Chel’s Holiday Plan… the Questions

Here goes… This is how I get started.

1. Make a list of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s traditions (one list for each holiday) that you enjoy. Each person in the family names his or her favorite two holiday traditions or activities. Add those to the list. Don’t let the list exceed 10 items (unless your family’s that big).

Now, this is your immediate family. If you’re having extended family visit, and you want to include them, great. If not, they can play along with your choices, right? (Personal disclosure… I’m struggling right now with the fact that my family has invited themselves to both Thanksgiving and Christmas without asking if that’s ok with us, and I know already that they’ll expect things to be done a certain way, which isn’t really OUR way. And I’m going to spend some time trying to decide how best to handle this for everyone.)

2. Make a list of holiday traditions that you hate. Go on, be honest. Ask each family member if there’s any one thing that ya’ll have done in the past that they don’t enjoy. Add those to the list. (I’m not saying you HAVE to throw something out, but this is a good way to get in touch with what your family really likes and dislikes.)

You’re not going to be able to avoid everything that everyone hates, unfortunately, but this will give you an idea of what activities are going to necessitate a friendly holiday bribe. I figure it’s good to know those things in advance.

3. Make a list of activities you’d like to do during the holiday season…watch the Macy’s Day Parade, watch football, eat too much, go caroling, attend an Advent service at a church, drive around after dark looking at lights, rent holiday movies. There’s no end to this. It’s a fluid list. As your family grows and ages and changes, the list will change, too, though I think you’ll find some things will remain year after year.

4. Make a list of people to whom you’d like to send Christmas cards. List anyone and everyone. You’ll be paring down later. Think about whether you want a photo card or a plain store-bought card with a photo inserted or a card you design yourself. Consider if you’d like to say, ’screw cards.’ It’s a fine thing to say every now and then. (I even once said I would only send cards to people who sent them to me, but that was a particularly unhappy season for me.) Decide if you want to make your own cards.

5. Make a list of all of the people on your gift list. Include everyone you can think of… family, friends, teachers, etc. This is the BIG list from which you can cut.

6. Make a list of charities you’d like to donate time or resources to this season.

7. Make a list of your favorite holiday foods. Let each person add to the list. Be sure to include one take-out or dine-out meal! I’ve got several foods that I only make between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and my family is already talking about some of them.

After each list is complete, I keep each around and rest for a few days before tackling the how-tos of making the holidays happen for us. Just answering the first few questions put us all in a cheerful state of mind.

Eliza’s first Christmas. Griff was five and she was two and half months.

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