Thank heavens my friend Jen knew about my baby’s cold, my sleepless nights, and my internet issues (oy!), and was willing to help me Get it Together with this guest post. Enjoy!
Christmas…. I know that we’re not even to Thanksgiving yet, but at our house we’re starting to think about Christmas. We’re not knee-deep in it, but we’re trying to plan ahead so that we can actually enjoy this Christmas season.
For the past few years, we’ve hurried through the season with little time to enjoy those special moments that turn into memories. We have ordered gifts at the last minute (and had to pay for overnight shipping! Ugh!), made only two kinds of cookies because that’s all we had time for, and sent out our Christmas cards two days before Christmas.
To be quite honest, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being rushed… tired of being frantic. This year we’re doing things differently. We’re getting it together now.
One of the biggest problems that I’ve pinpointed is that we’re not planning ahead. At all. I have some fabulous ideas for Christmas activities that seem to strike at 10 p.m. the night before we would be doing the activity. That usually doesn’t lead to a fun, relaxing time together. So just this past week we had a conversation about what kinds of things we want to do this December. We came up with our Want-To-Do-List for Christmas 2011. Here’s what’s on our list:
- Schedule a playdate with a friend over Christmas vacation from school.
- Drive through the Festival of Lights at Oglebay Park.
- See the Nutcracker Ballet (Our daughter is taking ballet this year, and she will LOVE this!).
- Decorate our tree earlier than usual so we can enjoy it longer.
- Make baked goods for our neighbors.
- Do a Jesse Tree for the month of December.
- Participate in two Christmas programs, one at church and one with our homeschool group.
- Make a crafty gift that our daughter can give to her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts & uncles.
- Read Christmas books.
- Sing Christmas songs.
- Make a several handmade Christmas gifts.
None of those things is super stress-inducing by itself. But trying to pull off all of those activities if we start planning in December could mean that we don’t have the chance to enjoy them quite as much. In fact, I did some checking on the Nutcracker tickets and found out that we had some MAJOR scheduling conflicts that could not be avoided had we waited much longer to plan. Because we started planning ahead, we’ll be able to figure out a way to make the ballet happen.
Of course, we still need to take care of shopping, wrapping, cleaning, and other things that go along with Christmas. But my goal is to have all of that done before December, leaving us the whole month to enjoy our activities and each other.
What about you? Do you enjoy the hustle bustle of the season, or do you plan ahead for a chaos-free Christmas?
Jennifer is wife to Jason and mom to six-year-old Emma. She spends her time homeschooling, blogging, and doing blog design. If you want to enjoy this holiday season, you can join her in her pursuit of An Organized Christmas.
We keep Christmas very simple. I don’t feel the need to do all of the “Christmasy things” We might make cookies with a grandma. We try to send/do a gift that is thoughtful for family, friends, and neighbors. We will often choose to donate money (samaritans purse has a catelog where you can buy soccer balls or a goat, etc for families in other countries). We do advent. We may or may not do Christmas related crafts or reading. We keep it focused on Jesus, the rest doesn’t matter to us and that makes it a very simple season.
I think my children would purchase every item in the Samaritan’s Purse catalog if I’d let them.
Hooray Oglebay! Unfortunately I missed the lights last year. I was there the week before at the resort for a work retreat and couldn’t justify driving all the way back the next week (from Charleston). I prefer to just do the basics: tree, one gift for whoever I’m getting gifts for, gift for any yankee swaps, and cookies. 5 families to have a meal with is taxing enough.
I like the Christmas hustle and bustle but only for a limited time. My shopping is usually done by thanksgiving but I’m wrapping on Christmas Eve! We do charity gifts (heifer international or a local family shelter) for extended family and send a “Happy New Year” letter instead of Christmas cards. Mostly I try to remind myself that my kids won’t remember if they had the perfect gift–they will remember hot cocoa while watching the Grinch and decorating cut out cookies.
Plan, plan, plan. That’s my motto.
I’m a musician so the holidays can be a busy time for me professionally. Usually the two weeks after Thanksgiving are crazy so I make sure most of our gifts, especially those we need to mail, are purchased by mid November. Last year, however, we realized we should wait and take advantage of the deals Amazon has in December. I bought extra toys because they were such a good deal with the intention of using them for our younger son’s birthday in May. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember about them until a week after said birthday. Oops. He’s still an appropriate age this year, thankfully.
Anyway, the week or so before Thanksgiving I sit down and make A Plan as to when everything is going to happen. Looking at Christmas lights, doing a craft, cookies baked, the mince made for my fruit cake (it has to sit for a week, yes I know I’m weird), when we’ll have gingerbread, etc.. Things don’t always happen on their assigned day but knowing what the overall plan is makes it easier to reschedule or cross off activities without everything turning into a huge stress mess.
A big thing for me last year was making cookies one batch at a time the two weeks before Christmas and freezing them. We had a good variety on hand, I didn’t have to cram everything in one day sucking the joy out of baking, and they stayed fresh in the freezer. I’ll definitely be doing that again but starting earlier so we have some ready for the school Cookies For Bus Drivers drive.
With two little ones this year, I hope to have the holiday shopping done by mid-November. We were a little late in gifts last year and don’t want to stress about it this year. I also want to get a jump on the photo gifts in the coming weeks. I really want December to be about decorating the house/tree, making cookies, and other fun little traditions.
Planning early is SO important. We see a local production of “A Christmas Carol” every year, and I would be devastated if we ever missed it. I can relate to running out of time to make cookies and other holiday treats. I’ve learned that I can’t wait until the week before Christmas to get into the spirit. Christmas really is a whole season itself.
I love the Christmas season! Some years I start planning in September
I just did a Getting Ready for Christmas post the other day (http://mylittlebitoflife.com/?p=2245). I’m glad to know I’m not the only one thinking about it already!
As someone who lives for Christmas, I cannot fathom the “American” way. By that I mean that you guys have what seems to be such a short season. Here in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October. My tree is usually decorated right around Remembrance DAy(Nov.11) because I do want to enjoy the SEASON. My sister in Texas says that it is a frantic rush from T-giving to Christmas and it leaves little time to really embrace the season and all of the wonderful things to see and do. I start baking in early November too(some years in October) and I have usually tried to have cards out Dec. 1. For us, winter is long and cold. Christmas;the colors, lights , smells and sounds are a wonderful way to get cozy and enjoy being together. Family time is priority at Christmas and all of the other “stuff” just adds to that. Nov.1, the rule in our house is Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas gets played..an ode to the beginning of the season!
I knew about your October Thanksgiving, but I never thought about how that would extend the Christmas season. Love it!
I am sort of known as the “Christmas Queen”. I have even convinced some of my buh-humbug friends to join in the fun. People who used to put up their tree in mid-December have opted now for end of November/December 1! And even those who were all about wrapping gifts on Dec.24 for a Christmas morn. surprise have decided that the pretty paper really DOES need to be seen MUCH MUCH longer!! I’m not a Santa person. But even if I was, does Santa bring ALL the gifts?? I should think not!! Decorated presents are half the decorating fun!
And Oh my goodness, YES! to Amy Grant! My cassette tape (yes, CASSETTE TAPE) bit the dust just last year, so I “upgraded” to a CD. LOL
I can only take the hustle and bustle a little bit. I try to get the majority of my shopping done way before Christmas. I am wrapping by Thanksgiving week for sure. I enjoy running to the mall here and there but want to have the majority done. I do like to take in the plays and choirs and light so if the shopping is handled I am free to enjoy, to experience and to be hospitable.