The BIG holiday is behind me, and chances are I will not be opening any more presents this year. Unfortunately, the past week has been a non-stop blur of flying colored paper, sparkly ribbons and white boxes.I couldn’t produce a tally of all the items I took home from holiday parties this year, but I know I did well. It was a good Christmas for receiving. It seems everyone wanted to give me presents, and what they gave me was perfect. Now I just have to find a way to work all of the new items into my already overstocked and over packed home.As a child, I would consolidate all of my presents into one box and store the box under the tree for at least a week after the holiday. I would open the box to retrieve a new item every now and then, but for the most part I liked to keep things sitting there looking new and pretty.I don’t get to do that anymore. First, I don’t get to open many presents at my house, so I am usually hauling my loot from here to there. Second, if I did leave presents under the tree for very long, my white cat, Merlin, would probably decide he needed to tag them with his scent (trust me, I know this from experience). Finally, my husband likes things neat and tidy.Therefore, when gifts are opened, they need to be put away or find a home inside my home.From what I can see around me this problem exists in many homes. Children get new toys but rarely new toy boxes. Fathers get new tools but not workshops. Mothers get new pans and appliances but no additional space in cupboards in the kitchen.What are people to do?I hope to use the "organize-and-give-away" method.I am going to reorganize any area of the house that has been "added" to. As I reorganize, I need to throw away or give away.For instance, I was given two new pairs of shoes. Before I throw these shoes into an already overflowing shoe closet – I need to sort through my footwear and determine what NEEDS to be stored there.I am sure I can find at least two other pairs of shoes to part with.In another example, I got new towels from my mother. Before I add the towels to my bath collection, I am going to find all of my "older" towels and throw them away.As with many things I write, the actual implementation of the plan is far harder than coming up with the idea. But I think I can do it this holiday season.A toolbox I won at the Tollefson Publishing Christmas party has been testing my patience with the organize and give-away method.Up to this point in life, my toolbox has been a cardboard banana box I picked up when I moved out of the dorm and into my first apartment, some 10 years ago.The night I brought home the toolbox, I started moving tools from various junk drawers and dumping areas of my house into my toolbox.I still haven’t finished this process; in fact, the banana box with the bulk of my tools is still downstairs in the basement.For families with children, I recommend a deep cleaning of all toy areas. With each passing year, children outgrow some toys, game pieces are misplaced and other toys get duplicated.Really, how many versions of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit does one family need?Find all items that you can part with, put them in a box and take them to Goodwill, a local church, a neighborhood daycare – just get them out of the house!The same advice can be used in women’s kitchens. If you were given a new coffee pot, then get the old one out of the house. One kitchen does not need a dozen mixing bowls – get rid of the excess.My goal is to do all of my holiday organizing before the new year begins. I am going to start piling up a nice big "spring junk day" area in my garage.If I don’t need something or if I was given a similar, newer version, the old item is gone. No exceptions.All of this is coming from a pack rat who loves to keep stuff around, any kind of stuff.In fact, I still have gift tags from the early ‘90s packed away with my holiday decorations. And my ornaments are wrapped in scraps of wrapping paper from every Christmas I have had in my adult life.I hope that everyone in the area was lucky enough to feel as blessed and loved as I did this Christmas. The presents and hassle of adding them to my life pales in comparison to the joy of spending some much needed time with my family and their pets.