How to Take Lights off a Christmas Tree

Taking the lights off the tree signals the end of the holiday season for many. But don't cry - Christmas will be back next year.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Storage Boxes
• Newspaper Or Tissue Paper
• Marking Pens
• Ladders
• Stepladders
• Ladders

1. Take off all the ornaments and put them away.

2. Make sure the cord is unplugged.

3. Climb on a chair or stepladder, if necessary, and - beginning at the top - gently unclip or untuck the lights from the tree branches.

4. Continue in a downward spiral, watching for forgotten ornaments as you go.

5. Wind the cord up in a neat bundle for storage.

Tips & Warnings

• If the cord is damaged or if a lot of sockets have gone bad, replace it now while decorations are on sale. (That way you'll avoid a panic next December when your spouse says, "Didn't we used to have more lights?")

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on 11/22/2005 Use one grocery store plastic bag per strand. I've done this for years, and each year my lights are easy to pull out. They're hardly even tangled!

on 11/22/2005 Start removing the lights from where you ended puting them up, as they often overlap. As you unwind the string from the tree, wind it around an unopened roll of paper towels. This will make it easy to re-hang them next year with no tangles! (It may take more than one roll of paper towels.) They're easy to store in a plastic trash bag.

on 11/22/2005 Cut the cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper in half. Cut 1-inch slits in each end of tube. Place one end of the lights in slit, wind lights around tube and insert other end of lights in the remaining slit. Then it unwraps without tangling.