'Tis the Season to Plan Ahead

I have to say this Christmas season...this year...has been one of my best and favorites.  I will post holiday pictures before the New Year, but I just wanted to stop and put down some positive thoughts before Christmas is over.

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I usually wait until the last minute for everything...including meeting you for coffee or getting to work.  So my whole life I've usually been the one up until midnight Christmas Eve wrapping gifts, mailing extremely belated Christmas cards, and baking cookies I wish I hadn't begun to bake.  And waiting has always been hard...like being patient enough until Christmas Day to give my presents to my loved ones.

Once I got married, that started to change a little bit.  I realized I needed to teach myself to plan ahead a bit more.  And little by little I have been.  But I'll admit...this year was the best I've done at that and let me tell you...IT IS WORTH IT!!! Tomorrow is Christmas Day and I have company coming over and yet I am so relaxed and happy.  I'm not stessed out or feeling sick (I think I used to make myself sick with worry) and things are running just fine.

So for next year, if you are like I always have been about planning ahead, here are some ideas that may help:

• Buy presents early and write out a budget amount for each person/gift exchange.  I bought almost all of my gifts at the beginning of November this year because I knew property taxes were coming in December, which is always a bit of a burden.  A lot of people shop all year round for their Christmas presents, which would really help spread things out pocketbook-wise.
• Wrap your presents as you buy them.  This helps tremendously with time management so you're not up all night on Christmas Eve.  Plus you don't get as tired or sore (yes, sore!) from wrapping too much at once.
• Store ALL your gift wrap & wrapping tools in a plastic bin throughout the year.  When the Christmas season comes, all you have to do is pull out your bin and everything is right there.  I kept my bin in the house all month long so I could wrap as I bought, but the rest of the year it's put away in the garage.  Also, keep your gift tags in a Ziplock bag with a pen inside and place that on the top of your wrapping supplies. This way your not searching around for them too much.
• Before you put your Christmas wrap storage bin away for the year, add the gift bags and ribbon from the gifts YOU received this year...I found that I only had to purchase ONE gift bag this year.  And gift wrap can be pricey sometimes, so that was awesome.
• About 2-3 weeks ahead, make a list of all the food you will need to make for the season.  What I did this year was I took one piece of paper and folded it into 4 boxes.  In each box I labled the 4 events I wwould be attending that I needed to bring food to (including my cookie making day).  Then under the event name, I wrote the ingredients for what I was making.  I used the grid at the grocery store.  I also made a special list on the back side of all the groceries I needed to buy for Christmas Day at my home.
• Don't be afraid to delegate.  If you do EVERYTHING, you may get overwhelmed.  So for the Christmas Day meal at our house, my mother-in-law and I have split up the food list so that she's bringing some things and I'm responsible for some things. It's not going to be a lot of people so it's fine with the two of us handiling it. If you have a big get-together, though, let people bring a dish or dessert.  Many people love to show up with their favorite holiday dish or something they've been wanting to share.
• Order/buy your Christmas cards & stamps soon after Halloween.  Christmas cards can be daunting because of all the addressing, licking, and signing.  This year, I took the picture I wanted on our cards close to Halloween and ordered the cards not long after.  Once they arrived they even sat for awhile on the counter, and then as soon as it was December I addressed them and sent them off.  It's been nice to have that done for awhile now.
• Have a "project party".  About the first week of December, have some friends over to get into the Christmas spirit.  Maybe they have some knitting to do, scrapbooking, Christmas card making or addressing, a child's holiday event at school needs something made for it, or some other project they are working on for a Christmas gift, etc.  This year was the first I had a project party, because some things we need to get done for the holidays can seem tedious if we are just working on them ourselves.  Most of the friends that came addressed their Christmas cards.  I wrapped some recently bought gifts.  Meanwhile, we drank hot apple cider and listened to Christmas music while we chatted away as we worked. 
• Prepare as much of your food ahead of time as possible.  Look and see what can be made and refrigerated or frozen so you don't have to worry about it the day of.  Bake your cookies up to a week ahead of time and freeze them.  Cookie making can be exhausting so try not to do it too close to Christmas Eve.
• Make it a family tradition to decorate your tree and house the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Because of the rain, we waited until the week after Thanksgiving to get our tree this year, but it sure has been nice being able to enjoy all the decorations most of the month of December.  And it's not something to worry about before company comes over if you already have it done.
• If you have lots of family to visit for the holidays, make time to spend with them a week or two ahead of time.  This year we were able to visit my mom's side of the family last Saturday and then my dad's side of the family the day after, both in Fresno.  It was very nice having the weekend full of fun and festivities so that now we just have one more get-together to do on Christmas Day.
• Try to get as much done as you can before Christmas Eve.  I can hardly believe it, but all I need to do today is clean a little bit of house, put together one or two easy recipes, and then tonight will be having a nice Christmas Eve date out to eat with my husband. How relaxing!
• Remember all month long, the "reason for the season"----the birth of our Savior, Jesus!!! 

So, anyway, those are just a few things that may help you next year if you are a major procrastinater like me.  It may seem like common sense to some, but I know planning ahead is not something that usually comes naturally to me!!! :-)

And if you are stressing out right now, try not to get too anxious...everything will be just fine even if you don't get to all the things you hoped to.  Remember, Christmas really is not about the presents, it's not about the food...when all else fails just stop the madness, find a Bible and open it up to the book of Luke and read about the miracle of baby Jesus born in Bethlehem at this special time of year.  It's all about Him! 

Merry Christmas, everyone!