Hassel-Free Holiday Week 2!

It’s begun, Da, da, da, dum, toodle-lou da do... The Final Countdown.

Last week I focused on collecting information for my mailing list. I’m about done making sure it’s current and should definitely have it done this week.

I also made a go at a simple quick Christmas picture, but who was I fooling. There is no way on earth I can take a simple quick picture of all my kids at the same time. The odds are greater that I’d win the lottery than get that perfect family picture. So today I just tried for the normal goof picture. How’s this? We Double-Dog Dare you to have a Merry Christmas!

Don’t worry - I probably will make another go next weekend at a more suitable holiday portrait – providing the weather stays reasonable. And maybe I’ll luck out and not dress my boys in the exact same shirts that they wore in our Christmas picture last year.

I don’t think they have wore those fetching clothes since last year either – maybe that’s why they looked halfway decent and devoid of stains. I still want to get a really nice family picture (might need to recruit a friend who either looks funny or can entertain my picky rag-a-muffins, so the picture won’t look like a torture session. But if I do a newsletter I think this here little snapshot might be o.k.

Here are some more pages for the Holiday Planner. Just click on the page and through the wonder of my husband's computer genius you'll be taken to a PDF file that you can print for your own planner. Thanks Honey! Or you can go to my other work in progress to see all the holiday pages at once.

The first one is a little Holiday Countdown To-Do List that would be perfect to start in January or even the day after Christmas this year in order to have the Ta-Da Holiday you’ve always dreamed of. I put this behind my Calendar in the Calendar section of my book.

This next little page is where you can keep track of your gift orders, be they internet or catalog.

I’ve also included a little Holiday Tradition worksheet for you to write down some of your family’s favorite traditions. Once I’ve written those precious memories down then go out and start collecting them. In my planner I have copies of the poem ‘A Night Before Christmas,’ I also have copies of some strange ritual my husband brought to us from his home and that is the famous reading of the poem ‘The Cremation of Sam Mcgee’. Yes, there are strange things done in the Midnight Sun but the queerest you ever did see… our kids get this morbid little ditty spouted off to them every Christmas Eve.’ No wonder they need therapy.

Here’s yet another page for your Holiday Planner but I’m not really doing anything with it before Christmas. It’s for after when I pack everything up. That way at any time I can find any Christmas bauble I want and I’ll know just which numbered box it’s stored in.

So this week for Christmas - Here’s is what’s on the To-Do List for, yours and mine, Ta-Da Christmas.

1. Gather poems and favorite holiday recipes to copy for my Holiday Planner. I’ve already got my poems but I’m looking to replace some of my Holiday Recipes with similar but healthier options. Some things are too sacred to fiddle with so the Danish Rice Pudding Recipe will not change. But I’m hoping to find a reasonable Thanksgiving Dressing or Christmas punch substitute.

2. Then I’m going to really tackle my bedroom closet (THE GIFT CLOSET) I know I bought some stuff last year on clearance after the holiday’s, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. So I’m going to do a little digging to find out.

3. Then I’m going to start compiling a Christmas Wish List on my Christmas Gift page (in pencil of course)

4. Oh, and finish finding those mailing addresses.