It’s holiday time, and for many of us, that means unpacking and displaying holiday decorations.

On episode 405 of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, we asked listeners for hacks for keeping holiday decorating fun and manageable.

We heard many terrific suggestions:

• Decorate a tree with ornaments that represent people’s favorite hobbies, travel, or milestones
• Display the mittens and gloves from the days when your children were very small
• Choose an unexpected bush or tree to decorate in a whimsical way
• Take photos to remember where you placed decorations, so you don’t have to figure it out fresh each year
• Start clearing and organizing early, to make the effort less stressful
• Use natural decorations, such as pine cones, greenery, candles, and flowers
• Let a child do the decorating!
• Do the same thing over and over again, and call it tradition
• Decorate alone and use the time to reflect on happy memories
• Organize boxes of decorations by room to make it easier to unpack and repack.
• Decorate over the course of several weekends, to keep it manageable
• Suit yourself if minimal decorations are more pleasing to you, such as a platter, wreath, or small tree

My favorite hack? I play holiday music while I unpack my decorations. It helps to set the mood.