One of the most frustrating things about Christmas in the Reindl family is that no one is as gun-ho for Christmas as I am so asking any questions about where we'll be having Christmas this year, what food should each family bring and if we're doing presents for all the kids/secret santa is useless and will fall on deaf ears. So the best thing to do if to focus on what is in my control and what parts of Christmas I can plan by myself. To help me with these tasks is my Kikki.K Christmas organiser and my home made Christmas manual.
I picked up the Kikki.K Christmas organiser during the Boxing Day sales marked down from $18 to $4! I've only recently opened it and started making entries but I'm glad I have it as it compliments my manual really well. It includes monthly pages for October, November and December, Christmas card writing, stocking fillers and food planning. One of my favourite pages is just as you open the book and asks about how you see Christmas, and how to make it less stressful for you.
My Christmas manual was started last year after I got sick of no planner having exactly what I was after. Then I would end up with 2-3 different colour schemes through my manual. So I sat down with a lecture book and some red and green markers and pens and scrawled out what I needed. Then I photocopied each one, originals are kept at the back in a document wallet, copies can be made each year accordingly and changed out when necessary. Plus it's easy to ad to - for example this year I'm upgrading my "elves" section, so instead of having just one page for 'ideas' I will also have an inventory of props, quick suggestions for when I forget to move the elf and a calendar of when I plan to do what ideas (when it relates to an activity I have planned). There are so many sections and I can keep adding as I go!
One section you can always get a head start on is Christmas cards. I tend to buy mine after Christmas when they're marked down to 20c/50c per pack. I'm PLANNING to write a Christmas letter this year to send to family and friends that live interstate as I normally send photos and a card to them but I think a family newsletter would go well with it. That said I've planned to write one for the past two years with no luck. At the very least my organiser has a Christmas card recipient list and I've managed to fill that in haha.
As I've been using the "Santa's Bag" app to record present purchases (as I reported here in last week's post) I haven't filled my santa sack page of my manual yet. So far I have one toysale layby, one normal layby and have started online purchases so I'll soon be recording the presents on paper so I can keep track and hopefully then I won't over purchase... joking! We all know regardless of whether it's written down or not, we always over buy for our kids.
Planning for me is a way to limit my chances to forget things, eliminate stress and anxiety, and feel like f
Keep progressing through your planner! The more you plan ahead, the less things can get on top of you.
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