Monday and Tuesday I woke up in the middle of the night stressing about Christmas prep. I had a couple difficult gifts to finalize (that needed to be mailed, eek!), I have a ton of cookies to bake, I still haven’t sent out my cards, and when am I going to wrap all the kids’ gifts???
The crazy thing is, these are all things I love! I LOVE Christmas! I love gifts, cookies, and Christmas cards. I wish I could just relax and enjoy it more.
This is why, although Christmas is my favorite holiday, November is actually my favorite month. I love when I can start thinking about Christmas, but there’s no stress. I love the excitement of seeing Christmas appear in stores, but being able to browse and observe without worrying, because “it’s still early.”
I really need to shift my perspective. It would seem weird to bake and freeze Christmas cookies in November, but doing so would actually help me so much. Why don’t I just start earlier???
This year, because Thanksgiving was so late, I finally broke my rule about not starting Christmas until Black Friday. We decorated our tree before Thanksgiving, and guess what- nothing bad happened! We still had Thanksgiving and appreciated the day just as much- maybe even more, because we had a festive and pretty Christmas tree to look at.
I’m stating it here, officially- next year I AM STARTING CHRISTMAS PREP IN NOVEMBER AND THAT’S THAT. Maybe that way I can avoid the December panic situation.
I am feeling a little better today, because Wednesday I buckled down and got several things done. First- I had a wrapping session:
The “Santa” presents are wrapped and hidden away until they, ahem, magically appear under the tree on Christmas morning. I binged episodes of “Holiday Baking Championship” and wrapped all the gifts I have so far. I enjoyed it- but my only question is, why did this take me two hours???
Okay- I wasn’t wrapping for the ENTIRE two hours. I had to remove some of the gifts from their packaging and find gift boxes. But still. Why does it take so long?
My second question is, why does this pile of presents look so puny? I would say that’s only about half the gifts so far, but the things still arriving are also pretty small (my daughter asked for a lot of jewelry this year.) This isn’t going to look very festive under the tree! I’m still waiting for blankets for both kids, with pictures of our cats on them- those should be bulky, at least.
I also finalized the tricky gifts and GOT THEM SENT! And while I was at the post office, I bought holiday stamps, so I’m all ready to start on my Christmas cards. And- Sunday is going to be a marathon baking day.
I have to bake two kinds of cutout cookies- regular sugar cookies and gingerbread. These are for our Christmas Eve cookie decorating tradition (once again- these could be made in NOVEMBER and be waiting in the freezer… next year.) And I have to bake at least two other kids of cookies- probably biscotti and molasses cookies- for my family’s general happiness, and to be included with gifts. If I can get those four baked on Sunday, I’ll have time to make one or two more next week (peanut butter balls are also a Christmas must.)
So… I slept much better last night. There’s still a lot to do, but there’s also plenty of time. I still have gifts to purchase- I don’t have anything for my husband yet- but thank you, Amazon. I know people have issues with Amazon, but knowing I can order something (pretty much anything I want!) and have it arrive in two days, is keeping me sane.
If you celebrate Christmas, do you feel like you’ll be ready? Do you order gifts from Amazon? Are you baking cookies?
November or December- which month do you like better?
Top photo by Doriana Popa on Unsplash
37 Responses
What I like about starting Christmas prep in November is that (1) you’ll have more time/less stress to do things and (2) you’ll get a longer Christmas season! Win-win.
Absolutely I order gifts on Amazon. I almost always stick with my normal Amazon day delivery and I try to minimize my purchases in general BUT if I need something I don’t hesitate to get it in 2 days.
I think I like November better than December. Better weather + Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I bet the weather situation gets better for you in December.
That’s true- our weather can go either way but it’s generally better in December. And, good point- I do try to schedule all my amazon deliveries for the same day, if possible. I guess that makes a little bit of a difference.
We’ll be travelling to a country that doesn’t have Christmas as a holiday so I’m not sure how Christmas-y December 25th will be for us. We haven’t decorated or bought presents or anything and I don’t think we will at this point. It’s kind of a holiday experiment. (which should be the title of a Hallmark holiday movie.)
One year I made too much cookie dough so I stuck in the fridge. i kept seeing the dough in there and i would think “I should do something with that dough…”. It took me nine months to bake those cookies. They were fine. Didn’t taste as good as fresh, but certainly edible. So you could always make a double batch of dough thia year and take it out in a year….
Ha, WELL, I’m not sure if I want to take that risk. And- where are you traveling to? I’m very intrigued by your “Holiday Experiment.”
I have my extended family coming tomorrow (24 people) because my sister and her family spend Christmas in NZ every second year, and this is the year, plus my son is spending Christmas in South Africa with his girlfriend’s family. We’ve been running around this afternoon getting drinks and food, and I also had to get a present for my niece, plus I had a few other time-sensitive errands. I have not done any Christmas gift shopping for my kids—that will be next week’s job.
Oof, that would be rough- a large celebration two weeks BEFORE Christmas. Good luck with it- it sounds fun!
I do use Amazon (though we don’t have 2-day delivery where I live in a relatively rural spot in Nova Scotia). I feel some guilt, but offset that with the sheer amount of stuff I buy second-hand, essentially keeping it out of landfills for a lot longer? Or so I tell myself!
Your presents look amazing. Seriously. If I had seen that picture randomly, I would think the person doing them up was a professional wrapper. I’m very much of the “good enough is good enough” with my wrapping. The papers don’t match and I’m not fussy about neat corners. I mean, they look great from a distance, and I figure when people are going to be close enough to inspect what I’ve done they’ll be tearing the paper off anyway.
Christmas baking. Ugh. I do feel behind on this. The gifts are mostly done, but the baking is not and we will have a lot of cooking to do since my brother is arriving next week with his wife for 18 days. I think I’ll have them stay with my parents for some of that time.
Christmas is a lot of work. And, almost all of it falls to women. I know we say that “if we just left it to the men it would be okay and no one would get Christmas cards and life would move on.” True, but I’m also coming to appreciate just how much women do in terms of relationship building in families and communities. I assume you arrange the cookie decorating party? You oversee the cookies getting made? You’re likely the one buying your daughter her requested jewelry? None of those things technically have to happen…but without them, relationships aren’t as rich. And all those things a woman does end up benefiting “her man.” For example, I give local neighbours a card and some chocolate, but that fosters connection that benefits my husband and our whole family. Not only to we undervalue (generally) women’s investment of time and mental administrative burden, but we grossly underestimate how much that contributes to her associated man’s life.
Yep. I do almost ALL of the Christmas prep here. And you’re right, I think that’s pretty common. AND, you’re also right- life and relationships wouldn’t be as rich without these experiences. So- I have to remind myself that it’s a lot of work, no one else is going to do it, and it’s all worth it.
Not where I want to be but I’ve got to let it go this year.
Bought my granddaughter gifts yesterday on Amazon.
Mailed my cards yesterday.
Give me your address and I’ll send you one.
Okay Darlene! I’ll text you.
We started buying gifts in November and have everything purchased at this point and most of it wrapped during my days off last week so I feel fairly ready! I need to bake cookies for the cookie decorating party with our neighbors the weekend before Christmas but I never know how GF things will turn out and I don’t know how well they would freeze so we will make them that weekend. Christmas came crazy fast this year with how late Thanksgiving was and then I had that work trip this week. I was supposed to travel next week too. Thank goodness that got cancelled.
We do buy gifts from Amazon. And house supplies and such. It’s just hard to ignore the convenience even though I do not like the company at all. I try to order books from an independent bookstore when I am not in a rush for a person or me to receive the book!
I’m VERY glad you’re not traveling next week! And- i’ll be curious to know what cookies you make and how they turn out. I hope we get photos of this decorating party.
I’m planning to make sugar cookies! Usually I just make round ones since GF dough is so finicky and not easy to roll out but a GF baker just posted a recipe that you can roll out. So I need to decide if I should try this new recipe or my more boring round ones. The boys honestly won’t care. They are just happy to decorate and the family that is coming over has a 2.5 yo so he won’t care either. So I will probably stick with what I know and maybe try this new recipe out in Jan when we need a weekend activity! But I will def share photos of the gathering!
I think you could totally prep in November! It would make your December easier and allow you to focus on other things that would bring you joy. We are baking cookies this weekend after LM’s last recitals – well baking some and hopefully freezing the rest, haha!
Oh yes- most of my cookies will be going in the freezer!
Wow, your gifts are so pretty! You should see what my wrapping looks like. Spoiler: not like yours. I am not gifted in the area of gift wrapping, let’s put it that way.
Jenny, one thing I always do (or did, up to this year) is to make all the cookie dough in advance and freeze it. Then I take out one of the frozen dough balls whenever I’m ready to bake (or, in advance, so it can thaw, obviously). That can be done in November or really even October if you can spare the freezer space. Because we were away for so long this year I finished all my gift-buying in October before we left so I wouldn’t have a scramble after we got back. I mean, I have bought a couple little things here and there, but it makes for a much less stressful process. I love Christmas and I love Nov-Dec, and holiday stress is just such a buzzkill!
This reminded me I do still have a few gifts to wrap. Maybe I’ll outsource that job to my husband. I hate wrapping!
Really? Your husband is a better wrapper than you??? My husband is a terrible wrapper! And it takes him a REALLY long time. I definitely can’t outsource that job.
Making the cookie dough early and freezing it would be easy! I will at LEAST do that early next year.
This year my husband is paying our teen daughter to wrap his gifts. It used to be my mother (who he didn’t pay), so at least our daughter is getting to be entrepreneurial.
My father has probably never wrapped a gift in his life.
My father-in-law is practically Martha Stewart. I swear he uses a protractor and a plumb line to wrap his gifts. They are PERFECT. It takes him forever and he loves it, so it’s 100% worth it. I am happy to put in 1/4 of the effort and have the kids just as happy. But I think a nicely wrapped gift is a form of artistic expression and it can really lend itself to creating a nice atmosphere.
I feel ya on the stress! I need to order my gifts today and have them shipped to my parents’ house, but I won’t be able to wrap them until I get there next Friday. I don’t love wrapping because it seems to take forever and my wrapping skills aren’t the best, but we’ll get it done.
I do like December but I am impatiently waiting for our usual December weather — we typically get rain around Christmas which I love as a desert dweller because it doesn’t rain much here, and makes it feel cozier. But it’s still above average here with temps in the 70s most days and I just want to wear my sweaters, grrrr!
Yeah, our weather has been going back and forth. We’ve had some beautiful days, but then some really warm days as well. Winter is our dry season, so we won’t see too much rain till next summer. I hope you have a wet Christmas!
I always find November to be a more stressful month… I’m catching up from Bandtober and prepping for December.
Listen. I made most of the cookies on Wednesday. Why? Because my mom was coming over and I had time. And when I tell you it was the freaking best day and we finished four big batches of cookies, I mean it from the depths of my soul.
Do what brings you peace. That’s my new motto.
A’s Christmas list was ridiculous. He asked for Cetaphil lotion, a silicon face scrubber and a black charcoal face mask. That’s all he wants. Sigh.
Ooh! Maybe my cookie palooza on Sunday will actually be really fun. And- that is a hilarious Christmas list. Are you geting him some other things??? I mean I don’t think I could just put those gifts under the tree and call it Christmas!
Realise I’m completely in the minority of minorities but … I don’t do any of that stuff at all so there is no stress for me. HOWEVER, in order to be helpful, I just want to say indeed it doesn’t matter when you start prepping for something you enjoy. Zero wrong with putting up your tree early (you make the rules), or getting gifts or baking things early. There are these self-imposed and / or societal rules that seem to say when and how we should do things. And to that I say, p*ss off hahaha! It’s your life, your rules. When this is a holiday you enjoy, I’m all for making things more enjoyable.
You’re right! It’s taken me a long time to get over the “No Christmas till after Thanksgiving” mentality, but I’m finally there.
I have SO much to do. Yesterday was sort of a lost day, which I’m bummed about because I can’t afford that. Rae was very disrespectful. Something we haven’t dealt with in months. Anyway, it threw the day off track and meant I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for wrapping up my Christmas card poem/recap. We scored an emergency phone call with the fam therapist last night after Rae was in bed, so we have a plan.
I cannot remember the last time I had no cookies in the freezer. I bake my choc chip cookies and have them on hand for anytime I need a thank you gift or something, and my inventory is gone. Once I get my cards sent, I can bake. I have some gifts bought – maybe half? I have things to do, is what I’m saying. Like I need to make ornaments for the tots I sit for – I hodge podge photos on little log pieces and they always turn out so cute, but they don’t make themselves.
I do order from Amazon as needed, but not a ton. I mostly shop at Von Maur and they offer complimentary wrapping. That is a game changer for me. Your gifts are so pretty. I think everything takes longer than anticipated. Why? I will be forcing myself to get a draft of my annual poem done/started by Halloween. You heard it here, which I think makes it official.
You have a lot of kids, some of them pretty young, AND you’re doing extra things like writing poems and making ornaments- Egads! Although- complimetary wrapping sounds pretty awesome.
Sorry about the Rae situation- I hope the therapist was helpful!
Look at those beautifully wrapped presents! They look so fancy and festive. Wrapping takes SO LONG, doesn’t it?!?! I am always flabbergasted by how long it takes.
I do use amazon — too much, honestly. But it seems like two-day shipping is a rarity these days, even though we pay for Prime!
I plan to do some cookie baking this weekend and to finally put up our tree. Egads, it is SO LATE this year. Maybe I will leave it up a little late, too.
Yes! Leave your tree up later! Why not? It’s true, a lot of things don’t really ship two day. Hmm.
Unfortunately, I don’t do much gift-buying these days because everyone (ahem, my kids) want money. I do get a few things for friends, etc., though, so that’s always fun to do. I have yet to even begin the Christmas card thing…maybe Sunday. And the baking….hmmm…we shall see. Ironically, I’m not feeling stressed, so I guess that’s a good thing, LOL.
Well, then I say you’re winning at Christmas! Sounds like everything is under control, and you’re not stressed. Perfect.
I WILL SEND MY CARDS OUT THIS WEEKEND OR DIE TRYING. That is all.
Hahahaha… good luck!
we are pretty minimalist with Christmas gifts and we almost always travel during this time. So the only thing we do is the advent calendar with small gifts for the girls.
I love December because it’s both mine and husband’s birthdays, and girls love advent calendar tradition, and start of the holidays.
I like to start decorating in November and I’m trying to get better about doing some Christmas shopping in November, too. It just feels nice to have a little head start so the Christmas season doesn’t seem so overwhelming since there is just SO MUCH to do! I’m sending out some handwritten Christmas cards this season and I keep stressing out that I haven’t gotten them in the mail yet. Hoping to get them out this weekend and that should be FINE.
I think I’m supposed to be destressing on vacation, but I’m a bit stressed thinking about how close it will be to Christmas when I get home tomorrow…
Your present-wrapping skills are amazing! (I put most gifts in bags or gift boxes–I reuse both every year).
I never feel like I’ll be ready. I think part of the holiday magic is how it all comes together — although Amazon sure helps!
My purchasing is a mix. I have bought several items so far at Ulta, which were not in stock at our local store, so I had to have them shipped. 🙁 I have bought a few things on Amazon. Sending my brother gifts via Amazon is funny, since he lives in Alaska. It will say ‘arrives in 2 days’ and then when I update it with his address it will change to ‘arrives in 6 weeks’. If he had little kids I guess it would stress me out, but he’s 61 and can survive if his gifts are late. (Last year I think their Christmas gift arrived in March. I ordered it in early December.)
I’m finished with all of my regular gift shopping. I need to get some stocking stuffers, and I have a tiny bit of baking to do. Deciding…do I want to just make fudge (my original plan) or do I want to make one or two more items? I think it will depend on how the week goes. San posted about a cookie that won her company cookie contest that has me intrigued. And there’s a raspberry streusel bar cookie that I might make just because, so I can post a picture for Suzanne’s cookie swap.