5 tips for a stress free Christmas

Evoking the simple joys of an old-fashioned Christmas doesn’t have to be a complicated affair.

Preparing and planning now means you won’t be stressed with last minute hassles and can simply enjoy the Christmas season.

1. Use a Christmas Planner

I always begin by creating a Christmas Planner. Easy to make and easy 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 your reference for all things Christmas, and it will become your best friend as we get ready for the season.

Yesterday I shared my free printable annual Christmas Planner… one that you can download and make yourself…

But I know from last year that many of my readers also purchased the printed Christmas Planner to use or give as a gift, so I’ve prepared one for this year.

2015 Christmas Planner

By Kerryanne English

48 pages, published 11/1/2015

The 2015 Christmas Planner combines gorgeous Victorian graphics with the practicality of a holiday planner. It’s the perfect way to keep track of your gift giving and holiday preparations. This compact holiday planner is small enough to fit in your handbag, but big enough to keep track of your holiday planning.

The printed book is produced by MagCloud and can be purchased from their website for US$9.99. Click HERE or on the graphic above to preview.

2. Making a List

Well, it’s no surprise that I’m a bit of a list girl. . . some people write lists in their heads, others make it up as they go along. . . me, I like to write it down as I think of it. So lists are a part of my everyday life.

I begin with the Master List. . . oh yeah, sounds impressive doesn’t it!!

In reality, it’s just a big list page. I start by writing in the main events that I already know of like family outings, dinner dates etc.

Next I add the tasks that I want to complete by or on a certain date. By doing this you now have a visual timeline of when things need to be done.

Then all that is left to do is break down all those tasks into smaller components, so you get them completed on time. One quick glance and I know when I need to have shopping, household cleaning and prep work done.

Lists make you organized!!

3. Preparing your home for the holidays

A little forward planning can make decorating a breeze in the holidays.

Beautiful decorations and twinkling lights will show to best advantage if everything is scrubbed and sparkling. Once the house is decorated for the holidays it is too hard to access some areas to clean (well that’s my excuse – you can use it too if you like). So this is just like a Spring clean except it’s the pre-Christmas clean up.

Once your home is clean, take a walk around your home and decide what rooms should be decorated. Some people like to add holiday touches to each room. Others prefer to keep things simple and confine the decorating to just a few rooms.

Bring your decorations out of storage a few days before they are needed and take the time to check the lights all work and there are no broken decorations. You can also give the decorations a light clean to make them sparkle on the tree.

4. Shop Early

I don’t know about you, but personally, I loathe doing Christmas gift shopping at the last minute. . . having to shop under pressure. . . with tons of other people all jostling to get served and standing around waiting in huge queues. That never makes me feel ‘merry’!

I refer to my lists and do a little forward planning by creating a budget.

My favourite way to shop for gifts is to do it all in one hit or over a couple of days in November. Then I can wrap, post or store it and the shopping is done before the shops get too busy.

These days I also do a lot of my shopping online, but even that needs to be completed early to prevent postal delays.

5. Menu Planning

I like to get the great majority of tasks completed in November, so I can cruise through the Christmas month of December calm and relaxed and free to enjoy any last minute invitations.

We have family traditions we enjoy during December and many of those are centered around baking for others, for us and for special gatherings.

Often, Christmas is the only time we use certain items, such as large cooking utensils, tableware and such. Be sure you have enough for everyone you anticipate. Give everything a quick wash, dry, and stack away ready to use.

Clean out the refrigerator. At Christmas time the fridge gets a real work out and you need all the space you can get.

Give your oven a thorough clean in preparation for serving up a Christmas feast and defrost the freezer to make space for the Christmas food.

Stock up on baking ingredients and don’t forget to check your spice rack. Get out recipes you intend to use, and make a list of needed ingredients.

By planning your menus you can be sure you have all the ingredients on hand and won’t be doing those last minute dashes to the supermarket!!

I hope my ‘5 tips for a Stress Free Christmas’ will help you simplify this busy season and help you to put a homemade touch on everything you do.

Hugs ~ Kerryanne

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