According to the two websites that I habitually consult for holiday preparations, this week (October 22-28, 2006) should be devoted to “getting organized.“ Hah! If I were truly organized, I wouldn’t be looking for help. I would be the owner of one of those websites, but I digress…While FLYLady and OrganizedChristmas.com both recommend that I spend fifteen minutes per day engaged in holiday preparations, their suggestions differ a bit. I try to land somewhere in the middle (that elusive location of balance) and choose suggestions from each website.
Goals for this week
- prepare Holiday Planner notebook for the 2006 holiday season
- solidify holiday calendar
- start master gift list
- review & update Christmas card list
- inventory Christmas cards
- purchase Christmas cards
- purchase holiday stamps
- inventory gift wrapping supplies
- purchase gift wrapping supplies
- begin holiday budget
- plan holiday decorations
- make an appointment for family photos
- read articles on FLYLady and OrganizedChristmas.com
I added some new tasks this year, mostly because they caught my eye, but also because they seemed to focus on personal examination and on keeping Christmas centered in the correct place --- on Christ. Also, because my house is in a state of perpetual construction, I added a peek at a home spruce-up checklist. We’ll see how far that task goes. :-)
New Tasks
- Christmas preparation Bible study
- family holiday values worksheet
- home spruce-up checklist
So with all these activities to choose from, today I managed to review my Christmas card list to get an idea of how many greeting cards I need. I also inventoried my Christmas cards to determine how many I need to purchase (~50). I very briefly shopped for greeting cards, too, while doing some other errands. Nothing purchased as of yet.
Seeing as the list for “get organized” week is long and today is already Thursday, I should be very busy on Friday and Saturday! Then again, maybe I should follow my mother’s rule: make a dream list, remove half of the items, and remove half of the items again. The final list should be close to what can actually be accomplished. Since my mother is 75 years old and consistently finishes more tasks than I do, maybe I should listen to the wisdom of my elder and whittle down my list. We’ll see.
2 comments:
Oh my. Only yesterday it occurred to me that Christmas is a mere two months away. My goal is keeping it simple (yeah, right.) No spending money we don't have. I like your ideas and will visit those web sites.
Oh, darlin' ... I AM one of the "owners of those websites", and I will tell you: we aspire, and that is all we can do.
Seriously, this is CEO from OrganizedChristmas.Com. Sometimes, I'm so distressed that the hope and help we offer is viewed as MUST DO and SHOULD DO and EVERYBODY BUT YOU DOES DO statements.
Instead, look at this question as a continuum. For folks who haven't had the approach of the holidays blaze their brains,"get organized" week is a revelation.
Those of us who end up in the "O" biz (not Oprah and sure as heck not the bad-word-O biz) are doing are best to help everybody over the turnstile. We're not cracking the whip and setting the hurdle here.
If all you do is just THINK about the question, "How can I have a happy, fulfilling holiday season?" this week, you are a success.
So speaks the "owner".
Cynthia Ewer, Editor
OrganizedChristmas.Com
http://organizedchristmas.com
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