The world seems to be divided into two groups – those who don’t want to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving and those who start humming Christmas carols in July. I lean toward the first group. I like my holidays one at a time. However, the reality is that if I wait until after Thanksgiving to start getting ready for Christmas there’s a good chance I may end up *directing traffic in my nightgown somewhere around December 20th. I’d rather not add that to the collection of stories people tell about me so this year I am focusing on getting a head start on Christmas NOW.
Let’s take a look at some resources which can help us make a plan for the holidays.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Getting a Head Start on Christmas
1. The FlyLady
Many years ago, back in the days before social media, Yahoo Groups were a big source of information and social interaction online. I won’t admit how many groups I was in but one of them was The FlyLady’s mentor group. That was back in 2000 and well before she started her website. It was also the year she created a plan to help people prepare for the holidays. She refers to her regular household notebook/planner as a “control journal” so her Christmas planner is called the Holiday Control Journal:
FlyLady Holiday Control Journal
It’s a free 25 page download which includes pages for gift lists, grocery lists, recipes, family traditions, decorating checklists and more. The FlyLady starts this journal by encouraging the reader to play a little game in which you pretend that you are leaving December 1st for a three-week cruise. In order to enjoy your vacation you’ll need to have all your holiday prep done before that date.
I can’t say I’ve ever followed this plan 100% but perhaps this will be the year!
2. Holiday Grand Plan
You may have heard of The Cleaning Grand Plan. It’s been around since the early 90s and is a week-by-week detailed cleaning plan. The Holiday Grand Plan is a companion program which:
“combines holiday prep, home organizing and cleaning components. Each week, the Plan focuses on one room or area. Beginning just as the summer ends, you’ll work week-by-week to declutter, clean and organize each room in your home.
Along the way, the HGP tackles holiday preparations, too. Whether it’s gifts, decor or holiday meals, you’ll be organized and ready for the holidays before they arrive.”
There is a downloadable calendar and oodles of holiday planning pages which you can download for free. There is also a mailing list as well as a Facebook page:
3. Brocante Home Christmas Planner
This final resource isn’t free but at only $5 it’s a charming choice for Christmas planning. Not only does it include the usual lists for gifts, cards, groceries, etc., in true Brocante Home fashion there are also several delightful additions to encourage you to make your home and the holiday season warm and cosy.
My Plan:
Many years ago I designated a 3 inch binder as my Christmas planner. It is still full of pages I printed years ago, including all three of the resources I have mentioned above. Some are filled out and some are blank.
My goal this coming week is to update my planner. I’ll print new copies of the pages which I’ve filled out in the past. And because pretty is better, I’m going to insert Christmas scrapbooking paper in the front cover of the binder and put some Christmas stickers in the inside pocket so I can use them to decorate some of the pages.
One thing I’ve already done is purchase my Christmas cards and matching address labels. I always do a 4-page newsletter which I include with the cards and I’ve even started making notes for that. I’m going to do some type of Life With Dee Christmas card exchange this year so keep an eye out for more information about that in the near future.
I’m also going to decide on one or two homemade gift ideas for the holidays and start picking up supplies soon. Here’s a great list of ideas:
Finally, in order to make all of this planning a reality a good daily routine is vital. I’m currently working through Crystal Paine’s course, Make Over Your Mornings. Again. In order to add some accountability and make it more fun I’ve started a Facebook group:
If you’d like to join you are most welcome. We’ve already started but you can join in at any time. Later on we’ll be doing other courses in the group, all with a focus on time management, productivity and personal development. I’ll be sharing articles, books, blog posts and other resources which I think the group will find helpful and I encourage group members to do likewise. I hope you’ll check it out!
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you try to get an early start preparing for the holidays? And while my personal focus is on Christmas I know there are other winter holidays. If you celebrate something other than Christmas I’d love to hear about your traditions. Leave me a comment.
*I have borrowed that delightful description from Crazy Aunt Purl. She no longer blogs which is a damn shame because she is hilarious.
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I’ve just started thinking about Christmas plans. It’s typical of me to start thinking about menus and dates and gifts and such along about this time of year. My husband insists on gift cards for everyone since he has gifting anxieties so much as I dislike it, it also lightens the load. Our family day together is planned for early December so you see I really do have to plan it out!
It really does help to plan ahead. Soon I need to get the kids to start thinking about when they want to celebrate both Christmas and Thanksgiving. I try not to put any pressure on them regarding when we celebrate. As long as we can be together I don’t care what day it is.
To be honest, other than figuring out what I’m giving everyone I buy for as gifts, and deciding what we’re having for our Christmas dinner, the only way I need to do any planning ahead is if we have anyone visiting around the holidays (which doesn’t happen often). I obviously need to make more solid plans if we are having company, but if we’re not – which is more often the case – hubby and I don’t do anything big anyway. So, since I can never pin anyone down about visits before my birthday, the only thing I plan before Halloween is what I’m doing for gifts (which I’ve started thinking about now). It used to be that the main reason for not needing to make plans earlier was because we always did the same thing, and the only change was whether we’d be seeing my family Christmas Day or Boxing Day, and whether I’d be doing any holiday baking I wanted to do with my Mam, with my hubby, or both. But… Well, I’ve mentioned to you loads of times how I don’t plan too far ahead if I can help it, because I can never be sure until closer how much chance there is of something happening at set times, so I won’t bore you with those details again.
I decorate any time between December 1st and the Winter Solstice (it used to always be December 1st, or the first day it was possible after that, but it’s sometimes almost the Winter Solstice before I put up my decorations these days). I like to do something for the Winter Solstice, we still do Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve, I make sure we have some kind of special treat for both the Winter Solstice and Christmas Day, and we have our Christmas dinner Boxing Day (December 26th) unless we have company for Christmas so as to keep the day free for phonecalls to various family members. That’s about as exciting as it gets around here if we aren’t having company.
Well, I do actually do some fun Christmasy things… Read holiday themed books, watch holiday movies, listen to holiday music, etc. But I do it when I’m in the mood to, not at any set time. I’m most likely to after Halloween though… The only one that happens before that of those things is that I sometimes read books with a Christmas theme when it isn’t Christmas time. The movies and music are a thing I only indulge in during November and December.
OK, now I feel old…
Seriously! I just read my comments, and realized I sound just like my Nan!
“Just a nice cup of tea and a little treat for tea. That will make the day nice and special.”
The worst part is, there’s also a good chance I could fall asleep in my chair while watching the above mentioned holiday movies…
Hahaha!