Enjoying Christmas – Gift Wrapping

The size of families varies and the number of gifts we buy varies as well. This may be a great tip for you or it may just be a little bit over the top. If it is, apologies; however, our organising community is varied, so it is important to help and support everyone.

I have a friend who likes to wrap all her presents Christmas Eve so this may not apply to you at all. I prefer to get my sleep Christmas Eve, so I like to have my gifts wrapped early.

I have created what I refer to as a “gift wrapping zone” in our house. It is all set up and ready this time of year with sticky tape, wrapping paper, bags, ribbons, pens and gift cards.

Having the gift wrapping station (zone) means I can use pockets of time to get on top of all my gift wrapping. If I have a spare five minutes, I can get a few gifts wrapped in that time. It keeps it all in one area of the house, which means I am not impacting on others in the house.

In addition, I have my master gift check list. This is where I have the names of people I am purchasing gifts for and what present ideas I have. I then write what I actually purchased. This allows me for next year to know what I got them so that I don’t double up but also helps me when I am trying to think of gifts. Some of the gift ideas may be suitable for others, some of the gifts ideas I can extend on.

This master gift list gives me a report on what shopping and gifts I have completed and what I still need to do.

This is another example of “chunking” in action.

Christmas Planning – Christmas Menu

Our aim is for this Christmas to be magical and enjoyable. That means it all comes down to the planning. The next few weeks will be tips to help you be organised this Christmas.

This week it is all about the Christmas Menu.

• Design your Christmas menu
• Write out your shopping list
• Start purchasing non-perishable items now
• Being organised this way means that you can ask others to bring food and dishes to the celebrations

Enjoying Christmas – Menu Planning

This week, it is time to finalise the Christmas menu or menus. That depends on how many Christmas functions you have to hold or attend.

Designing the Menu

Designing the menu provides you the opportunity to actually give someone an item or items to bring along when they ask “What can I bring?” When people offer, they are genuine about helping and it is important to allow them to feel that they are contributing to the day.

I do this all the time. We have dinner parties with friends a number of times a year and we all bring something which makes it so much easier for the person who is holding the event. Someone brings entrée, another one brings salad’s, someone else a fruit platter and someone else chocolates. Easy to prepare, and we all really enjoy the night.

So take time now to think about your menu. If you are going to cook it all that is fine, so start writing out your shopping list. There are many items that you can start buying now so that the grocery bill is not massive come Christmas. Items like drinks, napkins, nuts, dried fruit, chocolates, bon bons. Then have your week before Christmas shopping list ready. It is another task done and ready. Pressure off come the time just before Christmas.

Christmas Day Plan

You can even write out your time plan for Christmas day now. For example, Christmas Eve cut carrots, corn, beans, get out plates, saucepans, set the table.

Christmas Eve Day

Complete grocery shopping
Prepare salads
Set table
Defrost meat

Christmas Morning

10.00 am – turkey on
10.15 am – prepare fruit platter
12 noon – family arrive
12.30 pm – entrée served
1:00 pm – gift giving
1.30 pm – main course
2.15 pm – sweets

This is just a rough guideline but knowing this and being ready help to keep your head clear and allow you to feel more relaxed. Who knows, you may even have time for conversations and to enjoy the day.

After Christmas Menus

Something else that may be worth thinking about is your menu the week after Christmas. You may have left overs so now is the time to look for recipes that involve 101 ways with turkey and ham.

Many families head away for holidays this time of year so it may be worthwhile actually thinking about what other food is needed for the first week of holidays. Some simple easy to make meals where you can have the ingredients ready or even pre prepare and freeze the food so that you also get to have a holiday.

I know for some of you this type of planning comes naturally; for others, it may be a foreign concept. However, give it a go. Remember our goal is to take big tasks and “chunk” them down into little steps.

Christmas Planning – November Tips

Our aim is for this Christmas to be magical and enjoyable. That means it all comes down to the planning. The next few weeks will be tips to help you be organised this Christmas.

• Order the ham and turkey
• Christmas cards are you still writing them
• Christmas schedule – is that still okay and not too overloaded
• Christmas decorations
• Christmas lights
• Think about holiday sale items that you may want to purchase in the sales

Enjoying Christmas – November is Here

November is here. We are approaching the end of the year and as we know Christmas is just around the corner.

Deadlines

What is amazing is, at this time of year, we start to put deadlines on ourselves. For some reason, many tasks, projects and plans have to be completed by the end of the year. These deadlines can create an increase in stress and tension that can leave us exhausted before we even get to the end of the year.

Take a moment to think about what your true deadlines are. That can bring things back into perspective for some people, not everyone of course. Are there any of these goals that you want to complete by Christmas that you could perhaps move the completion date to mid-January? If so, then do that now.

Holiday Sales

Prior to Christmas and just after Christmas, there is a big period of holiday sales. While you are at the shops, it may be useful to start your holiday sales plans. You don’t necessary need to have this list. I know, for us, it is a time where we consider if there are any “big” items that we may need to purchase. Things such as fridge, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, outdoor items that if they are reduced dramatically then it is a better financial decision to purchase at this time of year.

Ordering and Organising

It is a good chance to order the ham and turkey now. Continue with the Christmas cards to have them completed by December. Get the Christmas decorations out of storage. Cook the Christmas cake and pudding. Make sure all the gifts to overseas have been sent. Buy Advent calendars for the children. Purchase your wrapping paper and gift tags for the gifts.

All of these tasks are small but they are helping you move forward. Little bit by little bit. Small task by small task, you are becoming more organised and on top of the festive season.

Christmas Planning – Family and Friends

Our aim is for this Christmas to be magical and enjoyable. That means it all comes down to the planning. The next few weeks will be tips to help you be organised this Christmas.

• Book in babysitters for the Christmas season early
• Be mindful of the family and friends around you this festive season
• Is anyone alone that you could spend time with
• Be flexible and understanding this time of year

Enjoying Christmas – Christmas Day

It is time to think about Christmas catch up with the family. There are so many versions of “family” in this modern era that Christmas Day can involve more co-ordination than a military mission.

So take time now to get the conversation started about where Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner will be held. Who will be there? What to bring? How does that work in with everyone’s extended family?

Then of course Christmas planning has to consider some family issues (or problems) like Uncle George’s drinking problem. Maybe have a brunch rather than a dinner where fresh juice and tea and coffee and the drinks on the menu. If one of your relatives is negative, perhaps this year give everyone a card that has a conversation starter on it. Making sure the conversation starters are about happy, fun, exciting or funny things. For example, “your favourite holiday destination”, “where you dream of going in the world”, “A funny thing happened on the way to…”

Take into account the needs of small children who may need naps and an early bedtime. Make sure the events you are attending are appropriate for their needs.

If Christmas lunch or dinner is at someone’s house, how can you support and help? Divide up the meals so that everyone can bring something. Entrée, main, veggies, salad’s, bread, dessert, drinks. The person whose house it is at has to clean the house, set the table, manage the meal, clean up and clear up. That is a load of work without even cooking anything. Make it as simple as possible.

I know plenty of families who hold their Christmas Day the weekend before Christmas, Christmas Eve or on Boxing Day. Be flexible so that it is about the people who you are with rather than just “the day”.

Something else to think about at this time of year is whether you know anyone who might be alone at Christmas and can you visit them or invite them along to share Christmas with your family.

It is important to remember that what Christmas may mean to you, it may mean something completely different to someone else, so be careful and sensitive to people’s needs.

It is a time of enjoyment and celebration and with planning it can be just that. Planning is the key.

Christmas Planning – Clutter Free Gifts

Our aim is for this Christmas to be magical and enjoyable. That means it all comes down to the planning. The next few weeks will be tips to help you be organised this Christmas.

This week our focus is on Clutter-Free Gifts.

We have a habit of giving physical gifts that can be touched. However, it is time to think differently. Let’s buy experiences and memories rather than clutter. Ideas can include taking people out, for example, to a beautiful restaurant that they would never take themselves to. Take kids out for the day with their cousins. It isn’t about the costs, it is about the experience.

Enjoying Christmas – Clutter-Free Shopping

I am big on reducing clutter as many of my newsletter community would be aware of. It seems that we are drowning in clutter. Our children have too many toys, we have too many things. Did you know that we live in bigger houses with less people and we are still overflowing?

I mentioned about clutter-free shopping a couple of weeks ago. I would love it if we could focus on giving memories and experiences rather than clutter this Christmas.

The thing about always giving tactile (or physical) gifts is that we have to store them. Many attendees at my “DeClutter and Take Back Control” Workshops talk about how they can’t get rid of (insert item here) because it was a gift.

I honestly believe that when we give a gift, we don’t ever want to burden someone with the item. However, so many, and I really mean so many people can’t give away items in their home because they were gifts. They feel obligated and bound to keep them forever.

So let’s not burden family and friends any longer. Let’s give them memories and experiences. It is my mother-in-law’s birthday tomorrow and we are giving her a manicure and pedicure. A simple gift but guess what, her granddaughters (aged 8 and 12) are taking her to the shop and what she doesn’t know is that they are all having a manicure and pedicure. What grandmother wouldn’t want that sort of a gift? They will all be able to talk about it for years in the future and there is not one bit of clutter involved. It is a wonderful memory for them all.

I can just picture her telling all her friends of how her granddaughters took her to the beauty shop and they all got their nails done. Won’t they be jealous friends!!! (In a nice way)

For Christmas, we have bought my brother-in-law time in a flight simulator. Once again an experience to enjoy and something that we wouldn’t buy for ourselves. We still get to give him something physical – the gift voucher – but the experience will be sensational.

For Mother’s Day we purchased a restaurant dinner for my mother-in-law and her eldest grandson took her to dinner. My mother-in-law is a real “foodie” and this was a restaurant we knew she would love, but she wouldn’t ever go there. To go with her grandson was so wonderful for her.

There are so many simple but wonderful ideas out there to give people so that they have memories, not just an object. Think about what you would love to give to the ones who are most important to you this year. Who knows perhaps this year’s gift may become a family tradition down the track.

Christmas Planning – Christmas Cards

Our aim is for this Christmas to be magical and enjoyable. That means it all comes down to the planning. The next few weeks will be tips to help you be organised this Christmas.

This week, our focus is on Christmas Cards.

Will you be sending cards this Christmas? If so, now is the time to think about what type of cards – handmade, shop-purchased, charity.

• Make a list of everyone you will be sending cards to
• Get their addresses
• Break the task down and just write a few cards a day