Prioritizing at Christmastime

"It's the most wonderful time of the year

With the kids jingle belling

And everyone telling you 'Be of good cheer'

It's the most wonderful time of the year 

It's the hap-happiest season of all

With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings 

When friends come to call 

It's the hap-happiest season of all."

--Edward Pola and George Wyle (1963)

It is!  We LOVE the Christmas season in our household!  We love everything about it...decking the halls, Christmas music blasting from our playlists and carols being played on the piano, baking and feasting, sending and receiving Christmas cards, hosting our annual party, present wrapping...you name it, we love it all!  And, yes, like most families, we can sometimes get overwhelmed at all there is to do.  A little prioritizing is necessary to keep the household and Christmas preparations running smoothly WHILE retaining our Christmas cheer.  I've been pondering the next few weeks and how this is going to happen, and these are my thoughts and plans for this year:

Top Priority Given to the Fundamentals:

- Spend time in the Word of God daily preparing my heart for the celebration of His Incarnation.

- Keep healthy.  Fresh air and exercise in the form of a brisk walk works off those holiday calories and lifts the spirits.  (The dog likes this priority!)  Go to bed at a reasonable time and get a good night's sleep.

Do First the Things That Make for Craziness When Done Last

There are some Christmas preparations that I just REALLY love doing!  One of those is making Christmas pajama bottoms for our kids for their Christmas Eve presents.

This is a precious tradition to me, and one our kids genuinely appreciate.  But the joy goes out of it, if I'm holed up in the sewing room, by myself, late at night, on Dec. 23rd, scrambling to get them done.  Not fun.  So, I'm going to joyfully work on these in the next week.

Another preparation I take such delight in is making gifts to ship to friends on the west coast.  Coming up with the idea, creating them, and packaging them is fun.  But again, not so fun, if I'm slapping them together as fast as I can to meet the Christmas shipping deadline.

Primarily, it's those two creative endeavors that I really enjoy when I'm not feeling rushed, but my joy is zapped if I wait until the last minute.  So, those are happening first this year.

Let Everything Else Fall in Place

Shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas card sending...all the rest always gets done, but doesn't make me feel stressed if it's happening at the last minute.  So, I'm going to focus on "peacefully going about the next thing".

Happy Christmas preparations to you!