Christmas in July Day Two: Stress Free con't.

So now that we have a plan for buying and wrapping gifts, let's talk about all of the other aspects of the holidays. The guests, the decor, the baking, the cards, the... well, you get my drift.

On October 1st of each year I start signing and addressing my Christmas cards. My list has grown smaller each year, so this task does not take as long as it used to. I limit myself to five cards per day so I don't get bored with this task. As I address the envelopes, I put an "L" and/or "P" in the corner where the stamp goes. This reminds me which cards need annual letters or photos or both.

And speaking of annual letters, I write my letter on November 1st. I start laying it out during the summer when we have the most family events, so I have more news to share. If I wait until Fall, I usually forget whatever I wanted to highlight. I buy Christmas letter paper every three years or so in different designs so I don't have to do it every year. I like having a variety to pull from each year. That's just me...

My goal is to mail my Christmas cards on December 1st. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. But at least they're ready to go!

If I'm hosting Thanksgiving I don't put up our main Christmas Tree until the day after. I do, however, put up the secondary trees in other rooms. It's just too much to wait and do all of the decor the weekend after Thanksgiving. I will be exhausted, which is stressful! If we don't host Thanksgiving, I have all the decor up by Thanksgiving Day. Since I also decorate for the Fall holidays, this can be tricky. My solution is to save the main tree for last in order to enjoy the Fall decor as long as possible. Once the main tree is up I put all of the wrapped presents under it. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite things about my system. Once those gifts are under the tree, I feel a huge sense of accomplishment!

Now I can move on to baking. I try to bake all of my goodies the week after Thanksgiving. I usually sit down with my recipes in July and come up with a plan of what I want to bake. In October I revisit my plan and start buying the ingredients I will need. There are tons of coupons available in Oct/Nov for baking products. I like to take advantage of them. 

So, now we're done with the shopping, the wrapping, the decorating, the cards, and the baking - all we have left are the guests. We always have our family Christmas the weekend before the actual holiday. This way my kids are free to go to in-laws on Christmas Day. We started this tradition when they all got into serious relationships and it works for us. Some years we host additional Christmas parties. My goal each year is to have my holiday events planned by December 1st. I send out invitations three to four weeks in advance because we all know how our schedules fill up that time of year.

Yippee! We're now ready for a stress-free holiday season. We can enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes, and joy of Christmas. We will be relaxed as we move from one event to the next. We can snuggle up and enjoy the Christmas movies and specials. We will beam with pride at the Christmas pageants instead of worrying about all of the things we still need to do. It will be the most wonderful time of the year!

My system may not work for you. You may like some elements of it and discard others. You may have a super system that you already use. If so, I'd like to hear about it. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas!