christmas organization - getting it together

how are your organization skills? is planning your thing? are you good at it?

me - i'm a planner slash list-maker. i live by the list. in fact, i practically have a list of the lists. problem is, sometimes i'm not so good at it. sometimes i forget the list. or i lose the list. or i have plans for a list, but forget to make the list.

seriously, i'm not so bad at it, but i can tell you this... i don't plan like i used to.
these days i "selectively" plan. (sounds like a sister to selective memory, right?)
i plan what i have to, and hopefully don't miss any of those "have to's" if i'm lucky.

the christmas holiday is one of those things that i normally plan. i've tried different methods... kept lists, filled binders with ideas, made advent calendars... i've just plain filled the family calendar with all sorts of activities and traditions. none of these "methods" has stuck with me for very long.

back in 2006, when my youngest child was a mere 7 years old, he surprised me by giving me a lovely red journal for christmas. the truly wonderful thing about it was, although it wasn't on my christmas list, i really did need a journal to record all of our christmas traditions, activities, and gift giving. a christmas journal... it was perfect!

just last week i was wondering about last christmas, trying to remember the details of what we did, gifts we got our boys... that sort of thing. it also occurred to me that i was frantically searching for the perfect size christmas tins at the last minute. why was i doing that? did i write it down? i may still make my lists and write things on the calendar, but i confirm everything we did in that journal. it's my memory on paper.

so i pulled out my handy, dandy, christmas journal to see just what i'd done last year.

much to my dismay, i DID NOT RECORD CHRISTMAS 2010!
WHAT THE HECK? this just threw me into a tailspin.

HOW am i going to remember what i did last year?
WHAT did i need those tins for?
SURELY i needed them for a good reason - but what was it?
WHATEVER will i do????

{i fully realize the insignificance of the little things i obsess about, but this is how my mind works}

now, to remember all the details from an entire year ago. ouch.

to make things worse, last christmas was weird. i didn't plan anything new and we didn't stick to any of our previous plans. we didn't put up a tree - we were just.that.lazy. we thought that as long as the boys didn't care, we wouldn't even bother with getting it out. what's the likelihood that two people as lazy as us would have kids that weren't just as lazy? yep, we pretty much had that deal sealed from the start.

honestly, that is what happens when i don't plan. if we don't have plans or a schedule to follow, the bare minimum gets done. we would all just be blobs on the sofa or in front of the computer screens. nothing deliberate, nothing intentional.

so right now, i'm getting a leg-up on the plans. i'm not going to over-commit, but i'm going to put in an effort. i've got my christmas to-do list started and already have some plans in the works. i'm even thinking of braving a christmas-gift-list-less year. yep... no christmas lists.

this could be the new me... live dangerously, but with a plan.


*if you're thinking about planning and would benefit from an actual christmas planner, check out these cute diy christmas planners.