The Elf Blog

Christmas Countdown - 7 Months!

Christmas is seven months from today! I'm already excited! Remember: the purpose of the Christmas countdown is to help you prepare. If you follow the countdown, when Christmas Eve rolls around, you'll be relaxed and ready to celebrate.

Here are the things you should begin working on over the next few months:

• Keep updating your Christmas card list. (If you don't have one, make one.) Summer is a big time for moves and marriages, so it's helpful to keep the addresses current.

• If you plan to make gifts, now is a very good time to start. You can do a little at a time and still finish. It’s a great thing to do on a rainy day at the beach.

• If you are vacationing (or traveling for business) this summer, be on the lookout for charming and unusual gifts for those you love. I've bought some of my favorite gifts at little boutiques I've visited on my travels.

• Have a conversation with family about where you will celebrate the holidays. As soon as that is decided, make any travel arrangements needed. The earlier you book a plane flight, the better price you’ll get and the more choices you’ll have.

• Make a budget for the holidays. I tend to look at Halloween through New Year's. It should include all aspects of your celebration: gifts, travel, food, entertainment, decorations, cards and postage, etc. If you have not already started saving to cover these costs, start now. You should never go into debt to celebrate the holidays. Having a budget and saving throughout the year will allow you to keep control of your spending while prioritizing the things that mean the most to you.

Just in Time for Mother's Day

I thought it would be a good idea to do a review of basic rules of gift-giving:

-- Buy what the recipient wants, not what you wish she wanted.

-- The thought really does count. An expensive gift that does not reflect her personality will be less welcome than a well-chosen inexpensive gift.

-- Do not get someone a gift to "improve her" unless you know it's someting she really wants. So a gym membership is probably a bad idea if she's never mentioned it, but two sessions with a running coach for someone preparing for herfirst half-marathon is OK.

-- Small luxuries are always welcome and generally make a better gift than something practical.

-- When in doubt, the gift of an experience (a spa day, a concert, an exhibition, etc.) is always a good choice.

Christmas Countdown -- 8 months

Christmas is 8 months from today! Here are some things you can do now to help you be better prepared in December.

Rememeber, our goal is that you have a low-stress December so that you are able to enjoy the holidays. Ideally, by Christmas Eve, you spend the day playing in the snow before coming inside to watch a Christmas movie while drinking hot cocoa and eating Christmas cookies.

•As you travel, think about picking up small unique gifts from local shops. I've bought some of my best presents at little boutiques I stopped by on my way to a meeting.

•If you like to make gifts, now is a great time to start thinking about what you'll make and to gather supplies. You can even begin your crafting.

•Spring is a time for graduations and weddings and moves. Make sure you update your Christmas card list.

•A rainy spring day is a great time to plow through your holiday recipe file, highlighting the keepers and discarding the ones you don't like. Youi can even spend some time looking for healthier versions of family favorites!

What else can you do now to prepare?

The Question of Regifting

Every Christmas, the question arises: Is regifting acceptable?

My answer:  Of course it is, as long as you follow a few basic rules.

1. With the exception of vintage collectibles, antiques, and family heirlooms, anything you regift should be new.
2. A re-gift should be re-wrapped (with special care to remove any tags).
3. You should re-gift only when you know that the new recipient will really enjoy the gift.
4. Never re-gift unless you are 100% sure of who gave you the gift originally.  Nothing is worse than giving someone back the gift he gave you.
5. Re-gift into a different social circle.  If you want to re-gift the sandwich maker Aunt Bev gave you, give it to Charlie at work.  If you aren't a fan of the scarf your friend Bentley gave you, you can re-gift it to your cousin. Like that.

Always remember, it really IS the thought that counts, so put some thought into it!  Even re-gifts.

A Big Weekend

This is the last full weekend before Christmas so, for most people, it's the last large block of non-work time to prepare. Unfortunately, that means that stores (department, grocery,big-box, boutique, etc.) will be packed this weekend. Unless you can get to a store at an off hour (like grocery shopping at 6 a.m.), I recommend avoiding stores this weekend.

If you haven't finished your shopping yet, many online retailers are offering free shipping or shipping upgrades through midnight tonight. Give yourself a break and finish your shopping online.

Even better, use this weekend to make Christmas preparations at home:

• Finish your decorating. Wrap everything you have purchased.
• If you still have gifts to ship, pack them for shipment (but avoid the post office lines on Saturday!)
• Prepare cookie doughs that can be refrgerated or frozen as logs. Then you just slice and bake your homemade Christmas cookies.
• Finish your cards (if you haven't already!)
• Do a quick tidying and decluttering of the house so you are ready for guests.

And if you are finished? Sit back and enjoy the season.

As for me, I'll be hosting the Elf Extravaganza. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by!

Christmas Countdown - 2 Weeks

Christmas is two weeks from yesterday. You should be moving into end game on your preparations. By the end of this week:

• You should complete your shopping. You do not want to be in the stores this weekend. They will be packed with impatient people in bad moods.

• Ship any gifts that you cannot deliver personally. Shipping this week means shorter lines in the post office and less chance that you’ll have to pay expedited shipping charges.

• Finalize your menus for holiday meals and purchase all non-perishable ingredients.

• If you haven’t done your decorating, you at least need a timeline.

• Try to wrap the gifts you’ve already purchased.

• You want your Christmas cards to go out no later than December 20th.

• Follow the schedule you made weeks ago for baking, parties, and other biog events.

• Get into the habit of doing a quick tidy and declutter each day so the house will be prepared for folks to drop in.

• Keep some easy refreshments (chips, cheese and crackers, cocoa, wine, soda, sparkling water, etc.) on hand for guests who drop in.

You’re in the home stretch. If you’ve been following this countdown from the beginning, you should be just about ready for the holidays!

Christmas Countdown - (Less Than) 3 Weeks

It figures, I go away for a week and the blog gets a ton of visitors!

But better late than never.

Here’s your Christmas Countdown list for this week:

• Any gifts that need to be shipped have to go this week. If they are going outside the US, you're already pushing it.

• Finish up your cards and get them in the mail.

• Continue shopping. To avoid rush shipping charges or unexpected back orders, complete all online shopping.

• You might want to begin wrapping the presents you've bought.

• If you are hosting a party, confirm attendance and shop, cook, and bake.

• Decorations should be up this week (unless you keep to the German tradition of putting up the tree on Christmas Eve). You don’t have to do everything all at once. In fact, it can be very pleasant to do a little bit each day and slowly watch the house come alive with the spirit of Christmas.

• Decide what you will wear for your Christmas party, for Christmas Day, and for New Year's Eve. Drop off any necessary dry cleaning. Make necessary purchases. Even plan your accessories. It's not a bad idea to put the accessories in plastic bags and attach it to the clothing hanger with a clothespin (this hint is especially helpful if you have small children).

• Make final decisions on Christmas baking and on your major holiday meals so that you can begin purchasing the non-perishable ingredients.

Christmas Countdown - 6 Weeks

Six weeks from today is Christmas! (Deep breaths. It will be ok!)

From this point on, our preparations will intensify (with a bit of a break next week for Thanksgiving preparations and celebration.)

So here’s your task list for this week:

· If you are making gifts or decorations, keep working. Ideally, you will be finished by the end of November.

· On your master calendar for the season, schedule your major preparation tasks: parties, decorating, baking, wrapping, etc. Also, take the opportunity now to block out a few days to just relax at home with your loved ones, drinking cocoa and watching movies.

· Plan what you will do to decorate. If you need to purchase anything, you should do it now.

· If you haven’t already done so, start working on your cards. By the end of this month, you’ll want your cards to be purchased (duh) and addressed.

· Begin shopping. Any gift that needs to be shipped should be purchased by the end of the week. You do not want to pay shipping fees greater in value than the gift.

· Finalize any plans for entertaining during the holiday season – through New Year’s. If you are hosting, decide what the event will be, when it will be, who you will invite, and what you’ll need to prepare. If you want to go somewhere on New Year’s Eve, make reservations now.

· Decide what varieties of cookies you will bake. Make sure you have the proper pans, utensils, and ingredients, as well as an appropriate stock of parchment paper and storage containers.

· Check your stock of stamps, shipping materials, address labels, and wrapping supplies. Purchase anything you need. You do not want to be standing in line at the Post Office and have to go to the back of the line because your package doesn’t have the right tape.

I know this seems like a lot, bit much of it is just thinking through planning or taking little steps to accomplish tasks. Believe me, when you are not going insane the week of December 17^th, you’ll thank me.

Why Holiday Planning Scares Us: Part 3

Today I’ll look at the final major reason that I think folks are intimidated by celebrating the holidays.

Over the last few years, the number of “lifestyle” magazines, books, and television shows has grown exponentially. There are entire channels dedicated to home improvement, cooking, and lifestyle. Craft books are a growth genre in the publishing world.

While these are excellent resources (I learn a lot from them myself), they do create unrealistic expectations.

People feel like they’ve failed because they don’t have a perfectly set table with the perfect meal in the perfect house with the perfect family. Why bother putting thought into a gift if you don’t have time to handcraft your wrapping paper and gift tags? Why bother hosting a party if you don’t have matching serving trays for the hors d’ouevres? Why bake Christmas cookies if you don’t hand paint the frosting in perfectly rendered forms?

As much as I love watching these shows, I’ll be honest: There are less real than Kim Kardashian’s wedding! These shows (and the books and magazines) have large staffs, including specialists in each area (décor, cooking, various crafts, etc.). No one person is an expert in all these areas.

They also have far larger budgets than real people are ever likely to have. Who among us can afford to purchase a dozen turkeys so that only the prettiest is photographed for the magaizine cover? (And who would tolerate that waste even if we could afford it?)

Holding ourselves to unrealistic standards is the surest recipe for disappointment and it fuels the desire to avoid holiday preparations.

So here are your marching orders: Celebrate with the people you love. Do your best with what you have (both skills and goods). Remember, the point is to enjoy spending time with people – not to get ratings or newsstand sales. In truth, the mistakes and disasters will be the stories the family recounts for generations. Just celebrate – and let the chips (or the decorations) fall where they may.

Why Holiday Planning Scares Us -- Part 2

In today’s installment of why holiday planning is stressful, I want to look at the stress surrounding gift-giving. While crowded malls and credit card statements can cause stress, the root of the problem is far more basic.

Put simply, we are far too used to buying what we want when we want it.

I cannot tell you the numberof people who have said to me, “I don’t want anything for Christmas. When I want something, I just buy it for myself.” Then, when people do want to give you a gift, they typically fall back on gift cards or generic gifts that are unstaisfying and often wasted.

If we didn’t focus on our own immediate gratification, people would know what to get us. "Jill loves
Kelly Clarkson. I’ll get her Kelly’s new album." " Brad needs a new saute pan. I’ll get him one at that cute little gourmet shop."

Too bad. Brad and Jill already bought what they wanted.

So give people a break. Stop buying everything you want when you want it. You’ll save money and you’ll make everyone’s preparations easier.

I’ll get off my soapbox now. (It was a very thoughtful gift from Santa. Good thing I hadn’t bought one myself.)