Thanksgiving is over but there’s no time to rest yet as the real preparations are beginning for the holidays! One of the biggest things we need to do is to take time to sit down and evaluate how our Thanksgiving was. What was everyone’s favorite part? Was there anything that didn’t work well? Do you need to set up a rotating schedule to have dinner at other family member’s homes? (Odd year here, Even year there, or every 3rd, 4th, year?) Would it be better to have a potluck-style meal where everyone brings something? Was there anything you would like to do differently? Start now for your planning for next year so you don’t forget these ‘little things’! We will also be getting all of our Fall decor ready to be put away next week so we can start pulling out the Christmas decor.

Here are some of the things that we will be working on this week:

1. We continue to look for things that don’t belong and get them put away where they belong or get rid of things we don’t really need as we do our weekly ‘Home Blessings’. I will also have the kids sorting through their toys and clothes to make room for things that may be coming in soon.
2. If we have items (or cards) that need to be mailed we will try to get them taken care of ASAP… sometimes I have gifts sent directly to the recipients but I try to warn them ahead of time so they can be on the lookout for them.
3. I should already have all of the wrapping supplies I need by now but if I haven’t bought the wrapping paper and supplies then I will try to make sure to get those this week. I also make sure that I have ordered any special tablecloths**** or tableware that I may need for Christmas so it gets here in plenty of time.
4. I will review the menu lists in my Holiday Planner so I can try to add as many of the pantry goods to my weekly grocery list as well as double checking to make sure that we have plenty of the everyday essentials like toilet paper and paper towels because we don’t want to run out of those things when we have guests.
5. I’ll review my list of ‘make-ahead’ items and try to knock out a few of them so there will be less to do at Polar Express and Christmas. I will also start sending out any last-minute invites for parties and meals. If we have decided to do a gift exchange we will make sure everyone has all the information they need as well.
6. I need to pull out all of my Polar Express and St. Nicholas Day items to look through them and check on what I need to get ordered ASAP if I haven’t already done so. I will also need to see if Santa will be visiting our Polar Express and make the necessary preparations if he is.
7. I will also look up some information about Christmas traditions and history to add to our homeschool lessons as well as some fun Advent activities. You can check this post HERE for some ideas! We have some old posts about St. Nicholas Day HERE. I really want to make some paper mache wooden shoes this year so I have been looking up a ton of links like these HERE, HERE, and HERE. I even came across an idea for baking bread to look like shoes!*
8. I’m also trying to plan to do the 3 gift rule here this year but I’m not sure how it will go yet. I’ve got some links about this idea HERE, HERE, and HERE. This will hopefully encourage the focus to be more on Jesus than Santa and the gifts he will bring.

Life is crazy enough without adding holiday stress to it. The simpler we can keep things, the better in most cases and we are always trying to find creative solutions to things we need to get done. By spending just a few minutes a day working on these tasks it helps to get us prepared without causing a lot of unnecessary stress.

*Don’t try to do EVERYTHING all at once… we have gradually incorporated more ideas into our holiday season but there have been years when we just couldn’t do it all. The kids still had a great holiday season and everyone appreciated the special events more the next time we were able to have them.

Light of the World Advent Study: A Family Journey Through Scripture, Nature, and Worship

For more great ideas you can check out the FlyLady website HERE.

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