Happy Monday! 

I hope you had a great weekend. Tj is finally home again after traveling for most of the past month. Hopefully, he doesn’t get any jet lag and adjusts back to Melbourne time pretty quickly. He went to bed at 6:00 pm on Sunday, so as long as he can sleep through the night, he should be fine.

It’s nice to have Tj back, but I am also enjoying all the goodies he brought from back home. My mom spoiled us with lots of treats and my girlfriends even got organized and sent all their Christmas gifts for our girl’s Christmas so I have them to open on Christmas morning (so thoughtful!). Unfortunately, one of the items got confiscated by Australian customs. Tj claimed it and his bag got searched, but luckily he didn’t get fined haha. 

Once upon a time when I lived in Toronto, the weekend after Halloween was when I would put up my Christmas tree and decorations. I love Christmas, and I love getting in the Christmas spirit nice and early in the season.

Last year I wrote about getting in the holiday spirit and how to enjoy the hectic holidays.

You might think early November is way too early, but we are now less than two months until Christmas. There are some things you can start doing now to help you feel ready for the holidays. I love watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music, so the last thing I want is to be scrambling around trying to get things done and miss the moments I like to enjoy. 

Today I am going to share some of the things I do to around this time of year ensure I feel organized and prepared for the holiday chaos.

1. Christmas Cards

I make a list of who I want to send Christmas cards to, so I can see how many cards I need to buy, make sure I have everyone’s current addresses, and stock up on stamps. I find mail usually takes about 3 weeks when I send it from Australia, therefore I want to get my cards out in the mail by late November/early December. If I start in the next week or so, I can do a few cards at a time so I don’t feel overwhelmed.

2. Christmas gift list

I make a list of who I want to buy for, and any ideas I have of what to get them. It’s good to think about this early so that:

• I can look for things I want to buy on sale, especially around Black Friday

• I buy things I think people will like rather than just buying for the sake of buying

• I can make a budget. If I know things I want to buy that won’t likely go on sale, I can pick them up now and ease the financial burden later

3. Christmas baking

I make another list of all the recipes I want to bake and start picking up ingredients. Then I have everything at hand for when I feel like baking. I can pop them into the freezer for eating later (note this is the complete opposite of my mother who likes to do like 20 recipes over the course of 2-3 days - I think that’s how she gets in the holiday spirit! That would never fly in my teeny tiny kitchen though).

4. Upcoming events

I like to look into upcoming holiday events in my city so that I can mark on my calendar when there is something I want to try. For example, in Melbourne, the orchestra is playing the music to Christmas movies such as Home Alone and Love Actually. In the past, Tj and I have gone to see the Nutcracker ballet, or to different Christmas markets. I’d hate to miss out on something I would really love because I heard about it too late.

5. Plan for myself

This seems contradictory to the Christmas spirit, but especially when things get crazy, it’s nice to treat yourself a little. So I like to book a hair appointment and maybe a massage or a pedicure. It’s also useful to think about things that I might want or need for Christmas (because even if I say I’m a minimalist and I don’t need anything) it’s good to have a few ideas for when people ask.  

Hmm… seems like I like to make a lot of lists LOL.

My final message is that this is the time of year you stop buying anything for yourself (for me this means no new books!). There are some people (I’m looking at you Tj) who are very particular and hard to buy for. So I ask that he doesn’t buy anything for himself and instead lets me get it for him. That way I am at least sure he will like one thing I got him (although trust me, this method has backfired before haha). 

Have a great week :)