Do you get overwhelmed during December? Do you get to the end of Christmas Day and you’re exhausted and wonder if it was all worth it? There’s shopping, baking, wrapping, card-writing, cooking, and decorating. All in the midst of parties, gatherings, and celebrations with everyone and anyone you’ve had contact with all year! It’s a lot to juggle. And it can easily become overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With some advance planning and organizing, you can simplify the holidays and get things done earlier, so you can breathe and actually enjoy this festive season. Doesn’t that sound good?
1. Print Your Holiday Planning Sheets
You can be as detailed or as simple as you’d like to be as you organize for Christmas. Here are a few options to help you get organized. Find a few simple checklists to track the things that are most overwhelming to you (gifts, baking, cleaning, menu planning, etc. If you already use a planner, you could add a section for holiday planning Or you can create a whole separate Christmas planner to make plans and keep track of everything related to this busy season If you prefer using a digital calendar and to-do list, you can use a different color to denote all your holiday related appointments and tasks.  There are lots of free Christmas planners and checklists available online so I’m not going to re-invent the wheel.
2. Brainstorm The Tasks You Need To Do Before The Big Day
OK, now that you’ve got your holiday lists printed, let’s start brainstorming everything you need to do before the big day. Break your tasks down to small, manageable tasks so you can see your progress as you finish them.ÂÂ
- Take a family picture {Note: if getting the perfect family picture is frustrating, go for a fun one and show off your kids’ personalities!}
- Design & order photo greeting cards
- OR buy greeting cards & write them up (if you send cards to a lot of people you don’t see regularly you can include a holiday letter to save writing the same thing repeatedly)
- Address greeting cards
- Mail greeting cards
- Decide on gifts – break it down into categories (e.g. immediate family, extended family, friends, neighbours, teachers, colleagues, hostesses)
- If you buy gifts throughout the year, take an inventory of what you have and what you need to buy
- Buy gifts – again break it down into the same categories
- Deep clean living areas before decorating (dusting, vacuuming behind/under furniture, etc.)
- Deep clean kitchen before holiday baking and cooking
- Plan your regular cleaning throughout the holiday season
- Living areas (to make room for holiday decor & prepare for entertaining guests)
- Kitchen (to make holiday baking and cooking easier)
- Toys and Clothing and entertainment (to make room for the new gifts)
- Buy gift wrap, gift bags, tissue, tags, ribbon, etc.
- Set up a gift wrapping station with all your wrapping supplies
- Wrap gifts – break it down into the same categories as you had for planning & buying gifts
- Decide what you will bake this holiday season (for yourself, for gifts, for gatherings, etc.)
- Ensure you have all ingredients you will need (and buy any that you don’t have)
- Schedule a time as early as possible to make anything that can be frozen or will keep fresh
- Plan when you will do any baking that needs to be done near the end
- If you like to make crafts for your family or as gifts, plan time to work on those as early as possible
- Choose which crafts you will be making
- Ensure you have all the necessary supplies to make each craft you plan to make
- Bring holiday decor items out of storage
- Indoor decorating
- Outdoor decorating
- Christmas tree
- De clutter decorations you aren’t using this year (unless there’s a special reason you’re not putting them out this year)
- If you’re hosting a dinner or party, plan your menu as early as possible
- Delegate items to family and other guests if they offer
- Create a grocery list
- Buy any non-perishable or frozen items as far in advance as you can to avoid longer line-ups or sold-out foods
- Buy the remaining food items the week before your event
3. Start Scheduling Everything
If you spread out everything you need to do in the next few weeks, you won’t be as overwhelmed and things won’t fall through the cracks. So, grab your calendar and the to-do list you just made, and let’s see how we can make this as organized as possible!
Start by filling in dates that are already booked (refer to your regular calendar as well). This may take a bit of time, especially if you’re coordinating schedules with several other family members. It’s important to get all the dates sorted out as early as possible though so you can work out any potential conflicts.
Holiday Gatherings
- Find out dates for any special Christmas events at school, church, music lessons, sports teams, and any other extra-curricular activities
- Schedule gatherings with friends that you see during the holidays (spread them out as much as you can so you aren’t running from one to another to another)
- Confirm dates and times for family get-togethers
- Record all dates on your calendar, along with details of anything you need to prepare or bring.
- If you are traveling out of town during the holidays, mark those dates on your calendar, as well as tasks related to traveling (packing clothing, packing gifts you need to bring along, etc.)
- If you are hosting out-of-town guests during the holidays, record those dates on your calendar too and add any tasks related to preparing for your guests (guest room, extra cleaning, meals, etc.)
Now you should have a detailed calendar with all your gatherings and tasks! If you like checking things off a list, you can do that on your to-do list as you complete them or on your calendar (or both!). If you get behind on your tasks, just bump them to another date. It happens. Especially at this time of year! Don’t beat yourself up about it. Just move on and try to get back on schedule as quickly as you can.
Make sure you leave some “down time” to enjoy special traditions, like watching your favorite holiday movies while curling up with a cup of hot chocolate. Or going sledding or skating. Or driving around to look at the beautiful lights. We hope this helps!