Collected & Cozy

Tag: Christmas

  • Holiday Decoration Storage

    Holiday Decoration Storage

    By the end of the Christmas season, I am ready to just throw all the decorations in bins and leave it as a problem for future me. I haven’t gotten any of the decorations out yet so I figured it might be fun to see just how inconsiderate past me was to future me.

    There was a time when I wrapped all of our Christmas lights around coat hangers so they wouldn’t tangle. There was a time I had just 1 bin of decorations so I knew everything was together.

    It’s been years since then. I’ve accumulated a ton of decorations, whether through buying them myself or getting them second hand from my mother in law. So the organization isn’t great, but it’s working…enough.

    Here’s how we stored our decorations from the 2024 Holiday season!

    Outdoor Decorations

    We have a bin for all of our outdoor lights which just had everything thrown in Willy-Nilly. We have these gorgeous vintage looking multi colored bulb lights that luckily aren’t terrible to untangle. We also have smaller white stranded lights for our white columns and some pretty sad looking garland that I replaced the white lights with last year because the white stranded lights aren’t quite the right colors.

    Look at this chaos…

    We also have our cute candy cane path lights, and we always replace our garage lights for the season. The bulbs change from white, to green, to red.


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    Indoor Decorations

    The indoor decorations are where I’ve lost my marbles.

    I have them organized by tree, kinda. We have a taller 8.5ft tree for downstairs that my mother in law traded us for one of our 7.5ft trees. (shout out to her!) So I keep most of the ornaments and lights in a bin along with the tree skirt and angel. I have a bag that goes with the tree that has the wooden beads, ribbon, and some extra ornaments.

    You can see the shelf these usually live right behind it. Off to the side. Out of sight. Out of mind.

    The next bin is for our other tree. This one has a Grinch theme so it has all the ornaments, ribbon, and tree skirt as well.

    I have a little bin full of more sentimental ornaments from my and Jake’s childhood.

    Then we have a random assortment of stuff in our attic (which we were told was not meant for storage but come on. What’s an attic for if not for seasonal storage??)

    Up there we have our 3ft nutcracker, our 7.5ft tree, a nativity sign, and some other random things that we ran out of space for in the bins.

    It’s not pretty. It’s not aesthetic. It’s random bins we bought when we first moved into our house…but it works! Everything is here and we survived getting it all back out.


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  • Our Christmas Movie List for 2025

    Every single December, I blink and suddenly we’re at New Years Eve.

    So this year, I’m making a list ahead of time because Christmas movies are truly a core memory builder for me. They’re nostalgic, cozy, familiar, heartwarming, funny… all the things that make this season feel magical. And I didn’t want to forget any of them in the hustle and bustle of Christmas with little kids.

    2025 Christmas Movie ListUnwrap your list

    I’m sharing our list, the movies we personally prioritized, so if you want to follow along or build from ours, you can!

    Make a list, check it twice, and soak up the season with your family too.

    Our 2025 Must Watch Christmas Movies

    1. The Grinch(all 3… but Jim Carrey is my favorite forever)

    While Jim Carrey’s will always be the elite version for me, the original animated Grinch is a classic must watch, and the newer animated one with Benedict Cumberbatch has quickly become my toddlers favorite. All three are staples in our house.

    2. Elf

    Elf is my husband’s favorite and we watch it multiple times throughout the season. We quote this movie YEAR. ROUND. It just never stops being funny.

    3. Deck the Halls

    Another one of my husband’s favorites. When we hang lights, he always mentions this movie.

    4. Miracle on 34th Street

    Classic, timeless, feels like Christmas.

    5. Home Alone 1 & 2

    Yes BOTH. 1 and 2 are non-negotiable back-to-back musts.

    6. Christmas Vacation

    Nothing like Clark Griswold plugging in his lights and nothing turning on to kick off Christmas.

    7. A Christmas Story

    I feel like it’s impossible to miss this because it literally plays on repeat on TV every Christmas Day… and it still never gets old.

    8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

    This is also a classic. I remember when it was on tv my parents would yell for me to join them and watch it. The claymation is just the definition of nostalgia.

    9. Charlie Brown Christmas

    I watched this every year growing up and now I’m continuing the tradition with my babies. My Mama Nise loves Charlie Brown, so I think of her every single time we turn it on.

    10. A Christmas Carol

    Bah humbug.

    And of course… sprinkle in Hallmark Christmas movies throughout the month.

    Yes, they all have the same story. Yes, you always know exactly how they’ll end. That’s the charm for me.

    My favorite recent one: Three Wise Men and a Baby.

    I’ll be checking this list off all season long so I don’t accidentally look up and realize December is over. Save this, share this, screenshot it, print it… whatever helps you remember to slow down and actually enjoy the cozy nights, the hot chocolate, the twinkle lights, and the movies that make Christmas feel like Christmas.

    What movies would you add to your list this year?


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    I had to edit to add my toddler’s honorable mentions:

    1. Choo Choo Train (The Polar Express)
    2. This is Halloween (Nightmare Before Christmas)
    3. Frozen