For the past few years, I have ascribed to my own little rule about Christmas – have everything wrapped and done by December 1. I’ve mentioned it briefly here and there but I’ve never really gone into detail about it, so I thought it was past due to let y’all in on my little secret to enjoy Christmas without the stress of getting anything done last minute!
How to Prepare for Christmas Early
What does it mean to prepare for Christmas early?
The short answer is to have everything for Christmas done before December 1 even hits. That means all of your decorations put out, all of your gifts purchased, wrapped, and under the tree (or hidden for Santa to deliver), all of your meals planned, all of your travel finalized, and all of your schedule lined out so you can do the things you want to do during the Christmas season because all the things you have to do are already finished.
Christmas is hectic, there is no doubt about that. Planning, shopping, buying, wrapping, hiding, traveling, cooking, visiting, cleaning, partying… all in a 3-4 week period… is enough to land anyone in a straight jacket. I really enjoy removing some of the have to stuff so that when the opportunity to do something fun comes up, like a drive thru Christmas experience or a last minute get-together, I don’t have to pass on it because I still have people to shop for.
In short, because of my personality type (I’m a seven on the Enneagram), I want to get all the boring, not-fun stuff out of the way so that when the fun, exciting stuff comes up I don’t have to miss out and have FOMO. Plus, it just really feels good to actually relax and slow down to enjoy all the Christmas type things, like watching a Christmas movie in front of the fire, and not be multi-tasking and wrapping gifts or decorating the tree while you’re doing it.
Why should I prepare for Christmas early?
Several years ago, right after Chris and I got married, I realized that the Christmas/Advent season for a pastor, and therefore a pastor’s wife, is insane. If you didn’t know, my husband is a pastor in the United Methodist Church and together we have served at four different churches. High, holy seasons and days are like the big game for clergy and sometimes take weeks and weeks of prep work, late nights at the church, and lots of time spent away from home. It took me no time at all to see that if I wanted to actually enjoy all the things that come with not only Christmas, but Advents as a pastor’s wife, I would need to start prepping for things MUCH earlier than the day after Thanksgiving.
(Advent is the season that comes before Christmas in the church calendar when we prepare for the arrival of Baby Jesus. It is the four Sundays before Christmas and typically starts the first Sunday in December)
The other reason I enjoy doing this is because it spreads the work and the money out considerably. Instead of spending a lot of time and a lot of money in a very short period of time, I can actually take my time, adjust things here and there, wait for a better deal or decide I don’t have the desire to travel there this year, without feeling rushed and stressed. Think of how much weight would be off your chest if you woke up on December first and didn’t have to shop online or go to a store. Just that alone is worth it for me! I rarely feel rushed into buying a gift that feels too expensive or superfluous just because “OMG IT IS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND I HAVEN’T GOTTEN THIS PERSON SOMETHING YET”. I’ve been thoughtful in my gift giving and with my budget, so I feel almost zero stress when it comes to that particular area.
When it comes to things like my schedule, parties, traveling, etc., I need to be able to budget for all of these things at the beginning of the month anyways. I have a little slush fund in our Christmas budget in case we need it, but otherwise I like to have money set aside for all these things and that requires planning for them in November, not as they come in December. If we are entertaining, I also want my house to feel welcoming and festive, so getting all of that set up early means I’m not rushing to do it right before the guests arrive to the party.
I guess the short answer is – I will do anything and everything in order to make the holidays more fun and enjoyable, alleviate my stress, and be a good pastor’s wife & mom in the process!
How do I prepare for Christmas early?
Ahhhhh now that is the magical question. I’m sad to say, you’re probably not going to like the answer because it doesn’t work for everyone. Here is a quick bullet list of how to make it happen:
- Think about Christmas all year round
- Set a Christmas budget right after Christmas this year and stick to it. (Find my Christmas budget planner here)
- Have conversations with your family about Christmas and travel plans.
- Shop for presents all year round & wrap them/hide as soon as you get home if you can (Find my seamless wrapping tutorial here)
- Plan meals and shop early for ingredients you can store in the freezer. Keep a running grocery list of what you need on the fridge
- Keep a calendar where everyone can see it with events and parties. Check it and fill it in with new engagements immediately.
It takes a lot of planning and I basically never stop thinking about a Christmas wish list, gift list, budget, and what we need to make it all happen. Year round, when I see something or think of something someone would like as a gift, I write it down (or sometimes purchase it!). We put money into a Christmas fund every month and save it up/use it to shop throughout the year for gifts. I bring up “what are we doing for next Christmas” at family dinner this Christmas so we can at least have an idea of who is going where, with whom, and when.
Starting in October, I start putting some plans in motion for shopping, wrapping, and travel. How much are we spending on each person? Who are we buying gifts for? What is Jett getting for Christmas? What are we asking for for Christmas? I take a look at the running list (I keep it in my notes app on my phone) and start watching for good sales to come along where I can buy some of the higher priced things. I watch for sales at the grocery store on anything I can keep on hand in the freezer to start stocking up on for big meals. It is honestly just constantly thinking, can we use this? Can I hide it? Can we afford it? Do we want to do this? Does it need to be done before or after December 1?
I feel like I am starting to get a bit off subject here, ha! Reigning it back in and bringing it full circle – anything I can finish before December 1, I do. Anything I can’t, I schedule a time to make it happen. Anything I don’t want to do, I either hire someone else to do it or don’t do it at all. That leaves me time and energy for doing only the things I want to do, and that makes me VERY happy!
What questions do you have for me? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer them for you! What about you – are you going to be wrapped & done by December 1 this year? There is still plenty of time to make it happen!
