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*dons Santa hat*

Hello, Patrons! Yes, I know the major gifting holidays are mostly over. But the period between Christmas and New Year’s is actually one of the busiest bits of the holiday for me, because it’s the time I prepare for next Christmas!

I’m not sure when I started doing this. I do know it wasn’t a conscious decision, and I think it started gradually. I remember part of the inspiration for my activity was that the period between Christmas and New Year’s often involved time off, and it felt like part of the holiday but involved no parties or celebrations. I started filling it with holiday-ish tasks, and eventually I noticed that the more time I spent during that period on post-holiday stuff, the easier the follow year’s holiday was.

These days I find the season runs a lot more smoothly. If you too would like less holiday stress (no matter what holiday you celebrate), then maybe some of my ideas might help you! Here’s my checklist:

HOLIDAY WRAPPING: After all the unwrapping, I set aside all the gift bags, ribbon, bows, and tags that are in good enough shape to be recycled. I go through my wrapping paper rolls and evaluate how much I have left, and if I need extras, and see what else I’ve gotten low on. Then I go shopping…! Because the post-holiday sales make replenishing wrapping supplies really cheap. (One of my definite go-tos is packs of gift tape: these are reserved, and are not placed where the everyday household supplies go). Once I bring my stash home from the stores, I organize everything because inevitably the process of wrapping has sown chaos. I bought a gift wrap organizer (during a post-holiday sale), and everything gets slotted back into place. Bags get stacked in order of size and tucked into the largest holiday-themed bag I have to differentiate them from the celebration/birthday-themed ones (kept in a separate bag/stack/organizer—I also shop sales and recycle items for those events).

HOLIDAY CARDS: Like gift wrap, holiday cards crash in price after the holidays. When I used to buy holiday cards rather than make them, post-Christmas sales were when I stocked up… and you could find them everywhere, from bookstores to groceries. I also bought a gift card organizer one year: into that organizer go all the holiday stamps, the cards and envelopes, the return-address labels (which I print out more of if I’ve run out), and the envelope seals. If you like to buy cards off sites like Zazzle, you’ll often find post-holiday sales there too.

This is the time of year I update my spreadsheet of addresses if I added new people or existing people moved. This is the most tedious part of the holiday card process and every year I tweak it… but the two major obstacles to mailing holiday cards (for me anyway) are not having the addresses to hand, and not having the cards… so making sure both those things are in order makes my life much easier. (I like my spreadsheet because it has a column for how I know the person in question, so I can sort it by ‘family’ or ‘spouse work acquaintances’ or ‘business contacts’ and send out my cards in flotillas).

HOLIDAY GIFTS: The period right after you’ve given and received gifts is a good time to figure out if people liked your stuff. (It’s also a great time to observe them receiving gifts from other people and seeing if they liked it.) If I noticed someone particularly appreciating something, or mentioning something they liked, I jot it down for next year. (Where you store this data is important. I put mine in an Evernote note, but another good place would be to print it out and stash it with the holiday gift wrap, so when you pull it out every year you’ll find the list and have a starting point of ideas.) I know this seems like an intimidating idea: what if you don’t get a read on everyone? What if you don’t remember everything? But the point is not ‘remember everything’ or ‘make a complete list’. Think of it less as a comprehensive encyclopedia of people’s every reaction to things, and more as a bunch of seeds for future holiday gifts. If every year you write down a single person’s preferences, you’ve made shopping for that person easier the following year, and having even one more person you know “loves chocolate caramels” or “is really into Star Trek” or “likes things that smell like lavender” is just one more person you don’t have to agonize over. If you jot down one or two observations every year, you’ll be surprised how fast your list fills out.

HOLIDAY COOKING: As with gifts, the post-holiday period is a great time to do a cooking/baking post mortem. What worked well? What disappointed you or proved too stressful/fussy? Were there dishes that were awful when they cooled to room temperature? Were there things that made great leftovers? What recipes were successful for your guests, coworkers, friends, family, whatever?

This is a good time to consider process, as well. I do a lot of holiday baking for various local acquaintances, and it’s to the point where my holiday baking results in hundreds of cookies. This used to be really stressful, until I realized I could stage it: I found several doughs that responded well to resting in refrigeration, or in the freezer, and made up a different dough every day for four days. Then on day five, I did all the baking… and it went far more smoothly, since I wasn’t trying to make everything from scratch on the same day.

Finally, to beat the eternal drum, holiday sales are good in the baking and cooking department, because craft stores are full of themed goodie bags and boxes. I pick up the bags I pack cookies in at this point.

HOLIDAY PACKING: Because sales are so good after the holidays, I usually doublecheck if I need better storage solutions for holiday decorations. I pack everything relating to the holidays in the same boxes, so I’ll be sure I have it in the right place at the right time: so for instance, surplus holiday-themed disposable plates and napkins, along with holiday-themed servingware goes in the same boxes with wreaths and garlands. That way when the holiday rolls around and the boxes come out of the attic, I am delighted to find “everything I need to put on the holiday” all together, from the lights for the outside of the house to the stockings for the fireplace to the tiny pot for cider.


And that’s my checklist for post-holidays. It probably seems like a lot, but I find it helps me glide out of the holiday season into ordinary time. It’s calming to be productive and to put things in order; cleaning and organizing feels homelike and the realization that I’m creating order that will make the future holidays more enjoyable is satisfying. I remind myself frequently that there’s no deadline for these activities: I can take as long to do them as I need, and I don’t have to do them all. If I do even a little bit of any of them, next year will be much easier.

Maybe some of these ideas will inspire you! Either way, I wish you a peaceful holiday season in the run-up to New Year's (and for those of you who celebrate it, Epiphany/Three Kings Day).

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Comments

Anonymous

I love the way you think ^_^

ReadingFrenzy

This is such a great idea!

sbbeasley

Lots of useful thoughts.

Tygepc

OMG! Thank you so much! I continually look for ways to organize things and never thought to look up a gift wrap organizer or a card organizer like that. I also love you cookie dough breakthrough! That's awesome. Next year is going to rock! Thank you so much!