As I pulled out things for our harvest meal, I’m also pulling down all our winter paraphernalia. As soon as the table is clear on Saturday, we decorate for winter.

In order to do that and not have chaos, I stage each box of goodies in the guest room. I’m pretty meticulous by nature so every box is labeled and organized, but every year I dig through them and make sure only the stuff I want to decorate with comes out after harvest.

The only thing I don’t do in advance is test light strips, because that’s my husband’s job! It just frustrates me.

It also means that I know what we’re missing before we need it. Like this year, we have a fireplace and a mantle! I mostly have things that can be repurposed for this space, but I have also been keeping an eye out for the two or three things we would like (stocking hangers!)