As crazy as it sounds I’ve noticed some of you are already starting to plan for Christmas. Very impressive! I have to admit that I don’t give Christmas much thought until at least November however I’ve even gotten a few emails from some of my readers about resources. I did a little snooping around and thought I’d share what I found for all you eager beavers out there.
Organized Christmas – check out their Christmas Countdown tab for a free six-week Christmas organizing plan
Holiday Grand Plan – an 18-week program to help you clean and organize your entire home for the holiday season
Blogging friend, Marcia, has written a 13-page Christmas Planner full of various checklists to help you simplify your Christmas planning
Two blogs I found dedicated to Christmas are here and here and I’m sure Lindsey will start up her Advent of Evangelicals blog again but if you haven’t seen it you can find plenty of resources there from last year to check out.
Well I hope some of you find that helpful. I’ve got a great system for making Christmas card writing relatively painless but I’m a one holiday at a time kind of girl so first I’ve got Thanksgiving and Halloween to get through! Although one thing to remember is that if you get Christmas portraits done make your appointments NOW for October in order to have them back in time.
89 days to go until Christmas!
How early (or late) do you start planning for the Christmas season?
Birdie says
I’m almost finished with Christmas shopping and crafting this year, but don’t give me TOO much credit. My main motivation has been that I’m due to give birth around Thanksgiving and just cannot see my husband and eldest two children taking care of it all! 😉
Katy says
Thanks for this! I start christmas shopping as soon as i have the money i need and the ideas to go with it to get good gifts LOL
ChupieandJ'smama says
I started and then I crashed. So I need to get going again. Thanks for all the tips 🙂
Pippi says
My immediate family exchanges names for Christmas, as does my husbands. We exchange names on Thanksgiving and I try to be done by the first week or two in december.
Xmas day is also my husbands birthday, he’s the big 3-0 this year so I have some plans in store for him!
Susanne says
I start the beginning of November. Mind you, I don’t make my own gifts or crafts so I’m sure you’d have to start now if you’re doing that.
Melody says
I am actually doing the Holiday Grand Plan however I started Christmas shopping around the end of July, beginning of August so I am ahead on that part anyway. It is the housecleaning part that is going to take most of my effort.
Rebecca says
I’ve already started making my lists of people we’ll be giving gifts to & coming up with ideas. I like to make some of my gifts and need to start early. Part of my family draws names which helps to cut the list down. This year I’ll be spending the holidays with my family so I need to start planning out my trip. I won’t be decorating my house but if I were I’d probably start that the week after Thanksgiving. Each year I buy ornaments & need to get my daughter a stocking because I didn’t get to it last year – she really didn’t mind since she was only a couple months old. So I’ve written up some lists & brainstormed ideas but no shopping has been done.
Ter says
The last couple of years, I’ve been making Christmas presents and I’ve already started making this years gifts. I would show a picture but some of the people who will get a gift from me read my blog so it might have to wait til January!
Ali says
for the past couple of yrs I’ve been slack and not even made Christams cards. This year I am starting them in the next couple of weeks, along with making some gifts. I always get the gift puchasing done before early December to avoid the busy shops.
Kin says
I’ve done all the kids Christmas presents. We don’t know where we’re going to be living at Christmas, so it’s just the day to sort out now. Oh and I got the Christmas decorations catalogue today, so I can start that soon (as long as I hide it from Hubby til November 😉
Laura @ Laura Williams' Musings says
Just wanted to give you a heads up that I have one of Marcia’s 13 page Christmas Planners up for giveaway on my blog (courtesy of Marcia).
Contest ends Monday, October 1st.
Click here for the giveaway
Overwhelmed! says
Oh yeah, I’m already thinking about Christmas and tryihg to plan everything out. Thanks for all the great liinks in this post, Laura!
Speaking of holidays…since you participated last year, I’m stopping by to let you know that I’m hosting a 2nd Edition of my Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style recipe exchange!
I hope you can join me again this year on 5 October. And, would you mind helping me to spread the word by publishing a post about my holiday recipe exchange before next Friday? I’d sure appreciate it! I have the button in my most recent post.
Thanks so much!
Debi says
Only 89?!! Sheesh…that’s just not enough!
Charity says
I started planning already because I am making most of the gifts for my extended family.
I was thinking about doing a post or two about my Christmas planning, but I thought it was too early. Now I see that I am not the only one, so I will have to work on those posts!
GiBee says
only 89 days??? GAH!
I usually try to pick up a little something here and there year round so I’m not stuck with a huge bill in December, but generally speaking, we begin to zone in on it in October. Lists begin, outlets are visited, crafts are started, baking lists are made, etc.
Several years ago, I created a little journal the size of a check book where I record every single gift I buy, and other important stuff (like sizes, fav colors, preferences, etc.) It has been a money, time, AND a life-saver!!!
Decorations don’t come out until the day after our thanksgiving celebration (in the US, not Canada).
Shannon says
I haven’t started shopping yet, but gift ideas are bouncing around in my head. I usually wait until after Halloween to get really going and by Thanksgiving I’m working on decorations. The whole month of December is ALL about Christmas for me – its my favorite time of year!
Stacey says
I start making things in about May. Then I begin shopping through the end of summer when awesome things are on sale! Can’t do this for our extended family, but it sure is nice to get done for the kiddos pretty early!
Multi-tasking Mommy says
Gosh, when you post how many days, it seems like it is coming up WAY too soon…I need to at least get past Thanksgiving!!!
Twisted Cinderella says
I have just started thinking about Christmas. I have a little extra money for the next couple of months, so this will be a good time to prepare.
Christina says
Ever soooooooo helpful!!!
THANK YOU…
MamaChristy says
So, Christmas is one of the things I’m most organized about. I would say I have about 65% of my crafting done for Christmas and about 50% of the rest of my gifts bought or planned. I have to be this way or I can’t get all of my crocheted items finished in time to ship for family and friends.
The really sad part? I just got a positive pregnancy test this morning and about 15 minutes later I was thinking about how I should start planning my crafting projects for next Christmas because I don’t know how adding a second child to my family will cramp my crochet style! There’s no such thing as too organized, right?
Org Junkie says
Congratulations MamaChristy!
Linsey says
I just found organizedchristmas on Monday. I spent 1/2 the day printing out my notebook and list making! I LOVE IT!! Already have my Christmas Card labels printed!
Thank you for the link to the Advent blog. I will e adding that to my Christmas list of things to do! 🙂
Oh and I have cleaned out the house this week. I don’t think there is anything else to throw away! lol I guess I was bitten by the bug!
ornery's wife of Miller Manor says
Check out my blog for this past week. My Christmas card making project is well under way!
I love your blog!
TM
Pamela Heywood says
Just wanted to say thank you for mentioning my Christmas Blog.
babean says
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing these links! Have a great day!