What Do You Want to Get Done Before Christmas?
I am a lis
t maker. I love a good list.
As I’m sitting here making lists of things I want to get accomplished before the end of the year, one think looms heavy in my sight: Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE Christmas. LOVE it.
But most of the Christmas prep does fall to me. And some years, it’s downright overwhelming. Because not only are there things I want to prepare for the holiday, but I also want to get some major stuff done around the house like:
Clean out the garage.
Sort through my kitchen cabinets.
Swap out summer clothes for winter clothes (in CA, you never do this until November 1st.)
Etc.
So I would love to hear from you: What is it you want to get done in the next two months? Because wouldn’t it be great if we could all get it accomplished together, cheering each other on, swapping ideas and tips, strategies and solutions?
Share it all in the comments, and we’ll tackle a project a week. It could be as big as cleaning out a room, or as small as washing the pillows in your house.
Share it in the comments, and let’s come up with a master plan to get organized, and make Christmas manageable!
We have just completed changing all of the carpet in the house to laminate flooring. In the process, everything in the house got moved from place to place. Now it is hard to find things. I feel totally overwhelmed by the entire house! My goal is to have a place for everything and everything in its place by Christmas. This is the end of a long process of renovating, so I just want an organized and neat house. Oh, I guess I need to mention that I am in pain management for one of my knees, and I can only work short periods of time without terrible pain. Feeling very frustrated…
I’d just like to enjoy the holidays without being overwhelmed. That requires a little advanced planning, just as you said. There are numerous things we can do to make our lives easier as we’re closing in on Christmas. I love doing some advanced cooking. Having a few dinners in the freezer for nights when we’re rushing with other things is always a good idea, but never more so than during the holidays. It helps with time constraints and it ensures one less night of stopping for unhealthy fast food because time is short. I like to bake a batch of Christmas cookies each weekend, starting in November, and then just put them in the freezer. I also like to start gathering supplies. I typically shop for wrapping paper and ribbons, etc. in the after Christmas sales. If folks haven’t done that in the past they should plan to do it this year, so they’ll need to keep track of what they get low on as they’re using things up. In the meantime, check for paper, boxes, ribbon, tags, tape, etc. It’s no fun to be in your jammies and dragging everything out to wrap and find that you are out of tape! Why not write Christmas cards or Christmas letters now? They don’t have to be mailed now, but they can be ready to drop in the mail in December. I like to do all these “mundane” Christmas tasks as much in advance as possible…so that I can enjoy the time around the holidays.
My life is busy these days. Between keeping up with orders from my Etsy shop for Jesse Tree Ornaments and volunteering 3 days a week at Creation Ministries International, my home and family get a bit neglected. They get the easy stuff while I’m focusing time and details in the other stuff. Before Christmas I would like to establish a daily routine for keeping house, Etsy, and Creation Ministries. Also, have close at hand a dozen or so meals that are tasty and time saving.
Deborah
pinkscissorsdesign @gmail .com
Pink Scissors Design on Etsy
Family newsletter. Since I got married 4 years ago next week, I’ve wanted to do a family newsletter. It’s gotten done the past 3 years, but it hasn’t gone out before the new year yet. I don’t necessarily want it to go out before Christmas. I’m being reasonable. Just mailed by New Year’s Day. Plus, things can still happen between Christmas and the new year. So the plan this year is to draft it over Thanksgiving, because that’s what we try to make our newsletter about, things we’re thankful we got to do or experience throughout the year. And, the family is together and it’s a great time to reflect on God’s blessings.
A lot of what I want to get done, I’m waiting on others before I can complete. My son needs to remove his work out equipment (to heavy for me) before I can paint the spare room. My other son is coming from out of state and I would like to make his room more than storage. The other thing that overwhelms me is decorating for the holidays. I need others to help bring in the storage bins and hold one side of the garland, etc, while I staple. They (my husband and my son) don’t see the importance of any of this. How do I motivate them?
Sort through my spare bedroom. It looks more like a storage unit than my home office! Ugh!
Amen! Somewhere in mine there is a spare bed!
1) Clean out my basement! 2) Prepare to lead a small group through Made to Crave by Lysa Terkhurst 3)Build my part-time business