Welcome! Each week I think out loud as I’m planning and invite you to eavesdrop.

Here is the week I hope to have:

12.11.22 – 12.17.22

• 11th – Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
• 11th – National Christmas Tree Lighting CBS
• 16th – Ugly Christmas Sweater Day
• 16th – last day of homeschool before break, set up the Lego Christmas stuff
• 17th – So Bad It’s Good Christmas Movie Day a day for junk food and the extra cheesiest movies

First things first …

• What is essential? What should I reschedule or omit?
• What do I need help with? What can I delegate?
• Where can I cut corners or compromise?The goal is to take care of my home and family without running myself into the ground.

To Do / Enjoy / Remember:

• I am doing housework this week and next week in “minimum maintenance” mode – essentials like dishes, floors, cooking, and laundry only
• Change the letter board
• Organize kitchen tools, serving items, cookie and treat storage, holiday linens “set the stage”
• Tip service providers
• Conduct a mental walk-through of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and make sure I’ve got what we need (nothing strict, just a loose plan so I can make sure I haven’t missed anything)
• Finalize plans for my birthday
• Finalize Winter Solstice dinner plans
• Double check the master grocery list. Check the sales. Check the budget. Any changes to the menu I need to make? I know this is a tricky year for many of us. Let’s be gentle on ourselves and maybe this is the year we lower some of our expectations? We can do this!
• Finish up any homemade gifts and holiday knitting
• Mix up and freeze more cookie dough for baking with the kids next week
• Hand out holiday cards we are hand-delivering (teachers, coworkers, neighbors)
• Wrap gifts as they are finished or purchased. Almost there!
• Wrap some of the stocking stuffers
• Household administration: bill paying, budget balancing, and any other routine items that need checked off so we can focus on the fun stuff next week. December is a month I find easy to lose track of the days, so this is an important one for me.
• The forecast here looks a bit concerning for the upcoming week and the long range December forecast does, too. Without going into panic mode, I want to make sure we have what we need, just in case of stormy and / or snowy weather. Maybe we will get a white Christmas?
• One night of peace, quiet, pampering, nothing at all to do with Christmas. We have three holiday events this week plus regular practice and clubs. I have one free night and I’m guarding it with my life! Ha!
• My college kid will be home soon! Prep the space and make it welcoming.
• Update Roku screensaver – I use family photos
• Is there anything from the past few weeks to catch up on? It’s just about time to start letting things go and settling in to enjoy the fruits of our labor, babies. I’m so proud of us!

I plan to put up my feet and knit along to …

• Holiday Baking Championship
• Christmas Cookie Challenge
• Gingerbread Showdown
• The Prep and Landing specials
• The Polar Express
• The Grinch
• The Frasier Christmas episodes dvd (Amazon affiliate link)
• Holiday Inn (1942)
• Jingle All the Way (for So Bad It’s Good Christmas Movie Day)
• the super cheesiest of Hallmark holiday movies all week long

This is a good time of year to bookmark the Christmas TV Schedule site.

My current influences:

• Martha Stewart’s monthly calendars from her magazine (no longer in print).
• Alison May’s Brocante Home website and online community as well as her seasonal home books.
• Frasier. Yes, the television show from the 1990s. From time to time I share images from my Frasier Book, a pandemic project I started in 2020. Feel free to make fun of me, it is absolutely ridiculous.

Let’s be kinder than necessary this holiday season. (But with firm boundaries, okay babies? With firm boundaries.) Be brave. Be kind. Keep going.