And every year.....you know the drill. Last minute errands, going broke, stressing out, slapping shit together and calling it a gift, rushing higgledy piggeldy everywhere. Trash filling up the backseat of my car. My feet sticking to the kitchen floor. Receipts lost, presents lost, standing in line at a crowded postal counter, screaming at idiots in mall parking lots. It doesn't help that December is my busiest choir month and Becca's birthday and lots of houseguests and Christmas all slapped into one freaking crazy-tastic month. It is always a big thrash to the finish. And I'm always relieved when its over.
This year, dammit, I am making my own dream come true. I am doing it. When the calendar rolls over to December 1, I will have nothing on my agenda but the scheduled concerts, parties, etc. That is enough to keep my plenty busy. And the rest of the time will be time for me to spend with my kids and my husband and my friends and my family. Just enjoying them. Making real cookies this year. With cookie cutters. I will have a Christmas Eve that doesn't involve ten million different things. I want to just sit. And relax. And enjoy the tree and the lights and the company. I will have all the Santa stuff assembled and the presents wrapped ahead of time. I will have the Christmas cards written, printed, addressed and stamped early. I will have all the presents boxed and ready to mail early. I will. I may have a giant migraine by December 1, but I am going to do it. Just because I'm not five anymore, doesn't mean I can't have a magical Christmas, too.
There are a couple complications. First, I'm going out of town next week, second I'm hosting Thanksgiving here (for four out of town family members and a dog), and thirdly, I'm a procrastinator. So, here is my plan. Five unbreakable rules. I may have totally failed myself on the New Year's Resolutions for 2010 but I am going to finish strong with the November and December 2010 Action Plan.
1. First, and most importantly, I am going to stay on top of the house work. I am not letting it all fall to shit this year. Because, nothing irritates me more than a crazy messy house. Piles of papers sliding off the kitchen counter just ruin a good holiday baking session, or a nice snowy morning. RUIN IT! So, I am going to just not let down my guard. I may be exhausted by December 25, but I will have a clean house to be exhausted in. This also means I have to keep my Household ADD in check. I will finish the dishes before I drag all the wrapping paper out and strew it around everywhere. I will put the laundry away before I rush out to buy stocking stuffers. I realize this is like a lifestyle thing. Sometimes I will fall off the wagon, but I just have to get back up and be on top of it 80% of the time. I also scheduled my twice yearly cleaning to be done right before Thanksgiving...that will help. My sanity will already be in check if I just stick to Rule number 1.
2. I am concentrating on Christmas first, instead of Thanksgiving. This seems counterintuitive, but I think it will actually work for me. If I get all the Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, then I will just HAVE to fit the Thanksgiving planning and prep in at some point. But, if I wait until I get the Turkey stuff complete, then I will have run out of time to do December stuff before December. So I can tell you what I want to buy people for Christmas, but I have no freaking clue what I'm serving on Thanksgiving. I would rather whip Thanksgiving out at the last minute than try to do that with Christmas. And Thanksgiving if actually my favorite holiday of the year. I am so looking forward to it!
2. The Internet. I am ordering as many gifts as possible online. Even though I often end up paying shipping (and sometimes twice because I send it to myself and then send it back out to others), I can at least shop around for the best price at my leisure, rather than with two squabbling kids dangling off a shopping cart and running off down the toy aisle. I figure I actually save money overall, not to mention sanity.
3. It is okay to give up on some things. Though I love getting letters from people, I feel like most of my peeps are caught up on my minutae of my life via Facebook.I may not write a Christmas letter. But, then again, I may still do it. I did buy the paper already, so I guess it can't hurt to churn out a few paragraphs. But I will let things that stress me out go. Just go. It will be okay.
4. I will stay organized. I will keep receipts in the one file in my kitchen labeled "Receipts 2010." I will keep all gifts in one area. Okay, two areas. Okay, three areas. All gifts are in three areas. Damn. This is already getting away from me. Because really it is four areas if you count the trunk of my car where one of Becca's birthday presents is hidden under jackets....
5. I will not give up. I will make this a December to Remember. Just you wait and see......
8 comments:
I wish you much success with your action plan. Here is a link that I have found helpful. By following the Flylady's Christmas missions, you will have everything done way before the holidays. Then, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the kahlua!
http://www.flylady.net/pages/HolidayCruising4.asp
You know what year I had the best Christmas ever? The year my daughter was born...the day before Thanksgiving. She was a week early, but I knew she was coming, so I prepped as much as possible in advance. Shopped early, shopped online, gave lots of gift cards. I even had my cards signed and addressed and stamped before she was born, so all I had to do was take a picture and stick it in.
Good luck!
Kayris,
ME TOO! My daughter was born December 7 and it was a great, EASY Christmas....Everything was even mailed out to people by Thanksgiving. That was awesome. I'm trying to recreate it! :)
I found it very happy to have things shipped directly to people instead of to me and then to them. And since I was saving on shipping, I'd go ahead and pay the crazy gift-wrap prices. Gifts ordered, wrapped, and sent---all in one step, and without me needing to go anywhere or stand in any lines.
If I feel pinched, another thing I do is address and stamp all the Christmas card envelopes ahead of time, like while I'm watching TV.
Personally, I think sanity is priceless. Your plan sounds fabulous. And the picture you paint of the perfect month sounds fabulous. You're making me think I should start thinking about Christmas preparations... as an aside, Julia gets irritated everytime we walk into a store decorated for Xmas because she says Thanksgiving gets forgotten!
I can't wait to see how your experiment goes! I am the same way (minus a child with a December birthday, THANK GOD). I hope it all goes as you want it to.
Switsle, my only problem with shipping directly, is that it is freaky to have stuff arrive November 14 at someone's house. They will either, a) open in immediately and then forget by Christmas time, or b) forget where they put it and not have it on Christmas, or c) be annoyed that now that have to deal with it for 6 weeks. I guess I can do that if I wait til December, but that messes with my Calm December plan! Am I missing a fourth option that might fix this problem for me! :)
Why don't you just do Christmas for your immediate family and forget buying gifts for everyone else? Really!
Post a Comment