I think I may have told you a time or two that I LOVE Christmas time! I love everything about it {well, except the commercialism of the holiday}! I have loved Christmas time as long as I can remember! To tell the truth, I've been listening to Christmas music for a few weeks already!
One of the reasons I've been listening to Christmas music is because I am already preparing my heart and mind for the holiday. I start early and organize things to make my holiday as stress free as I can. Several years ago, we had a crazy, chaotic Christmas that I vowed never to have that problem again. So now I get busy in September or October and prepare for Christmas. I know that makes it sound like we have a grand extravagant holiday {which we definitely don't!}, but really it's just because I want to focus on the real reason for Christmas~while still having the things we all love about the season each year.
So how do I do that??
Here's a few things I do to get ready for the holidays!
- I start a gift list. I try to get gifts throughout the year for the kids, but at this time of year I start thinking of others we might want to get gifts for. This lists includes teachers {school, music, and Sunday School}, babysitters, or close friends. I make a list of gift ideas and what I would need for those gifts. This way I'm not scrambling to get a last minute gift, and I won't forget anyone, either!
- Get the house ready for decorating. We get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I really don't want to spend the week of Thanksgiving getting the house ready for that when I'm already getting the turkey ready, so I plan ahead and prepare the house for the decorations ahead of time. I usually do this the week before Thanksgiving so it is all ready.
- Stock up on holiday baking supplies. We love to bake cookies, candies, and other treats at Christmas time. We really enjoy taking those treats to neighbors and widowed family members. I stock up on things like sugar, flour, powdered sugar, chocolate, eggs, butter, sprinkles, and more so when we want to start baking, we already have the ingredients.
- Create our Christmas Card and annual letter. I love sending {and receiving} photo cards at Christmas. I either take a photo for the card, or start looking through our photos to start creating our Christmas card. I am a bit selective {ok, ok, I am picky!} about the photo card, so I spend a lot of time trying out different cards to find that perfect card! I also start our annual Christmas letter for family and friends. I love writing them, but I admit to erasing and re~writing it over and over until I am satisfied with it. So I start it now and then I have time to "tweek" it before it goes out with the cards.
- Plan Christmas and Christmas Eve dinner. We have a tradition on Christmas eve, and I pretty much make the same thing for Christmas dinner, but I start thinking about who is coming and what I will need. This way I will have everything ahead of time and I can stay out of the grocery stores right before Christmas {have you ever been to the store right before Christmas? It is crazy!}.
- Plan for devotions and our family service. We are going to do a Jesse tree this year for family devotions. We also started {what I hope will be a tradition} a family Christmas Eve Worship last year. I just want to make sure I have everything ready for both of these ahead of time so we all can enjoy them.
- Focus on the real reason for the holiday! That crazy, chaotic Christmas taught me that what I really want during this season is to focus on that tiny baby and what his birth means to me. This is the time of year I just want to shut everything off {except the music of course!}, snuggle with my family in the glow of our tree, and savor every minute!
Blessings,
Homestead For Him now has a Facebook page. Like what you see here, won't you like my page?! Go HERE!!
Oh I love this post! I was just thinking today how I need to start thinking of what I need to do for the upcoming Holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas. As of now I have done NOTHING, lol but you have motivated my friend. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds terrific! I'm an early prepper, too.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Laura
Harvest Lane Cottage
I cannot even believe that the season is just around the corner. I am usually much better at planning, but have done no prep since our move. Thank you for inspiring me to get busy!
ReplyDeleteJess,
ReplyDeleteI also love Christmas! Thanks for the reminders to organize early.Your site is so bright and cheery!
I'm Lyn visiting from CMB fellowship friday.
You've got a great thing going here, keep up the good work!
God Bless
I enjoy planning for Christmas holidays and celebrations too! I begin at the end of October and have a to-do list each week, spreading things out so we get to enjoy the season in December. You given me some great ideas, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't like Christmas to be chaotic either and I really should take your hint and start already!!
ReplyDeleteStocking up on baking supplies sounds like a great idea to me. I also write my cards in November because here in Costa Rica the postal system enforces a special extra fee toward a children's charity during December. Not that I wouldn't be happy to pay it, but since most of my cards go overseas, it gets expensive. I generally end up mailing out Christmas cards the last week in Nov. Also a huge fan of Christmas music. I can't wait for K-Love's Christmas station to go up on their homepage. Love!
ReplyDeleteYES! YES!! Me, too!! Thanks for stopping over!!
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