At the risk of exposing my OCD diagnosis (although, if you have ever lived in the same house as I do, are someone I consider a good friend, or have worked with me, I'm sure that you made the same diagnosis long before a professional MD), I'd like to share my schedule for enjoying the Holiday season. I began using this time frame about 1997, when I reentered the workforce after my "retirement" to stay home with our babies. I hear people bemoaning the fact that they "have" to put up a Christmas tree, or "must" purchase gifts for people they love, and it takes every ounce of strength to keep my mouth shut. I simply LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas! I DO know that things can get stressful, and thus began my Holiday Schedule so that I won't become stressed and worn out, and miss the joy of spending this special time with my family and friends, and making memories for Jim and the girls. You don't have to work outside the home to use this schedule either. I took another "mini-retirement" between the years of 2001-2004, and because this worked so well, continued to stick to this schedule. Well, hope that this helps you and allows you to spend some extra time this season in God's word, enjoying your family, and making memories.
Lucinda's Holiday Schedule
Mid October: Decide on Christmas picture theme, purchase clothes (if needed), and let everyone know what to wear, and when the picture will be taken. I still have to start this early to give me time to talk the girls into going along with the plan. This gets harder and harder each year, and I guess next year, I'm going to have to convince Tyler also. Hard work!
End of October: Take Christmas picture, and write rough draft of Christmas letter. Also, prepare your Christmas shopping list and Christmas budget.
First week of November: Finalize Christmas letter, have Christmas postcards printed. Also, in the past, on the first weekend of November, two of my closest friends and I would go out of town for the weekend and I would do ALL of my Christmas gift shopping. I don't get to do this any longer, but it sure did help when the girls were much younger.
Saturday before Thanksgiving: Start playing Christmas CD's in the car and in the house. Put away all the Fall decorations, clean the house and move the furniture where it needs to be for the placement of trees (yes, I said trees! I like to have three: one in the family room, one in the living room, and one in the kitchen) Also, wash flannel sheets and Christmas quilts for the beds.
Monday before Thanksgiving: I begin putting up the Christmas decorations. I do it in spurts. I purposely pack up everything the year before so that I can get it back out in this order. One evening we put up only the Christmas trees (no decorations this year because we are waiting till Morgan comes home). The next evening, I put up all the garland. I put lighted garland over the fireplace, over the kitchen cabinets, on the piano, and on the bookshelves in our bedroom. As I remove the items on these surfaces, I place them in the boxes the garland came out of and store them back in the garage. The next evening, I unpack and place all the Christmas decorations such as the nativity scene, the candles, Christmas books, pine cones, Christmas pictures, etc. Then this year, we will decorate the trees on Wednesday when Morgan comes home from UT. I don't know what I'll do when we all can't be here to decorate the trees together, but I'm sure I'll survive. One evening, I also wash up all the Christmas dishes, mugs, serving platters, and such because from this time on, we only use Christmas dishes to eat or drink out of. I also start baking some of our Holiday Only snacks. I'll post them at the end of this blog.
Thanksgiving Day: We head out to my Aunt Janice's for turkey, tons of good food, and the closeness of my dear family! And, when we return.........we're ready for Christmas!!!!
Lots of people try to criticize this schedule and say that I just skip over Thanksgiving. If they just knew!!! Never do I feel more thankful and think about how very blessed I am than in the quiet of the evening, with the lights out, the Christmas tree sparkling, the fireplace crackling, a mug of cappuccino in my hand, and a prayer in my heart and on my lips to God. I spend most evenings during the whole month of December like this with tears in my eyes for Gods goodness and mercy.
Friday after Thanksgiving Day: We head to the Mall! The girls and I love to shop!!!!! We usually don't even buy anything that day, we just like to be a part of the hustle and bustle. Also, I put a Christmas ringtone on my cell phone.
Saturday after Thanksgiving: I address the Christmas postcards and attach the stamp. They are ready to be mailed on December 1st. Also, beginning this year, I'm going to go in to work and decorate my office so that I'm all ready on December 1st.
This schedule allows me to truly enjoy the Christmas season. I can attend all of Maci's many programs. Two church programs, the RHS Band Concert, the RHS Chorus Concert, Maci marching in the Ripley Christmas parade, Maci playing flute at the Grand Illumination Ceremony at Cedar Lakes, spend time shopping with the girls, bake our Holiday Only snacks, and watch Christmas movies. This schedule really does keep me less stressed and allows me to truly enjoy the season.
Each year, I purchase one new Christmas CD, and the Christmas movie of the year. We rewatch these movies year after year.
You can adjust this schedule to meet your needs. I know that this schedule adjusts each year to meet our needs. I remember when the girls were small, it included shopping for Christmas dresses to wear on Christmas Sunday. It also included a new outfit for Jim that matched our dresses. He always complained, but he looked so, darn cute and handsome that I still get him a new outfit to wear, and he still complains. But, tradition is tradition!
*Party Mix
*Hot Fruited Tea
*Pumpkin Roll (only Jim can make this, and it's delicious)
*Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
*Homemade Pepperoni Rolls (with cheese inside)
*Grape Juice and Ginger ale in Christmas champagne glasses (this is from when I was a little girl, my mom made this for Fred and I)
* Kettle Corn (This is a new one beginning a couple of years ago. My sister-in-law makes this and it is to die for.)
I hope that this bit of advice helps you to fully enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season. I hope that it gives you more time to spend with God and your family.
Spend your extra time praising God for his most wonderful gift of his Son, and truly enjoy the Season. Merry Christmas!!!!
If there is anything that you do to help make the Holidays more enjoyable, I'd love to hear about it. We sisters have to help each other out you know.
2 comments:
I have become a bit of a "grinch" over the last couple of years. I am not sure why, but I appreciate your enthusiasm and schedule. I think maybe the problem I have is I think too big, too grand, and get discouraged and feel like a failure because my vision and my reality did not match up. Then there is all the stuff that just grows exponentially every year. I want Hannah to value the gifts, the giver, and the giving, but I think it gets lost like the paper that is ripped from the packages. I am however, optimistic.
I love to hear about others traditions as we are about to begin our very own!
This year it seems that I have so much going on with an injured husband, sick infant and a small and cluttered house, but as I read your post I realized that Kensley won't remember the size of our house, but the many memories we made in it!
Thanks for the inspiration! :)
TO DO TODAY: Get out Christmas Decorations!
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