Get Organized Before Santa Arrives

Christmas is now only a few days away, and whether you’re responsible for cooking, giving, hosting, entertaining or all of the above, you probably still have a lot of chores to do. You want your holiday to go off without a hitch, and there’s not much time left to make sure everything is “just so.”

You’ve cleaned and decluttered the house, and maybe even donated some of your unused clothing and other stuff to ClothingDonations.org. You’ve decorated the tree and lit the lights. You’ve sent the holiday cards and party invites. You’ve even decided what you’ll serve at the holiday feast, but you still may feel a little bit frazzled by the final countdown.

Get Packing

The final week of the holiday season has any number of deadlines to observe. Dec. 21 is the last day to drop Priority Mail packages off at the post office so that they might arrive by Christmas; Amazon Prime subscribers have an extra day to shop and take advantage of free two-day shipping. Wait, and you’ll pay a premium to get your packages in time for the weekend.

Three days ahead, Real Simple advises in its comprehensive holiday checklist, those hosting a holiday dinner can buy any fresh ingredients needed and set the holiday table. Two days out, you can start cooking. Many dishes actually improve in the refrigerator overnight, and making them ahead of time will cut the stress on the crucial day-of.

On the final day before the holiday, charge up any camcorders or cameras you’ll use to record the good cheer, and buy extra batteries for all the little gadgets people are going to unwrap. Polish off your cooking preparations, and create a timeline for whatever has to go in the oven on the feast day itself.

Do any last-minute gift-wrapping that needs to be done, and give the house a quick once-over for the weekend ahead. And finally, take the time to do whatever it is you like to do to relax before the big day.

You may not be able to do everything on your list, but you can do enough to make the holiday a success if you start now. As Clean & Scentsible blogger Jenn Lifford says, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Things can (and will) go wrong, but you can leave less to chance by getting organized.

Have a Happy & Healthy Holiday!