a window and prop our tree in a snow bank. Then we string popcorn and keep our tree as a bird feeder for the rest of the winter, putting out more strings of popcorn as needed.
This article appeared in the December 2011 issue of Thriving Family
magazine. Copyright © 2011 by Becky Tidberg. Used by permission. ThrivingFamily.com.
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