How to Prepare for a Stress-Free Holiday Celebration

On Monday I shared what I've learned are the most important parts of the holidays for me. After that revelation I knew it would be important to keep the stress level down in my home, so I came up with an action plan that will help.

Lists. I wrote lists of who to buy gifts for, what gifts to buy, what Christmas crafts I want to do and the materials I need for those projects. I then created a spreadsheet to check off my progress.

Christmas Cards. I'm going to mail my cards on December 1st, so I've added it to my planner. This means my cards will need to be designed and ordered by Monday. My address list should be up to date. If your list isn't, you should quickly get that done.

Deep Cleaning & Organizing. I'm deep cleaning and organizing as much as possible this month. Come December, basic cleaning should be enough to keep the house together. The time I save not cleaning will be used to get gifts ready and relax.

Decorating. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love to decorate. However, this year I'm going to be a little more relaxed about decorating. Instead of putting tons of lights up on my house, we're going to just wrap the porch railings. Inside I'll take a similarly restrained approach. (I'll also assess our need for the large amount of decorations I have.)

Next year I plan to use this post to remind myself to adequately prepare for another stress-free holiday. Also, throughout the year I'll write down gift ideas as I think of them.

My strategy boils down to planning, preparing and making time for myself. Do you have a holiday plan of attack?

Embracing the Best of the Holidays

It seems that each holiday season is always more stressful than the previous year. I put too much pressure on myself to make it memorable and better. It wasn't always like that. As a child it was so relaxing because there weren't any expectations. I've been thinking a lot about how to have a stress-free holiday as an adult.

When I think about my ideal celebration, I imagine a Cleaverish celebration. Snow falls softly all day long and a fire crackles by an immaculately decorated tree as my family and friends laugh, listen to Christmas music and sip cider.

But in reality, despite growing up in South Dakota, I don't specifically recall a Christmas with snow. It's not that we never had snow, we did (although there were a few dry Christmases). Snow just wasn't the most memorable part, and we didn't even have a fireplace.

What I do remember is spending a snow-less Christmas in Arizona with my grandparents. (It was my Grandpa Jack's last.) I remember my cousins, brothers and I sorting all of our presents under the tree. (The next day they were mixed together again.)

The perfect Christmas of my daydreams isn't the one my memories are made of; it's something much better. It's memories of my family, and if I remember that, my holidays will be less stressful. It's not about lowering my expectations. It's about realizing what makes me happy, and stress isn't one of those things.

On Wednesday I'll have a more concrete post on how to prepare for the holidays.

Handwritten Thank You Cards

With our Christmas celebrations over, I decided to sit down and write thank you cards to the family and friends who sent gifts to N, C or myself but weren't around to watch us open them. I actually prepared for this before Christmas. As presents arrived, I addressed and stamped the envelopes and had the card ready to be written out. I didn't have to write too many cards, but I think they'll be appreciated by the people who took the time to send presents. I also plan to insert a small picture of C opening her presents.

Does anyone still send out handwritten thank yous for events other than weddings and showers?