The Christmas Post – Part One
You may not want to hear this right now, but today marks just three months before Christmas. I know that a lot of people can’t think about Christmas until at least after Thanksgiving, and some not until December. I am not like that!
Christmas is my favorite season, I have written about that before. I have so many fond memories of the traditions that I grew up with, and I want to make sure that my kids are able to have wonderful memories as well. Christmas for me has always been a big Christmas Eve party, a quiet Christmas morning with leftover kugel for breakfast, opening presents, lobster and steamers for lunch, and a movie out in the afternoon. Seems easy enough! But, it isn’t just my mom, brother and me anymore.
One of the main reasons I start so early is because I try to do mainly homemade/handmade gifts. And to be honest, there are several things that I come up with around December 26th for the following Christmas. Just because Christmas is over doesn’t mean that the Christmas spirit immediately leaves me!
But, where should you start? There are a lot of wonderful resources out there for planning. Mandi from Life Your Way has an awesome series that she does called 101 Days of Christmas. You might want to check that out. I like to start with lists though. Lists seem to give me some peace of mind and I get to dump everything out f my head so I don’t need to continuously think about it for the next 3 months (although I may still do that…).
My lists are relatively basic. I make a list of people we will give gifts to. That includes everyone, whether it is someone that Matt works with, or my own children. Then I make a list of people we send Christmas cards to. The ones that will get a picture and the ones who we don’t give pictures to. Our church sets out a card table every year, so we end up putting cards out for our local church family, but we don’t usually include a picture since they see us all the time as it is 🙂 The last list that I make right now is the food that I must make during the holiday season. There are a few foods that mean Christmas to me, and I want to make sure that I have them!
The next step in my process is to sit down with A Greener Christmas and my computer to poke around pinterest. I will be back tomorrow, hopefully, with how I use pinterest to plan for Christmas, and what other resources I use.
Linking up at the Hip Homeschool Hop, the Mommy Club and Holiday Craft Along
Baaah! Good for you for starting your planning….but I'm not looking forward to the holidays this year. Maybe I can swing in that trip to Argentina over Christmas? 🙂
Love the lists! Still trying to find the time to sit down and make some of my own!
Ahhh! A fellow list maker. Nice to know. This past weekend, I made my Christmas card list, my list of "teachers" that get cookie trays, and collected and filed the recipes I plan to make over the holidays. We actually don't exchange gifts anymore (just our kids, and then baked goods) so my gift list isn't terribly long, but like you, I start early as I try to make most things at home. So far, I have a pair of socks and a bookmark for each kidlet. Soon I will be making my list of non-perishables because I like to buy one or two things a week when I see them on sale, and then come December, I am all set. Takes the stress off. Thanks for sharing…I look forward to the rest of the series.
I shop for Christmas year round, so it's never too early in my book. I'm always on the lookout for final clearances and such. I'm excited to see the things you make!
I'd love to hear how you use Pinterest to plan for Christmas! Can't wait to read!
Best wishes,
Kara