Christmas All Year Blog

I’ve been having a bit of trouble connecting to the Internet over the last couple of days so I’m hoping to be able to stay connected and get Week 4 up very soon.

Week 2 update: Card list is done, just waiting for the CAY card exchange names and address coming out end of October beginning of November. I’ve got almost all the supplies I need to make my cards so just added a few items to that list. Just needed to change a couple names on my who to buy for list (remove last year’s teachers add this year’s). I don’t have any big dinners at my house so no list to create. I’ve reviewed last year’s party lists and all is still good for this year.

Regarding the Study and the Office. We are creating a study area for our kids to do homework which means some items from the over-crowded office are moving, but first we needed to paint the new Study (which will also do double duty as the guest room and library and still hoping to be able to put all the musical instruments in – the room is quite small to boot). The room is totally painted and is now waiting for everything to be moved into it. It is taking a bit longer to do because of back to school time, but it should be done this week.

Week 3: Money Matters

Christmas Focus

• Budgeting. Well we’ve made all the lists, now it’s time to find out how much it will all cost. Ugh! How much can you spend? Are there alternatives which will save money?

  Remember you can tweak your budget as you go along. Perhaps you didn’t spend as much in one area and can move the remaining to another. Or maybe you’ve opted out of doing something or this year you don’t have to bring the turkey you ask to bring salad instead. Lots of things can happen so remember this budget is a guideline to help you see where you are at financially for the holidays.

  There are many websites out in cyberspace which deal with finances and budgeting. Search the net and see what best suits you and your family. A website I visit often is called Cindy’s Porch. The biggest benefit I have received from her site is “Shop at home first.” Look around the house and see if you already have what you need or if something else you already have would do just as well as going to buy something new. I recommend to check out her site.

Cleaning Focus

• Master Bedroom – Now it’s time to work on your sanctuary – your bedroom. It can be your place to get away, a mini-retreat where you can relax and forget the worries of the day.

  I’m going to make a point of making the bed each day. I’m not going to be very meticulous about it, but at least having the pillows straight and the comforter neat.

  I’m surprised as to how much clutter can wind up in my bedroom. I have a lot of boxes piled up in my bedroom – how you ask? Well when company is coming over I need to clear the rooms they’ll see and all the clutter from those rooms go into boxes and/or bags and gets deposited into the bedroom. So this week will be about going through the boxes in my bedroom and then either finding homes for the items or setting aside, nicely labelled for yard sale/give away and put into my newly cleaned out garage ready for our next sale.

Are you following along with a plan? Feel free to comment here, on the blog, or share your thoughts about it at the CAY Forum.

Thought you all might like this!  Chris Tomlin has a new Christmas song out. You can hear it and read the lyrics here:Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground).

Here’s an update on last weeks goals: So far so good – Christmas questions answered and as for the cleaning goal, the big bonus was that we had already cleaned the garage the week before, so it wasn’t all that overwhelming. The sad thing was that we didn’t get to have our yard sale, instead we went to Niagara Falls for a couple of days. Which I think was better than a yard sale, but leaves a lot of clutter in the garage (at least it’s all neatly piled and organised ).

Continuing on to Week 2 with my adapted, revamped, geared to me Christmas/Holiday Notebook.

Week 2: Making a List (or Two)

Christmas Focus

• list making. There are so many lists to create and update:
  • Christmas Cards – names, addresses, etc.,
  • Gift Giving – who, what, and how much,
  • Baking – family treats and give aways,
  • Parties – are you hosting?  what do you need?,
  • Crafts – are you giving any homemade items as gifts?,
  • Visits and Travel – make sure you don’t accidentally miss someone and double check to ensure you have everything you need if travelling far,
  • Holiday Menus – make a list of any items you need – you might be able to pick up those cranberries early and on sale, and
  • Shopping Lists – incidentals for the season or house projects.

  At first some of these lists will be very general and as the weeks pass they’ll start to get more detailed.  It’s important to start the lists now so you won’t forget anything later – planning ahead.

Cleaning Focus

• Office & Study Areas – It’s back to school week here so I thought it’d be the perfect time to work on these areas.  Also it will give me a place to work on my Christmas Notebook.  So my Notebook will have a home.This week I’ll (okay hubby and I) will be working on the Study – a place for our kids to do their homework and hubby’s Office (computer/tech room).  We’re moving some things out of his office to go into the spare room soon to be study.  This will declutter his office and better organise the spare room.  We’ve already started the prep work – it just needs a bit more sanding and then the primer and paint can go up.  The Study is going to display all our NASCAR items as well.  Can’t wait!!

Are you following along with a plan? Feel free to comment here, on the blog, or share your thoughts about it at the CAY Forum.

As  part of my Christmas preparations, the plans I’m adapting all suggest answering some basic questions to help in evaluating your Christmas plans.  I’ve decided to answer every question from all the plans – I figure the more questions I answer, the more prepared I’ll be.  

Here are just a few of the questions with my answers:

How involved is my family in the Christmas preparation?

I try to involve my family more and more each year.  As my girls get older, I know they’ll want to do more.  This year I’ll suggest playing and singing Christmas carols and songs during our Advent time and see where that takes off.  Two years ago after putting up the tree and adding the lights – the girls were given the decorations and now they are in charge of  trimming the tree  (with hubby and I reaching the higher parts of the tree for them).

What activities are particularly important to our family at Christmas? To myself?

My family loves our Advent tradition, which we started three years ago (this will be our 4th year).  Every Sunday, we do our usual reading Christmas stories by the tree (another tradition they love) and then we have a special Christmas book about the birth of Jesus which comes with 6 ornaments.  Each time we read the story (taking turns each Sunday) one of the girls “acts out” the story using the ceramic nativity set.  Then we place one of the ornaments on the tree.  This continues until Epiphany Sunday.  The next Sunday we read the story, take down the story ornaments, and then take down the Christmas tree.

I guess this is just as important to me as the rest of the family.

Write down 3 things you love about the holidays.  How can you plan to include these experiences this Christmas?

Family time, Decorations, Gatherings

I want to plan more family time into the season by: baking with my girls, making an event of going out and seeing the light displays, and having our annual Christmas parties.  (We have  2 parties – the first one we have is after our city’s Santa Claus parade; we invite families back to the house for chili, chicken strips for the kids, hot apple cider and a Christmas movie.  The second party is strictly for the kids – they invite friends from school, we always make a tree ornament, have snacks,  play games, and have fun.)

Write down 3 things you do not like about the holidays.  How can you avoid the things you don’t like?

Not enough time, “greedy gimmies”, over commercialism

As always we try to focus on why we celebrate Christmas, but the “greedy gimmies” do sneak in and not just with the kids.  I think if activities were planned a little better, we would not be overbooked and could actually do some preparations ahead of time rather than at the last minute (which I think might make it seem like we have more time).

These are just a few of the questions I’ve pondered over this week. With all the questions I’ve answered, many regarding last Christmas, I think I’ve got a firm base in which to begin my Christmas plans.