The Merry Little Christmas Project is the result of my desire to simplify and make Christmas more meaningful this year – and offer resources for you to do the same.  If you haven’t joined us on Facebook yet, be sure to do so!

According to my Christmas countdown app, we have 63 days until Christmas as I write this – 9 weeks until Christmas Eve!

In days past, I have been the one to resist anything Christmas-y until much much later in the year.  After all, don’t we need to celebrate Thanksgiving first?

But what if by beginning our Christmas prep earlier and taking it one chunk at a time, it would FREE us up to truly soak up the holidays?

Well then…I’m all in!

SO that’s why I have been working behind the scenes on what I like to call my 20 Minute Missions Daily Calendar (through November).

• The plan?  To set aside 20 minutes a day (M-F) to complete one Christmas-related mission

• The goal? To complete as MUCH as possible (including shopping!) before December 1st, so that we can truly enjoy the holiday season

I’d LOVE for you to join me.  You can check out my Daily Mission calendar here.  Feel free to use mine or create your own.

If you prefer to tackle your goals weekly instead of daily, here is a list of what my weekly goals look like:

Week 1: Planner chosen and ready to go; Budget in place.

Week 2: Photos ready to make gifts/ Plan for making gifts in place/Begin asking for gift lists.

Week 3: Christmas shopping 1/4 done. Calendar ready; donations plan in place.

Week 4: Christmas cards ordered; Menu and grocery list planned, Christmas shopping 1/2 done.

Week 5: Address labels ordered, stamps purchased, Christmas shopping 3/4 done.

Week 6: Toys donated/Christmas shopping done!

Week 7: Christmas present wrapped; Christmas cards finished and sent; Two batches of cookies frozen.

Week 8-10: Stay tuned!

I’ll be posting about my progress daily on The Merry Little Christmas Facebook page and inviting you to do the same.

Are you in? 

Our goal this week? Begin our Daily 20 Minute Missions!

  See more posts from The Merry Little Christmas Project here.

 

By now I hope you all are donning your Elf Hats and Silver Bells and are ready for The Merry Little Christmas Project to begin!  (If you haven’t joined us on Facebook yet, be sure to do so!)

There are three things that I think would have helped me have a tear-free, less stressful Christmas last year.

1. A Plan – It’s not that I didn’t try to plan Christmas last year.  I did.  But I would have felt more in control if I had one central planning center (that I used!) to track everything from gifts to recipes to decorations, etc.

We are going to do that this year. 

2. Preparation – Again, I could have sworn on Christmas morning that I had prepared for Christmas with the best of them.  Wasn’t that why I was exhausted? The problem was that a big chunk of my preparation took place in the the late hours of the night during the final week before Christmas.  I would have felt much more rested if I had set goals and dates to finish preparations AHEAD of time.

We are going to do that this year.

3. Purpose – I certainly worked hard to make the weeks before Christmas full of all kind of activities that remind us of the reason for the season.  But I think there are two questions that I could have asked that would help bring real purpose to all of the activity:

“Can I simplify this?”

“Can I make this more meaningful?”

Guess what?  We are going to do that this year.

Starting RIGHT NOW!

Our very first and MOST important step is setting up our Christmas Planning Center. 

I have rounded up for you several FREE Christmas planners that will help you get you started on the right foot:

• FlyLady has a very thorough free printable Holiday Control Journal here

• Organized Christmas offers this Free Christmas Planner here

• Celebrating Christmas offers free printable checklists here

• Christmas Corner offers free Christmas printables here

• Life Your way a free printable Christmas planner here

I recommend selecting the one that fits you best and then printing and organizing it in a 3-ring binder.

Or you could opt to simply purchase a Christmas planner from Amazon (like I did). 

They have many great options to choose from here.   You can purchase the one pictured above for just $5.99 shipped with Amazon Prime.  I ordered this one last year (but it looks like the price has gone up).

Of if you are a Smartphone user, Amazon has several Christmas planning apps for Android here.

*I’m having a hard time finding any apps for Apple products.  Let me know if you find any!

Know of any other great Christmas planning resources? Be sure to leave a comment.  I’d love to hear from you.

 

Our goal this week?  Christmas Planners organized and ready to go!  The countdown to our Merry Little Christmas has begun!

 

 

 

 

If you are joining us from The Merry Little Christmas Project Facebook page – welcome!  You can find all of my Merry Little Christmas posts here.  You can find this year’s 4 Weeks to an Organized Christmas series here.

Can I tell you a little story?

Last year, midst the ribbons and bows and Christmas lights and family traditions, I cried on Christmas Day.

It was one of those cries that starts in the back of your throat and you try to swallow it down, but then it just keeps on going until it reaches your eyes and you try to blink it away but instead find yourself running to hide in the bathroom because really…who is allowed to CRY on Christmas Day?!

{Now I think I can give partial credit to the fact that I was 4 months pregnant at the time.  Pregnant women are allowed to cry on Christmas Day.}

But if I’m really being honest, there were two other causes:

1) After SO much time and energy, I felt let down when my boys weren’t as thrilled about a gift as I hoped they would be.  And really… was this rushing from present to present what Christmas was all about?

2) I was exhausted.  Like so many other years, I had spent the past few nights staying up late finishing up last minute wrapping, baking, packing and so on.

I promised myself that this year would be different. 

That’s why I’ve created The Merry Little Christmas Project.  And I’m inviting you to join me.

In the next few days, I will share more details.  But if you would like to join me in my quest to make Christmas more meaningful and less stressful, why not head over and ‘like’ The Merry Little Christmas Project on Facebook right now?  I’ll be over there daily offering tips and resources to help make your Christmas (and mine!) more organized, fit your budget, and well…MERRY…of course. 🙂

This year I want to celebrate Christmas WELL.

Won’t you join me?

Check out more posts in my “Merry Little Christmas” series here.