The Elf Blog

Christmas Countdown - 3 Weeks

Christmas Eve is only 3 weeks away.  Here are this week's tasks:

• 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 so you can get them in the mail by December 12th. 
• Continue shopping.  To avoid rush shipping charges or unexpected back orders, complete all online shopping.
• If you want a quiet evening, especially if the weather is bad, 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).

Tackling Big Tasks

I apologize for no blog yesterday.  I decided to take a break and play with my recovering dog.  We will two posts today to make up for it.

The holiday season is filled with big tasks:  baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc.  Taken as a whole, it can be overwhelming.  It can really help to break tasks into smaller pieces:

• Don't try to do everything in one session if that's not how you prefer to work.  If you force yourself into a decorating or card-writing marathon, you'll make yorself hate the task and the last things you do will show a lack of care.
• Do combine tasks that allow you to take advantage of economies of scale.  For example, if you have to shell nuts for two different kinds of cookies, do them all at once since you'll develop a productive rhythm.  Similarly, it may help to make all the packaging bows in one sitting.
• If you break tasks into smaller pieces, you can divide them among people.  For example, in writing cards, even young children can take care of sealing envelopes and putting on stamps and stickers.  Older children can address cards.  Decoration can be divided up as well -- by room, by type of decoration, etc.
• if you can keep a task set up at a place in your house, it makes it easier to work on it for small mounts of time.  If you have to set up a craft project each time you want to work on it or get all the wrapping stuff out each time you want to wrap a gift, you'll find every reason to procrastinate.  If all you have to do is walk over to the desk where the stacks of cards are located, it's easy to write a note or two while you wait for dinner to cook.
• Never underestimate the value of seeing some progress.  When you can see that a piece of a task has been completed, it makes it easier to move on to the next.

So go out -- divide and conquer your holiday tasks.

A Productive Weekend

Basically, we have two weekends before the holiday season begins.  (The weekend before Thanksgiving is really the beginning.)  That means you have two weekends to set the stage.

If you'd like to start some shopping, that's not a bad idea.  There are Veterans' Day sales and the crowds will be less.

It's also good to spend some time doing a serious cleaning.  Do all the laundry, not just what you need to get through the week. Clean the guest room thoroughly.  Vacuum the baseboards and under the cushions and behind furniture.  Clean the fridge and freezer and cabinets, making as much room as possible.

Do whatever it takes to make sure that basic tidying can keep your house guest ready through the holidays.

Christmas Countdown -- 8 Weeks

Thanksgiving is 4 weeks away.  Christmas Eve is 8 weeks away.  (Well, that takes care of scaring you all for Halloween!)

In the last weeks, we've done master scheduling, made lists, and played catch-up.  This week, we focus on taking stock:

• Take stock of your hostess items -- serving platters, fancy table linens, good china and silver, etc.  Does the silver need to be polished?  Do the linens need to be laundered or ironed or replaced?
• Take stock of your cooking and baking supplies.  Do you have enough cookie sheets?  Storage tins?  What cooking and baking basics do you have on hand:  broth, flour, nuts, sugar, vanila, almond extract, spices, baking powder, colored sugars, etc.?
• Take stock of your Christmas cards.  If you bought them in the after-Christmas sales last year, find them.  Make sure you have enough. Also, check your stock of address labels.  Holiday stamps are available at the post office, so you can pick them up at your convenience.
• Take stock of your wrapping supplies: paper, boxes, tissue, tape, ribbons, bows, and gift tags.
• Take stock of your decorations so you'll know if anything needs to be repaired or replaced.

By the end of the week, you should know where you stand so you'll be ready to move forward.  That's the goal.

Stopping the Yo-Yo

Sorry about the lack of blog yesterday.  I had a problem with my Internet connection.  So there will be two today!

The last post looked at the problem of yo-yo scheduling.  Ok, now it has a cute little name.  But what do we do about it?

The first step is to look at how you spend your time.  What do you actually do in a day? (Write things down if you have to.  The results may surprise you,)  If you are doing too much to allow sufficient relaxation, you'll need to make some cuts:

• Are you doing anything that you don't need to do?  If so, that's the first thing to go.
• Are there things you are doing that are neither important nor necessary?  If so, those can go.  There is nothing wrong with telling people no.  Just practice these phrases:  "I'm sorry.  I won't be able to help with that project.  Please ask me the next time."  or "That sounds like such a lovely event.  I'm so sorry I won't be able to attend." 
• Is there a short-term short cut?  For example, you have an incredibly busy week ahead.  Can you pick up a roasted chicken and some sides rather than cooking?  Drop off shirts at the dry cleaner rather than doing laundry and ironing?
• Can you get help? Unless you live alone or there is a disability issue, you shouldn't be doing it all yourself.  Even a child can learn to make his own bed, put away her toys and clothes, gather recycling, etc. The older a child gets, the more responsibility he or she should have.  A high school student can do some of the laundry and cooking.  Yes, I know they have extra-curricular activities and homework.  Are they learning how to balance their schedules?  If not, how will they survive college or the work force when everything depends on them? 
• Can it be less than perfect? Here's something Martha will never tell you.  Not everything has to be top quality all the time.  Sometimes good enough is good enough.  You can not iron the parts of a shirt that no one will see.  Or you can close the doors to rooms that aren't guest ready.  Or you can buy snack for soccer practice instead of baking.  Life will go on. 

In the long run, a peaceful spirit will create a more pleasant memory than perfection.

Christmas Countdown -- Three Months To Go

Christmas Eve is three months from today.  That means it's time to kick the Christmas countdown into high gear. 

Within the next month, you need to complete the following tasks:

• Make your holiday travel arrangements.
• If you are throwing a party, let folks know to save the date.
• Update your Christmas card address list.
• Build your Christmas gift list.  You don't have to start shopping yet, but you should at least decide who you'll be shopping for.
• If you plan to make gifts or decorations, purchase all craft supplies and start work, if possible.
• Pull out your holiday recipe file and start narrowing down the ones you want to try.
• Make room in the cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer for the holiday surplus.
• Finalize your holiday budget and make sure you know where the money is coming from.  If you don't have enough saved, you need to reduce the budget.
• Stop buying things you don't absolutely need.  Put them on your Christmas list instead.

the sooner you start, the higher the chances that three months from today, you'll be cosily esconced in a chair, drinking hot cocoa, eating homemade cookies, and watching a Christmas movie -- not making a mad dash through the mall only to come home to defrost the turkey with a hair dryer before pulling an all-nighter to finish crafts and wrapping.

Organizing with Martha

Martha Stewart has created a series of brief videos about various topics (organizing, cooking, crafting, decorating, etc).  I can access them through Comcast On Demand.  They change seasonally, so right now, we have Halloween and fall videos available.  Since they are about 10 minutes each, I'll often watch them when I'm waiting for a television show to start.

Last week, I watched her video about organizing a closet. Now, the sample closet she was using is bigger than my bathroom and I really don't need to hear her wax poetic on her favrite clothes, but she did present some good ideas that real people can use.

• When possible, wooden hangers are best for clothes.  (Particularly delicate clothes may benefit from padded or cloth-covered hangers.)  You can often find them for very reasonable prices at big-box or outlet stores.  For $20, you can get hangers that will last you a lifetime.
• If you are going to accessories like shoes or purses in plastic boxes, you have to label them.  Otherwise, you'll drive yourself nuts, though clear boxes can minimize the damage!
• It's smart to store together those items that you use together.  For example, keep shoe polishing supplies in the same closet as your shoes. Keep mending supplies with your clothes so you can repair a button or a hem.  Keep lint rollers, pillers, etc. right in the closet. If you have to play hide and go seek for what you need, you are less likely to actually complete the task.
• One of Martha's best ideas was to keep a small metal box in her closet to store all the extra buttons that come with sweaters, suits, etc.  She just tosses in the whole packet, after writing on the outside what garment the button belongs to. (She also keeps a needle and thread in this box so it's all handy.) This is such an obvious hint that I can't believe it never occurred to me.  When I do my fall cleaning, I plan to gather all my extra buttons from hither and yon and put them in a single box.

Do you have organizing hints you'd like to share?