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Welcome to Organized Christmas!

Our mission: to help you simplify your holidays and get ready for Christmas.

Browse our articles for great ideas to simplify the holidays. Choose a holiday plan, and print a free Christmas planner to get organized for Christmas.

Try easy gifts and crafts, recipes and free printables to celebrate the season.

organized christmas

Cutting Costs at Christmas?

Try these ideas to celebrate like Santa (but spend like Scrooge):

christmas countdown
Christmas is coming!
Will you be ready?

“The time draws near the birth of Christ: The moon is hid; the night is still; The Christmas bells from hill to hill Answer each other in the mist”

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Christmas Countdown Day 18: Set Up a Wrap and Mail Center!

Repeat after me: "This year, I won't be wrapping gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve!"

If there's a single most-underestimated holiday chore, it's gift wrapping. Supplies lie scattered throughout the house, while space and privacy are hard to come by.

Translation: late-night Christmas Eve wrapping sessions.

Not this year! We're going to lick the wrapping problem at the outset, by setting up a wrap and mail activity center. With workspace, tools and supplies at hand, it’s easy to wrap as you go—and enjoy the task, without grump, grumble or hurry.

to do today ... create a wrap and mail center!

Having all gift wrap, tools and supplies in one place speeds gift wrapping and makes mailing easy. Follow these steps to set up a Wrap and Mail Center: Read more »


Christmas Countdown Day 17: Get Organized for Catalog Shopping!

Gift shopping? Between mall madness, high gas prices and lack of time, it can be the holiday season's greatest source of stress. There's got to be an easier way!

Organized gift shoppers know there's an alternative to crowded malls and long lines at the checkstand: shopping online or from catalogs! We'll make it easy with catalog shopping tips and free printable forms to track catalog and Internet purchases.


Magic Elf Tradition: Will Santa's Magic Elf Visit Your Home This Christmas?

Magic Elf Letter from SantaMagic Elf LetterWhat would happen if one of Santa's elves came to your house to visit?

He'd arrive sometime before the holidays began. Sent by Santa to check on good little girls and boys, he'd roam the house at night, popping up in the most unlikely places come morning.

Sometimes, elf mischief would take place--and he'd be caught red-handed! Finally, on Christmas Eve, he'd report to Santa and hitch a ride back to the North Pole ... until next year.

If you can imagine it, you can do it: meet Santa's Magic Elf!

Designed to share the Christmas spirit with children, it's an interactive holiday activity for families or school classes. Free printable letters from Santa, Elf passport and Elf report make it easy to create a new holiday tradition!

It's easy to invite Santa's Magic Elf to visit: Read more »


Understand The Unwritten Rules of Gift-Giving

They’re seldom acknowledged and rarely discussed: the unwritten rules of gift giving. Even if we don’t talk about them, “the rules” determine what we give, how much we give, and to whom we give. They govern everything from the office Secret Santa exchange, to classroom gifts, to a family morning under the Christmas tree.

Problem is, “unwritten” means that gift-giving rules are subject to interpretation—both in our own minds, and in our dealings with others.

This year, many families will decide to renegotiate gift giving during the holidays. Whether in reaction to economic stress, or out of a genuine desire to simplify the holidays, cutting back on Christmas will be easier to do if you understand the unwritten rules of gift-giving.

Why is it so important to get a grip on the rules behind holiday giving?


Christmas Countdown Day 16: Renegotiate Gift Exchanges!

Has it come time to renegotiate gift giving with friends and family in your life? Whether you've moved on, need to cut the clutter or no longer can afford an obligation to give, changing gift-giving assumptions can be a tricky task.

to do today...renegotiate gift exchanges

Stop the merry-go-round, I want to get off!

Sound familiar? At some point, most of us must face the necessity of shrugging off out-grown gift-giving traditions.

Growing up with a brother and a sister meant that my siblings and I exchanged gifts at the Christmas holiday. A generation later? Add spouses, children, distance and growing up, and gift-giving becomes more stressful, less satisfying with each passing year. Time for an adjustment!


Christmas Countdown Day 15: Gifts and Giving Week!

For many families, gift-giving is the most stressful part of preparing for the holiday season. It's where the rubber of our budget meets the road of our expectations. Will our gifts be enough? Will we send the right message? Can we afford them? Will we find the year's hot toy ... or should we even look for it?

There's another, brighter side to gift-giving. Reading assignments this week will help us draw closer to the true meaning of the holiday season. Remember that holiday gifts and holiday giving are only pale reflections of the true holiday gift.

Today's essay, In Praise of Simple Gifts, is intended to get us off to a good start.

Ready? It's time to take on the gift list and get ready for Christmas! Read more »


Holiday Grand Plan: Garage / Storage Week

Week Eleven, Garage/Storage Week, at the Holiday Grand Plan gets us into garage and storage areas. The waning days of Autumn are a good time to rout out household storage areas, so we're ready to access extra tables, chairs and seasonal decorations.

In holiday prep, we look ahead to the Thanksgiving meal, and see to the family's holiday clothing.

Ready? Let's get organized with Garage Week in the Holiday Grand Plan!

Garage / Storage Week at the Holiday Grand Plan


Turkey Poop: Silly Thanksgiving Gag Gift

Looking for a silly treat for Thanksgiving? it's Turkey Poop!

Just right for a gag gift--or even Thanksgiving Day place cards--Turkey Poop is easy to make.

Place a handful of Milk Duds-brand candy, chocolate-covered raisins, or brown jelly beans in a small zipper food storage bag or seasonal cellophane gift bag.

Label with the following poem or our printable Turkey Poop gift tag.

You invited me to dinner
with your family and your friends.
You didn't say I was the main dish.
For me it was "THE END!"


You frightened me so badly
I knew I had been duped!
So I left you with my calling card:
This bag of Turkey Poop!


Christmas Countdown Day 14: Decor Declutter!

Coming to the end of Reality Check week, we tidy up loose ends today, declutter before we decorate, and consider whose house for the holidays.

to do today: declutter before you decorate

The decoration tide sweeps in with September's falling leaves, breaks against Halloween's goblins, and is streaming full-force by Thanksgiving's turkeys and pilgrims. Come Christmas, the average home is drowning in tinsel.

Do your visual field a favor: declutter tables, counters, mantels, shelves and the entire surface of your refrigerator before you decorate. Read more »


Recycle Halloween Candy: Make Harvest S'Mores In A Jar!

Making seasonal S'Mores In A Jar for any holiday is easy--if Peeps ® brand Marshmallow Candies are available for the celebration of your choice. Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Valentines Day are on the list, but so far, Thanksgiving Day is not.

Until JustBorn, manufacturer of Marshmallow Peeps, gets with the harvest holiday, we have a work-around for you! Better yet, it's a frugal way to repurpose extra Jack O'Lantern Peeps left over from Halloween.

These Harvest S'Mores In A Jar are created using the back side of Halloween Pumpkin Peeps. Pointing the Jack O'Lantern faces to the inside of the jar creates a pretty harvest jar gift. Better still, with Halloween Peeps on sale at clearance prices after October 31, it's a frugal and festive way to say "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Add our free printable gift tag, and it's a Thanksgiving treat to treasure:

S'Mores In A Jar Recipe

Harvest S'Mores In A Jar Gift Tags Read more »


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