We did it! Time to look ahead to the holiday season ... because it's
here!
For the past six weeks, we've been preparing for Christmas together.
We've assembled a Christmas planner, organized gifts and giving, and conquered
holiday chaos in the kitchen. Each day, we've pondered new innovations and old
traditions, moving ever closer to our goal: a serene, joyous holiday season.
This is not to say that we're all ready! I'd venture that 98% of us
still have more to do. Not only is this no surprise, but it's normal. That's
why the Countdown ends where it does. There's still time to complete holiday
preparation, and nearly all of us will need it.
At the same time, look how far we've come! If you've been trying, you
should be well ahead of the Christmas game.
Better, the notes, forms and records you've assembled will be next
year's road map to an even easier season.
By the season's end, we'll be ready to tackle new challenges at home.
But first, the Christmas Countdown includes a special Holiday Debriefing, to
allow you to record the season's high points, stresses and memories. To be completed
after the holidays, using the debriefing exercise to evaluate this year's
holiday will help point you toward an even better celebration next year.
So open the door! Even if only metaphorically speaking, hang a wreath
on the front door and welcome the holiday season. You've earned it!
To Do Today
Print the 2 forms:
Review holiday menu plans. Order poultry or special roasts for any
holiday meals held in your home.
Create a space for incoming Christmas cards and holiday letters.
Prepare for the postman!
Complete interior and exterior decorating. As a last touch, decorate
the front door as a symbol that you are ready to celebrate!
To Read Today
When the post-holiday fever quiets, take a few notes to jumpstart next
year's preparations:
Hold a Post-Holiday Debriefing
It's over for another year!
Wild and woolly or sane and
sedate, we've passed through the holiday season and into a new year. Breath caught,
it's time to debrief.
You know debriefing, right? The
astronauts do it, spies do it, pilots do it: a measured after-the fact
evaluation of the mission or flight.
Smart holiday planners should do
it, too--because taking time now to note what worked, what didn't will be a
road map to a more organized Christmas next year.
Find a quiet spot sometime
within the next week. Play that new educational video for the kiddies, and pour
a hot cup of tea. Grab your Christmas notebook and a copy of our debriefing worksheet
to record your thoughts.
Then address these questions:
1. What worked this holiday
season?
Start with your strengths--it'll
give you the motivation to tackle your weaknesses. Large or small, list the
things that went right this year.
Was this the first year your
family broke away from Christmas-at-Grandma's (complete with cranky kidlets and
a 6-hour drive on icy road)--and you loved it, intergenerational flak
notwithstanding? Did you buy a new gift wrap organizer that made wrapping a
breeze? Was your freezer stocked with easy-prep meals, making the evening crush
much calmer?
Whatever worked for you, write
it down. It'll remind you of what went right when next year's holiday madness
approaches.
2. What was the worst aspect of
holiday prep this year? How can you avoid the trap in the future?
Were you wrapping gifts at 3
a.m.? Baking while watching the 11 p.m. news? Were the ornaments buried in a
dark attic, or were they all but destroyed by a lousy packing job?
Pick the worst element of your
holiday planning, and decide how to lick the problem next year. Write it down
for future reference.
3. Were you satisfied with your
level of giving? What did you give: time, money, self, talents? Did you include
your children in giving?
Perhaps it's having lived with a
Rocket Scientist child with an infallible Do-As-I-Say detector, but I don't
think it's possible to teach children about giving if it doesn't start with
you. All that women's magazine nicey-nice tradition stuff won't dent those
little psyches unless you are on board--so were you?
Think about bringing some of
that Christmas spirit into the other eleven months of the year. Evaluate your
level and kind of giving, and make notes
4. How well did your household
run this holiday season? Were you calm and cozy or stressed and strung out?
What one improvement could you make in your planning for next year?
Whether it's wardrobe or food
prep, shopping or storage, zero in on your holiday systems, and look for ways
to improve. Write 'em down.
5. Honesty time. How did your
holiday go? Not the children, not the spouse, not the extended family members
or the church or the shelter--you.
Yes, you. Did you experience the
expectancy, the magic, the sparkle of this season?
Great holiday? Write down the
grace notes that got you in the ho-ho-holiday mood and kept you there. Did you
play more Christmas music or spend special time with each loved one? Remind
yourself--and write it down.
Nobody wants to admit it out
loud, but many of us felt a little bit flat at one time or another this year.
Spare a thought to the reasons--because they'll point the way to needed changes
next year.
Were you worn out from all the
brou-ha-ha-ha? Too many parties, with an overload of that jolly old depressant,
Demon Alcohol? Groaning under the load of Christmas Tradition--and shouldering
that burden alone?
Home managers deserve a holiday,
too! If the season got to you this year, figure out one or two things to do
differently. Perhaps you'll ask the family for help, or pare down outgrown
traditions. Maybe you'll plan to make quiet, reflective time a priority during
these hectic weeks. Record your conclusions; they'll guide you next year.
For home managers, the holiday
season represents a hefty amount of time, energy and money, and we deserve to
treat that expenditure seriously. Yes, we love the holidays. Yes, we enjoy most
of the tasks necessary to bring them to birth, but don't let sentiment blind
you to the real work involved. Like all work, this too has dignity, and
deserves efficiency and respect.
Don't let this holiday season
slip into the photo album until you've made a record of the triumphs and the
trying times. Slip into something comfortable, put on a pot of tea, and think
like an astronaut.
Finished? Take your written
record and file it in the Christmas planner. Next year, it'll be the first
reminder you see--and will be your guide to a more organized, more joyous
holiday season.
Organized Christmas? Five Tips to Get Ready For Next Year
It's the day after Christmas,
and every year at this time, the e-mails in my inbox tell the story: "I
wish I'd found this site earlier!"
Each year, I hear from scores of
readers who came looking for holiday help at the height of the celebration-and
faced with the reality of Christmas chaos.
Stumbling over our site, they
see that it's possible to be organized--and joyous--during the holidays. They
just wish they'd found us earlier!
So say you're starting now, the
day after Christmas. What's the secret to a stress-free season? Plan ahead!
Try these five tips to get ready
for next year.
Debrief
With memories of the holidays
fresh in our minds, there's no better time to create a simple record of what
worked--and what didn't--this holiday season. Answering a few simple questions
in writing preserves the actual state of your household's holiday--and gives
you the information you need to craft a better plan for next year.
Print a copy of our
debriefingworksheet, and take a few minutes to answer the questions it poses. Next year
when you begin planning for the holidays, you'll be able to avoid the seasonal
potholes and repeat the year's successes.
Take notes
A few quick notes now can solve
many problems next December. While decorations, gift wrap and recipes are still
around you from this year's celebration, take inventory to avoid surprises next
year.
Whether you'll replace
burned-out light strings, replenish gift wrap supplies or recreate that great
dessert recipe, a few notes now will set a straight course for next year.
Better, post-holiday clearance sales mean you'll save money!
Using our
decorations inventory,
eyeball your decorations and note any needed replacement decor items. Check
gift wrap, ribbons and tags before you tuck the snowman paper into a storage
box, and hit the sales to stock up for next year. Tear tried-and-true recipes
from seasonal magazines, and tuck them into a page protector for future
reference.
And since a picture is worth a
thousand words, circle the house now with a camera, and photograph holiday
decorations. Use these photos as a guide for next year--and to remind yourself
of what's tucked away in storage.
Note it now, and you'll know it
later!
Start a gift list
Just after the celebration, it's
easy to remember which gifts were a hit--or a miss. Was a nephew unexpectedly
delighted with a copy of the latest "Harry Potter" book? Start a gift
list now, and you'll remember to add "Bertie Botts Every Flavor
Beans" candy to his stocking next year.
A printable
Christmas gift list
form helps corral all those fleeting, "Oh, wouldn't he love a ...."
thoughts, and gives you the jump on next year's gift list. Print one now to
hold these last-minute gift possibilities; you'll have a head-start when you
start next year's holiday shopping.
Make a Christmas planner
Notes, checklists and planner
forms will help you get organized--but only if you can find them! Solution? A
simple three-ring binder creates a Christmas planner, a one-stop planning tool
that will track and record holiday prep around the year.
New Years' sales at the office
supply store make it easy to set up a simple notebook as your Christmas
planner. Click a set of dividers and a handful of page protectors into a
good-sized binder. Add filled-in forms and lists, and as you see recipes, craft
ideas, or decor inspiration, tear and tuck torn pages into page protectors.
For the ambitious, we've got a
complete set of
holiday calendars,
forms and checklists free for the
printing--but even a modest start on assembling a Christmas planner will help
anyone have a simpler, more organized celebration next year.
Choose an organizing plan
Here at OrganizedChristmas.com,
we know there's no "one right way" to get organized for next year's
holiday season. Some folks love to "think Christmas" all year round,
while others must be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the season late in
the autumn. That's why we offer different organizing plans to help everyone
achieve the serene and stress-free holiday of their dreams. Which one is right
for you?
Rudolph Club: Okay, you want to
do a better job, but who wants to be thinking about Christmas for weeks on end?
We've got a short and sweet solution: the Rudolph Club. On the 25th of every
month, the Rudolph Club meets to assign short, simple tasks to help prepare for
the holidays. Over the year, you'll assemble information for holiday letters, set
up a gift closet, organize crafts projects and do basic holiday planning a bit
at a time.
By breaking the job down into
tiny monthly bites, the Rudolph Club conquers Christmas chaos a bit at a
time--and without having to "think Christmas" the whole year through.
Visit our site on the 25th of every month to join the Club.
Christmas Countdown: Don't want
to be bothered until next year? The Christmas Countdown is the plan for you.
Starting on the last Sunday in October, the Countdown breaks down holiday prep
into an easy, six-week process that will finish preparations in good time for
the season.
Working with friends, we'll
prepare for the holiday season together--so mark your calendar and visit us
next October to count down to an organized holiday season!
Holiday Grand Plan Ready for the
big guns? Try the Holiday Grand Plan. It's not for the faint of heart, but is
designed to help you clean, declutter and organize the entire home in time for
the holiday season.
Working room by room and week by
week, you'll declutter, clean and organize your home while planning and
preparing for the coming holiday season. With a kick-off date in late summer,
the Holiday Grand Plan will see you through to the celebration--and the
home--of your dreams.
Ready? It's time to get
organized for Christmas ... next year!
Today's Recipe
date nut bread recipe
A final contender for Christmas gift baskets, Date-Nut Bread has a rich
and fruity flavor.
Try Date-Nut Bread toasted and spread with cream cheese for a
mid-morning snack, or paired with a hearty soup for a warming holiday meal.
Date-Nut Bread
It's a natural for holiday gift-giving: Date Nut Bread!
Moist and fruity, this sweet quick bread makes a wonderful addition to
holiday gift baskets. Double-wrapped in plastic food storage wrap, it freezes
beautifully.
Toast and top with cream cheese for a Christmas morning treat!
Ingredients
1 1⁄2 cuppitted dates, chopped
1 1⁄2 cupboiling water
1⁄2 cuplight brown sugar
2 tablespoonsbutter, unsalted
1 egg
2 1⁄2 cupsflour, all-purpose
1 teaspoonbaking soda
1⁄2 teaspoonsalt
1 cupwalnuts, chopped
Instructions
Bring water to boil in small saucepan. Stir in dates. Remove from heat
and cool until lukewarm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place brown sugar and butter in mixer bowl; cream until blended. Add egg
and beat until smooth. Add date/water mixture, and beat until blended.
In another bowl, combine flour, soda and salt, mixing thoroughly. Stir
wet ingredients into flour mixture, stirring just until blended. Do not
overbeat; batter should be lumpy. Fold in nuts.
Pour batter into greased loaf pan, or three small mini-loaf pans.
Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 60-75
minutes for large loaf, 45-60 minutes for mini-loaves.
Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and
cool on wire rack.
Notes
To freeze, wrap cooled loaves in plastic wrap; place wrapped loaves in
food freezer storage bag. Freeze for up to 8 weeks.
