diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/template_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/template_module.py
index 075ebba4ca..a13d0fa095 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/template_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/template_module.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ from xmodule.x_module import XModule
 from xmodule.raw_module import RawDescriptor
 from lxml import etree
 from mako.template import Template
-from xmodule.util.decorators import lazyproperty
 
 
 class CustomTagModule(XModule):
@@ -31,33 +30,37 @@ class CustomTagModule(XModule):
                  instance_state=None, shared_state=None, **kwargs):
         XModule.__init__(self, system, location, definition, descriptor,
                          instance_state, shared_state, **kwargs)
-
-        xmltree = etree.fromstring(self.definition['data'])
-        if 'impl' in xmltree.attrib:
-            self._template_name = xmltree.attrib['impl']
-        else:
-            # VS[compat]  backwards compatibility with old nested customtag structure
-            child_impl = xmltree.find('impl')
-            if child_impl is not None:
-                self._template_name = child_impl.text
-            else:
-                # TODO (vshnayder): better exception type
-                raise Exception("Could not find impl attribute in customtag {0}"
-                                .format(location))
-        
-        self._params = dict(xmltree.items())
-
-
-    @lazyproperty
-    def html(self):
-        with self.system.filestore.open(
-                'custom_tags/{name}'.format(name=self._template_name)) as template:
-            return Template(template.read()).render(**self._params)
-        
+        self.html = definition['html']
 
     def get_html(self):
         return self.html
 
 
 class CustomTagDescriptor(RawDescriptor):
+    """ Descriptor for custom tags.  Loads the template when created."""
     module_class = CustomTagModule
+
+    @classmethod
+    def definition_from_xml(cls, xml_object, system):
+        definition = RawDescriptor.definition_from_xml(xml_object, system)
+
+        # Render the template and save it.
+        xmltree = etree.fromstring(definition['data'])
+        if 'impl' in xmltree.attrib:
+            template_name = xmltree.attrib['impl']
+        else:
+            # VS[compat]  backwards compatibility with old nested customtag structure
+            child_impl = xmltree.find('impl')
+            if child_impl is not None:
+                template_name = child_impl.text
+            else:
+                # TODO (vshnayder): better exception type
+                raise Exception("Could not find impl attribute in customtag {0}"
+                                .format(location))
+
+        params = dict(xmltree.items())
+        with system.resources_fs.open('custom_tags/{name}'
+                                   .format(name=template_name)) as template:
+            definition['html'] = Template(template.read()).render(**params)
+
+        return definition