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This is a little embarrassing, but I just couldn’t let it go. You know that Holiday Guide I just published 12 days ago? Well, almost as soon as I posted it, I started re-doing it. The next thing on my blog to do list was to re-vamp other Holiday Printables that I’ve shared through the years. Ultimately, I realized I wanted to put all the printables together in one post to make things easier for everyone, myself included. I also wanted all the printables to have a more cohesive and simple to print look.
So yeah, here we are and here are a bunch of pages to help you feel organized this Christmas!
(Download Links are at the bottom of the post.)
Holiday Checklist & Calendar – I always think a checklist and a calendar go together because the checklist reminds you what to do and the calendar helps you plan out when to do it. Use the calendar to spread out your tasks at a tolerable pace instead of cramming everything in at the very last minute!
When approaching anything big, like preparing for Thanksgiving or Christmas, take the big overwhelming stuff and break them into little chunks that are easy to bite. There are obviously some tasks that are going to feel big no matter what, but you can break those into smaller and smaller pieces until it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. Making a plan is the best place to start.
Remind yourself that if things don’t bring you or your family a lot of joy – simplify! Yes, we are usually putting on the holiday for other people and not catering to ourselves, but if the stress sucks all the life out of us, we won’t have the happier and more patient version of ourselves to offer our family and friends. Maybe you feel obligated to do what you’ve always done in case you might disappoint someone, but chances are, you’re putting a lot of those feelings of obligation on yourself. Ask your people what matters most to them and it may surprise you.
Holiday Budget – This planning page will help you create a budget for the Holidays. You do not need to give your family a Christmas you can’t afford and go into the New Year completely broke. If finances are tough this year, focus on creating simple memories and you might be surprised at how much more meaningful the holiday feels when you ignore the commercial pressure to spend! Making a plan for your money will let you confidently spend what you’ve planned for and not feel out of control!
Our families will definitely remember our Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions more than a lot of the other things we do throughout the year, there’s just a lot of sentimental emotions attached to these holidays for good reason. These holidays are the times we are supposed to cast aside the world for a little while and be present with the people we love most. The best parts of Christmas take time, not money.
Errand Organizer – I designed this sheet years ago when I had a bunch of tiny children at home and my time to go out and run errands was very limited. I had to wait for my husband to be home and also not interrupt family time too much. I needed to use my time wisely, so I created this sheet to make my shopping and errands be super efficient. It definitely does the trick!
Gifting List & Gifting List for Parents – These pages include a page to plan all the gifts you need to think about this year. The first page is a general Gifting List where you can plan gifts for friends, neighbors, teachers, grandparents, the mail man, or anyone else. The second page is specifically for parents planning gifts and stocking stuffers for their children.
Holiday Meal Planner & Shopping List – These two pages are so useful for Thanksgiving! I have used these sheets every year for more than a decade and I truly can’t imagine going back to any other way. Sometimes the stress we feel creating big meals is because it seems like we should be doing everything at once. Scheduling out cooking and baking tasks is a game changer. Plan your menu, and then make a plan for creating each thing. On the actual day, you already did the hard part of thinking everything through and now you just need to work through the list! Easy peasy!
Letter to Santa – This might not feel like an organizing printable, but hear me out … how many times has a kid right before Christmas declared “I can’t wait to get a _whatever_ for Christmas!” and you’re in shock, because you are already finished Christmas shopping and you didn’t even know they wanted a __whatever__. You can’t really plan Christmas gifts for your kids without finding out what they want first! That’s why this is an organizing printable and you can’t convince me otherwise, lol.
Holiday Planning Guide Downloads
- Download the entire Holiday Planning Guide.
- Download just the Checklist & Calendar.
- Download the Holiday Meal Planner.
- Download the Budget Sheet, Gifting Lists, and Errand Organizer.
- Download the Letter to Santa.
Often, we are so used to holidays being stressful, we don’t realize it doesn’t have to be that way.
We can make holidays great without all the stress. The two best things we can do to avoid the holiday frazzle is to simplify and plan ahead.
One way I’ve personally been combatting the feeling of Holiday overwhelm is decluttering our Christmas Decor a little more each year. I’ve got it down to just the stuff that my family and I really love. I even downsized our tree to a much smaller tree! The Christmas stuff we display is meaningful, not just extra clutter to fill every nook and cranny. This has helped me tremendously with the mental load.
I believe we will show up as better versions of ourselves if we aren’t overwhelmed, stressed, and frazzled. Tough year financially? Skip Christmas cards. Feeling too busy? Skip some events and focus on the simple times together at home. If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably the person in charge of making this holiday better for your whole family. Take the opportunity to really think things through and choose what is meaningful. Ultimately, you get to decide how frazzled you’re going to get this year. And I hope you pick not at all!
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Planning!
From my home to yours,
Mary
Just for Fun
One of our favorite things to do in the week leading up to Christmas is a family puzzle or two. The kids and I pick a new puzzle up from the store and we do it in the days leading up to Christmas. This forces us to slow down, spend time just sitting and chatting, and making simple but great holiday memories together. I started this tradition for myself, to pull myself out of the Christmas rat race, but over the last few years my kids start talking about it before I do and have been pushing us to get started on our puzzle. I think they like this time with me and my husband. Maybe puzzles isn’t the thing for your family, but something will be. And when you aren’t stressed to the max, that’s when you’ll find it.
Now, zoom in to see Cookie’s little mugshot. I’m literally laughing while I type this. It won’t ever not be funny.
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