Organized Christmas: Simplify Your Holidays and Celebrate The Season

January Rudolph Club Meeting

Bury the Ghost of Christmas Past!

Welcome to the Rudolph Club: your once-a-month meeting for an organized Christmas!

At Organized Christmas, we know that the holiday season can be fast and furious. Solution? Take a day once each month throughout the year to plan and prepare for a more-organized holiday season.

On the 25th of each month, we'll bring simple assignments and easy tips to try now for a simpler, more joyous holiday season.

Over the year, you'll tackle planning and preparations to make the season lighter, brighter and less stressful come December.

Chill Chaser: Winter Warmer Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper Craft

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on January 16, 2012

jiffy pop popcorn topper It's a cheery gift for a dreary day: a Winter Warmer Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper!

Add our free printable template to a package of Jiffy Pop® brand pop-in-pan popcorn for an inexpensive "popcorn topper" craft gift.

Paired with Snowman Soup, you'll bring warmth and fun to a wintry day!

How To Make Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Toppers

Winter Warmer Popcorn Topper Template

Post-Holiday Debriefing: Get Organized for Next Christmas

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on January 3, 2012

It's over for another year!

Wild and woolly or sane and sedate, we've passed through the holiday season and into a new year. Breath caught, it's time to debrief.

You know debriefing, right? The astronauts do it, spies do it, pilots do it: a measured after-the fact evaluation of the mission or flight.

Smart holiday planners should do it, too--because taking time now to note what worked, what didn't will be a road map to a more organized Christmas next year. Here's how:

Get Organized

Keeping New Year's Resolutions: New Year, New You!

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 27, 2011

New Year's Eve ... a festive beginning to a new year. It's a good time to take stock and decide to move toward a happier, more organized life.

But too often, what looks so easy as the minute hand approaches midnight falls away in the cold light of January days.

For most of us, New Year's resolutions die a slow and quiet death. They're tossed aside, along with the party hats and noisemakers.

As January winds down, so does motivation, energy and desire for change.

New Year's resolutions wither along with the Christmas poinsettias because they lack strong roots in real life. It's not the resolution that's at fault--it's the follow-through! New Year's resolutions are easy to make, but much harder to make real in the noisy bustle of everyday chores and concerns.

Stop! Don't let those resolutions slip away so quickly! Each one represents a longing of the heart, a reach toward better health, happiness, knowledge or wisdom. Try these concepts to revive and strengthen your New Year's resolutions.

Five Tips to Get Organized For Next Christmas

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 26, 2011

It's the day after Christmas, and every year at this time, the e-mails in my inbox tell the story: "I wish I'd found this site earlier!"

Each year, I hear from scores of readers who came looking for holiday help at the height of the celebration-and faced with the reality of Christmas chaos. Stumbling over our site, they see that it's possible to be organized--and joyous--during the holidays. They just wish they'd found us earlier!

So say you're starting now, the day after Christmas. What's the secret to a stress-free season? Plan ahead!

Try these five tips to get ready for next year.

Get Organized

Get Organized for the New Year: Post-Christmas Clean-Up!

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 25, 2011

Ready to start the New Year from a clean and clutter-free home? Try these post-Christmas clean-up tips from sister site, Organized Home.

These simple, do-it-now strategies can reduce clutter and conquer Christmas chaos. We like this one:

Sort Before You Stow

Once the New Year arrives, most families take down holiday decorations and store them for the following year--but too often, there's a sense of "sling it in there and worry about it later" when it comes to putting away Christmas ornaments, holiday linens and outdoor lighting.

This year, pay it forward: sort and declutter holiday decorations, linens and specialty cooking items as you store them. Cut the non-working, the tattered, and the tired from the herd as you put away holiday decorations. Has-been decor items can be recycled or donated; stained linens can be repurposed as cleaning cloths.

Streamline holiday decorating next year: sort before you stow!

Post-Christmas Clean-Up

Get Organized

Houseworks Holiday Plan: New Years Week

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 25, 2011

All good times must end; it's time to wrap up the Houseworks Holiday Plan and move into an organized New Year.

Sunday sees the arrival of Christmas Day. In the coming week, we’ll tie up the season’s loose ends, make New Year’s resolutions, prepare to store holiday decor, and set the stage for next year’s celebration.

Follow the Houseworks Holiday Plan on Facebook and Twitter to get a jumpstart on the 2011 Houseworks Holiday Plan. See you next year!

New Year's Week Assignments

Houseworks Holiday Plan

Holiday Grand Plan: New Year's Week

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 25, 2011

Ready to ring in a fresh new year? It's New Year's week at the Holiday Grand Plan!

We'll record Christmas memories, prepare for New Year's celebrations, and begin to look ahead to a new start in the new year.

New Year's Week at the Holiday Grand Plan

Holiday Grand Plan

Candy Cane Reindeer

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 20, 2011

He's sweet, sassy, and easy enough for children to make: a Candy Cane Reindeer!

Our little Candy Cane Reindeer makes a great craft project for school, scouts, church groups or Secret Santa gifts.

Using candy canes, chenille stems and google eyes from the craft store, Candy Cane Reindeer make great stocking stuffers--or add them to holiday gift wrap for a sweet touch!

Christmas Blessings Mix Recipe

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on December 19, 2011

Count your blessings with Christmas Blessings Mix! Small bags of snack mix, each ingredient reminds us of a holiday blessing.

Bagged in favor-sized gift bags and decorated with a holiday poem, Christmas Blessings Mix brings a festive touch to your Christmas celebrations.

Share them with church friends, co-workers or family for a meaningful gift.

We make it easy to create Christmas Blessings Mix with a Blessing Mix tutorial and free printable gift tags and bag toppers with the Christmas Blessing Mix poem.