The Christmas Calendar
Reduce Holiday Stress & Make this the Best Christmas Ever!
Your Magic Tool for an
Organized Christmas!
The folks at organizedchristmas.com have several Christmas calendar options ready for you to print out. Any of them will work wonderfully with your Christmas notebook, and is a perfect addition to your arsenal of things to keep your holidays happy and healthy. The first thing to do is go through your regular family calendar, and transfer everyone's appointments and engagements to your Christmas calendar sheet. Special Note: If your family is very large and/or has a lot of commitments, print out one page for each person in the family. This is a bit more tedious, but it will help everyone keep track of what's going on and who has to be where.
Preparation Days
The next thing to plug into the Christmas calendar are your prep days. Christmas cleaning is on the top of the list. Try hard to schedule these days together, but if this is impossible, just do the best you can. With a little luck and a lot of cooperation, you can have the entire house finished in less than a week. Special Note: Try to schedule no more than one room per day unless your family is excited about getting these chores done and moving on with the holiday. It is much easier to take this part in little bite-sized chunks than to try to do it all in a couple of days. If you have made menus and shopping lists for everyday meals as well as for the holiday cooking and baking, set aside a couple days specifically for grocery shopping. You Christmas calendar is the place to get at least a couple of these dates set in stone. In our family, we usually divide each weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas into one shopping day and one baking day. If one or the other need not be done, then the second day is used to write letters, decorate or do some other holiday preparation. This seems to work well. Everyone gets their shopping time, and all of the baking chores get done with time to spare! Special Note: If you are taking children with you on your shopping days, block off an entire day if you can - or at least a full afternoon or morning. Everyone will be exhausted when you get home, even if you are only out for a couple hours. This guarantees some down time if you need it!
Shipping Dates
You will want to mark boldly on your Christmas calendar the very last dates you need to mail out cards and packages. Remember, everyone is doing the same thing at this time of the year, so you will want to allow extra time for everything to get to its destination!Setting a goal of getting all the cards put together and mailed out between the 10th and 15th of December is a good idea. Since mail can be slow, you will be assured of them arriving before Christmas Day. They will not be so early that they are overlooked by recipients, either! Mailing dates for packages can be a bit tricky. If all of your gifts are non-perishable, then try to get them mailed out with the cards. If you are willing to spend the extra cash, you can wait another week and send either Priority Mail or Express mail (or the equivalent). Mail these items no later than the Wednesday before Christmas, though - don't take chances with the weekends! Food items are an entirely different ball game. We all want food gifts to arrive as close to the date as possible, and yet not so early that they are forgotten by Christmas Day. We also want to avoid the weekend layovers, especially if we are using a service that will not deliver on a Saturday. This can get tricky. Because Christmas falls on a Monday for 2006, it will be a bit more difficult - you'll want these items delivered before Christmas morning, yet not too early. For this year, I would suggest mailing out on the Tuesday before... if it takes an extra day, your perishables should still arrive by Friday, and may then be enjoyed over the weekend. Special Note: It might be a good idea to let the recipients know ahead that these items are coming, when to expect them and to open them when they arrive, not waiting for Christmas morning. Special Note: Whatever date you choose, DO NOT... EVER... mail food items after Wednesday. And, ALWAYS send next- or second-day. This will hopefully save you from ever having to deal with a weekend layover problem.
Special Engagements
Next onto your Christmas calendar are the special holiday plans. These include any school or family gatherings, work parties, church programs, plays and other family engagements. If you are hosting a holiday party, get that date set now, so that you can get the invitations out early. Don't forget to schedule a shopping day to get the party items together - unless you've included those in your other shopping lists.Some of these can be worked in with other appointments, and some occur at times which are easily scheduled before or after other items on the Christmas calendar. Check, though, to make sure that you aren't due to be in two places at the same time! If you are, then you will need to re-arrange some items as the need arises.
Christmas Decorating
If you have already been to the Christmas closet page, you will already have most of the decorating done. However, you will probably want to schedule some time on the 'in-between' days on your Christmas calendar specifically to add special touches.Decorating and setting the mood for the holidays is one of my personal favorite holiday activities. I find odd moments on nearly a daily basis to indulge myself. However, for most families, this is just not possible. Be sure to set aside an extra day or so during the season to add personal touches here and there. Special Note: In the event that you really are done, use this time to relax and enjoy those decorations! Make sure that you have double-checked each and every list you have made, and get those dates on the Christmas calendar now. Then, check over the family calendar again to make sure that absolutely nothing has been forgotten. If there is some special alone-time that you want to schedule with your spouse, another family member or friends, now is the time to get that in here. If it is on the Christmas calendar, it is more likely to happen! And, if there are volunteer activities, or someone in the family is ill and needs a visit - do not forget to block out some time for those items as well. The sooner you get your Christmas calendar filled in, and the more thorough you are when you do it, the better everything will flow for the next few weeks. Reduce your holiday stress - schedule well!! Special Note: If there is any blank spot on your Christmas calendar, get a big felt marker. With the biggest letters possible, use that marker to write the word "FREE" or something similar across that space!
One Last Thing...
It must be realized by everyone that while these dates are firm, nothing is ever set in stone - especially on a Christmas calendar. Things always come up - someone gets sick, car locks get frozen, snow storms blow in. If plans have to change, all is not lost. Just do your best, and everything will work out just fine!
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