Christmas already, you might think. Huff and huff. But no, I don't start Christmas early in October. I just have a philosophy about reducing all the stress that usually comes with the run-up to Christmas. I happily prioritize it away in favor of Advent shoes with my girls.
17 years ago I started my 10 weeks of Christmas preparations on the pink forum. Many of you know these weeks from before, while some of you will wonder what this is all about.
The reason was that I couldn't take the Christmas stress anymore. I still remember that little Christmas Eve when I took both girls with me to a toy shop at Maxi in Hamar, to buy some last Christmas presents. Sarah sat in the pram, and I held Isabel in one hand, while I balanced the toys on top of the pram with the other. While the sweat was dripping and we stood in a queue that meandered around large parts of the store, I swore to myself that I would never have that experience again. It was Christmas 2004. In autumn 2005 I started my 10 weeks of Christmas preparations on the forum, with great success. And I've done the same all the years since then, even though the girls are no longer little and things change.
Do you recognise your self? It is not just mothers of young children who feel the Christmas stress, Christmas Eve comes suddenly for many, year after year. That's why I make lists of everything I have to do, and cross them off as I finish. It is clear and nice, and I feel that I have good control over everything that needs to be done before Christmas rolls around. Less stress and more coziness, that's what this is all about.
If you want to join, hang on...
Weekly tasks:
1. Make a list of everyone you are going to buy Christmas presents for
Write down names and any gift suggestions, then you can tick them off as you buy or make them.
2. Make a list of everyone you will send Christmas cards to
Write down the names of the people you usually send cards to and cross them off as you write them down.
3. Make a list of other preparations to remember
like for example. Buying Christmas paper, tape, ribbons and tags, Buying white tights for the children, Baking gingerbread, and other things you usually do before Christmas. Do you perhaps have a Christmas cloth that needs to be cleaned? Write down everything you can think of that you know needs to be done before Christmas rolls around.
A tip is to make yourself a Christmas binder or a Christmas book, in which you can collect all the preparations. Then it is easy to bring out the preparations again, year after year. I have my Christmas book which I have used since 2005. There I glue, among other things, enter this year's Christmas card. It is also nice to be able to look back and look at previous tasks, to be able to see how much coziness and fun we have had during these years.
During the years on the forum we had both a Christmas card list and Scrappenissen. It was a nice tradition, so my goal for the next year is to develop the member portal here with enough paper-happy people, so that we can start it again next year.
My Christmas book is a plain notebook that I decorated with patterned paper, ribbon and metal letters. I glued the snowflakes and the ticket on later, as I thought they fit.
If you want a good notebook to use as a Christmas book, we have, among other things, green notebooks and bullet journals in str. A5 here
Good luck with the week's tasks, and feel free to share the post with someone you know.