Easy Ways to Plan Ahead for Christmas

The holiday race is on! Thanksgiving is only two days away, the stores are decked out with Christmas decorations, kids are already making their lists for Santa, and it will be 2009 before we know it.

Help save your sanity and enjoy the festive season more by giving yourself 20 minutes tonight to make a list of everything you have to do for the holidays. Then, schedule out when you'll do each task. Allow enough time for little emergencies that can come up such as sick children. (If you've ever had to shop with a sick child on your hip, you know it's not an enjoyable experience.) Try to complete your to-do list ahead of time instead of at the last minute so you'll avoid being rushed or panicked and will be better prepared to handle anything that might slow you down.

Writing down everything you need to do and knowing that each task has been designated a time will help you feel more in control of the potentially hectic holiday season. Being smart about how you plan out your tasks will not only allow you to complete them more successfully, but will make doing them more enjoyable and save you a lot of stress.

Easy Steps to a Happy Holiday:

1. Address your holiday cards early. If you're traveling for Thanksgiving, this is a great time to address cards and write personal notes while you're in the car or on a plane.

2. If you send out a family photo with your cards, take advantage of having a lot of relatives around during the Thanksgiving holiday and get someone to take a couple of photos of you your family. Typically, people are dressed nicely for Thanksgiving and it can be a perfect time to get a good shot. Just make sure to have someone take a lot of photos so you know that at least one will turn out the way you want.

3. Bake and freeze some cookies now that your kids can decorate later. This saves you time and helps accommodate the short attention span of most children when it comes time to decorate.

4. Make a list of all the people you to give gifts and write down any gift ideas or requests that have been made. (I have a list that I add to all year which makes shopping for the holidays even easier.) Don't forget your children's teachers, your hairdresser, etc.

5. Line out any special party or church clothes ahead of time so you won't have any emergency trips to the cleaners or have to buy something at the last minute that you don't really like.

6. Freeze foods now so that you can have meals ready during the busy weeks of Christmas.

7. Make a list of activities that you and your family might enjoy and schedule them for when your kids are on vacation from school. You need to have a game plan about what you and your children will do while they're out of school to help you all have more fun and keep your sanity.

8. Try to keep your kids' bedtime schedules as close to normal as possible. They need their sleep even more now with all the excitement of the holidays. Having them well rested not only helps them but it really helps YOU!