Get Organized

What do you really want for Christmas?

Our ideas may differ in the details, but most of us want much the same thing: a seasonal celebration focused on faith, family and friends.

We want the excitement of the season without the disruption that too often comes with it. We want to draw closer to those around us, not to be thrust apart by hectic schedules. We want to enjoy as well as prepare, and to keep the Christmas season in a manner that is joyous and spiritually centered.

Problem is, it’s easy to get caught up in the seasonal whirlwind. Tradition, the media, family expectations and the economy lean on our decision-making, each with a different agenda. Unconscious forces can distort our celebration for reasons that have nothing to do with what we truly want from the holiday.

Lavish Christmas magazines raise décor standards out of all reality. Husband and wife may bring different expectations and traditions to the same holiday. During the Christmas season, we're easy prey to forces that open our wallets and eat our time, as well as to those that touch our hearts and open our souls.

Solution: focus on holiday values before you begin to plan the season’s activities. Knowing where your values lie allows you to set a path to true holiday happiness, and to avoid the minefields that culture and commercialism will throw in your way.

As we get ready for Christmas, we’ll be making lists (and checking them a lot more than twice!), holding discussions with spouses, children and parents, and drawing up a holiday budget.

Too often, we record our plans piecemeal, consigning them to a confused clutter of scrawled envelopes, jotted notes and cryptic calendar entries—none of which make it to the shopping center with us when it’s time to buy gifts.

Organized people keep the results of their work in a central place. Try the tips below to create and use a Christmas notebook--your personal guide to relaxed and happy holidays:

How To Make A Christmas Planner

Easy to make and easier to use, a Christmas planner cuts through holiday clutter and keeps planning on track. Home to lists and recipes, calendars and gift ideas, this simple tool is the architect and source of a serene celebration.

Viewed from a few weeks away, there’s a luxurious feeling of “plenty of time”, but as December draws near, the season’s pace quickens exponentially. Where did the time go?

Take major action against the seasonal time crunch with a pre-season scheduling session. The goal: to arrange for all those little appointments that slip the mind so easily.

Smart Scheduling for Stress-Free Holidays

Time takes on a slippery quality as the holiday season approaches. Being proactive--and early--saves time and stress as the season's pace quickens.

With the Christmas calendar as a guide, consider scheduling these important—and often slighted—pre-season tasks:

We’ve all experienced this seasonal panic: it's the night of the office holiday party and a spouse’s good white shirt has gone missing!

Calm the chaos with a pre-holiday wardrobe check. Assessing the State of the Closet for all family members before the holiday begins means never having to say, "It's in the wash!"

To sort out whether each family member has well-fitting and appropriate holiday-season clothing, use a lined blank page in the Christmas planner, or print a free Wardrobe Planner form from our Forms Library.

Add a name for each family member to the form, click it into the Christmas Notebook, then check the calendar to focus on the clothing needs the season will bring.

Christmas magazines and catalogs are fabulous resources for seasonal decorating, gift ideas, and Christmas recipes—but en masse, they can become too much of a good thing. When the piles avalanche from every side table, finding an article or a recipe that caught your eye a few weeks ago can be an impossible job.

How do you keep all that good information without being crushed by stacks or drowning in paper? Answer: a set of tear files.

Try a Tear File!