5 Things To Do Right Now To Get Ready For Christmas

It may be too early to do any actual decorating for Christmas, but now is the time to get ready for the holidays!  Avoid supply delays and shortages and stress-filled holidays by starting to prepare today.

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I know, I know, I know that it’s too early for the majority of us to start our Christmas decorating (we haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet!), but now is the time to be thinking ahead!

This is especially true this year because of the plethora of supply delays and shortages that are so prevalent right now. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I saw it coming and actually put my Christmas decorating plans for each room together in July and began ordering any new holiday decor items that I wanted in early August. And yes – I have run into delays and out of stock problems on some of my items.

Maybe you won’t be into decorating for a few more weeks, but if you’ll do a few things now, you’ll have a merry Christmas instead of a harried and stressful Christmas!

Christmas Checklist

By the way, I have a handy Christmas decorating timeline available that will guide you through decorating your home (from planning to fully decorated) in 3 weeks. My Christmas checklist planner will allow you to create a festive home by breaking the process down into weekly manageable steps. I’m happy to make it available to my newsletter subscribers for free! Get it by clicking HERE.

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MAKE A MASTER PLAN FOR EACH ROOM

I’m doing something new this year that I’ve never done before and I’m excited by how much time it has already saved me!

I simply created a Word document for each room in my home that I will be decorating and listed all of the different areas that I want to incorporate holiday decor within the room, including the theme or colors that I want to go with.

Once I completed my plan for a room, I was able to make of list of any items that I needed to purchase to bring my vision to life. I even printed a few inspiration pics to help remind me of what I had in mind when I was putting my plan together.

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I know for a fact what a timesaver it has been because I’ve already decorated one room for Christmas as I have a magazine shoot coming up in a few weeks, so I start my holiday decorating even earlier than I normally do. My “planner” isn’t anything fancy at all, but is something that each one of you could easily do!

By using this idea, I was able to go into my Christmas storage, pull out exactly what I needed and decorate the entire room in about half the time that it normally takes me!

TAKE STOCK OF YOUR DECORATIONS

Now that you have a plan, take stock of the holiday decorations that you already own. Christmas decorations are kind of like rabbits – they multiply and it’s easy to forget about things that you already have.

Now’s a great time to purge and organize too, which will save you time later when you’re ready to actually put those decorations up.  And while you’re at it, go ahead and check for any broken ornaments or Christmas lights that need replacing.

This post will give you some great ideas for organizing and sorting your Christmas decor – even some of the more awkward things like holiday wreaths, ribbon, throw pillows and garlands.

HOW TO TURN YOUR ATTIC INTO AN ORGANIZED HAVEN

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MAKE A LIST AND CHECK IT TWICE

No matter when you actually start to make your Christmas gift purchases, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor if you make a list of everyone you need to buy for and how much you want to spend on each person.

My daughter keeps a running list on her phone anytime she thinks of the perfect gift for someone or if one of her daughters happens to mention something that they’d love for Santa to bring. How many times have we all thought of the perfect gift and then have forgotten about it later?

UPDATED CLASSIC TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS FAMILY ROOM TOUR

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COZY & FESTIVE CHRISTMAS FAMILY ROOM

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WRAP GIFTS AS YOU PURCHASE THEM

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been caught at the very last minute trying to get all of your Christmas gifts wrapped at once.  Or how about waiting until you have so many gifts to wrap, that it takes you hours and becomes a chore.  Where’s the joy in that?

I’m totally guilty of both of these “offenses”, but I finally realized there was a much better and more pleasurable way to enjoy my gift giving.  These days, I do my best to determine which wrapping papers and pretty ribbons I’m going to use that year and wrap my holiday gifts as I go.

If you’ll use gift wrap that coordinates with your tree and the rest of the decor, the gifts will actually become part of the decorations which creates a cohesive look!

RUSTIC GLAM CHRISTMAS TREE & MANTEL

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PRETTY, EASY AND AFFORDABLE CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAPPING

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INVOLVE YOUR FAMILY

I admit it – it’s super easy for me to get caught up in making ALL the Christmas plans and doing ALL of the decorating myself and then directing everyone what to do and when.  When that happens, I usually wind up being too practical and missing out on some of the fun Christmas “magic”.

Involving the rest of my family, including the small children, in the plan making makes Christmas more enjoyable for everyone – myself included!

This picture is from several years ago, but it’s still one of my favorites. Gotta love the fake smile on my youngest granddaughter – lol!

MY DAUGHTER, SON IN LAW AND THE GRANDS

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What tips do you have for avoiding stress-filled holidays?