Let’s Plan for the Holidays Early this Year

I love feeling that nip in the air when I leave the house in the morning. Fall is my favorite season. Historically, Fall is the calm before the storm in my life. Why? Because the holiday season is lurking around the corner and, once Halloween hits, it’s off to the races with Thanksgiving and then Christmas hitting us back-to-back.

For the past couple of years, I had no expectations for the holiday season as I was too busy fighting cancer and its pesky side-effects. In 2018, we had our house up for sale and we were preparing to move so our traditions got thrown out the window. The fact that we even got a Christmas tree up and decorated was quite the accomplishment! Before that, I used to promise myself that I was going to get my shopping done early so I would have time to bake cookies, go on that Victorian house tour, and have friends over to enjoy our decorated home. I was also going to get my Christmas cards mailed right after Thanksgiving. I was going to wrap each present as I purchased it so I wouldn’t be wrapping at 2 am two days before Christmas. Can you relate? My intentions were always pure but, alas, my execution was sorely lacking.

Well, not this year! I am determined to welcome this holiday season. I am not going to allow myself to get all stressed, harried and exhausted by Christmas Day. No siree, this is going to be my year! I have decided I am going to treat the holidays as if they were a new presentation I have to design for work or a paper I need to write for school. I am going to create a holiday outline and assign myself deadlines. I am going to efficiently organize a calendar with goals to help me stay on track. Last, but not least, I am going to assign myself a budget and actually stick to it!

I am so excited about this! Are you aware that Christmas is exactly 10 weeks from today? (October 16th) It will be here before we know it. That is why I am going to start planning right away. The first thing I want to do is look at all of our schedules and figure out a day we can cut down our Christmas tree. I really didn’t like getting our tree from town last year. I am going to bring back my tradition of making fudge for the holidays. For some reason, that fell to the wayside about five years ago. I think it’s time for a resurrection. You can never have enough fudge in your life, right? Cookie baking with my sister needs to make a return as well. I have so much to schedule!

How do you intend to plan for the holidays? Do you wait until Christmas Eve and run around in a frantic buying spree? Or, is your house fully decorated by the day after Thanksgiving? Do you keep with traditions? What are they? As much as I hate to admit it, now is the time to start your holiday planning if you would like to remain sane during the holidays. Wouldn’t it be so nice to have the time to enjoy a massage a few days before Christmas? That can be part of your overall planning too! The sky is the limit when you start to plan. Speaking of planning…my intent is to create some worksheets for myself to follow to keep this holiday stress free. Would you be interested in using them for yourself as well? Please leave a comment below and let me know. In the meantime, enjoy the crisp air, eat some pumpkin bread and drink some apple cider. Fall isn’t going to be here for very long and, you know what, is just lurking around the corner.