First off, I made a weekly breakdown of my tasks. Similar to my “Mom Game Plan” mentioned in a previous post, this weekly list of to-do’s really helps me focus. I break down the 4 weeks before Christmas (I just finished week 1) into 4 work weeks:

Week 1: Decorate and Plan
In this week I focus on making a plan. I plan out my gift list, my budget, and my calendar. I also get the house ready for Christmas…inside and out.

Week 2: Shopping Phase 1
During this week, I focus on buying, wrapping and shipping all extended family and non-family presents. This includes things like neighborhood gifts, gifts for Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, teacher gifts, etc. I also create and send my digital Christmas cards this week.

Week 3: Shopping Phase 2
During this week I focus on buying and wrapping all immediate family gifts. This includes Santa presents, stocking stuffers, etc. I also use this week to make any freezable food ahead of time and make or buy the Christmas PJs.

Week 4: Deliver and Celebrate
This is crunch week. In this week our family delivers all the gifts to neighbors and teachers. I also finish up any wrapping and get the Christmas Eve supplies together.

I’ve also got a Christmas gift planner on my website for you. It’s amazing how many gifts there are to keep track of. Rather than impulse buy and scramble for ideas, I use this gift planner to help me keep everything straight. It also helps me keep track of which presents are wrapped and which have been shipped. You can find this handy file on my website as well.

As much as I hate to do it, I have to set up a budget for my Christmas spending. Tallying up all the gifts, decorations, party supplies, and food expenses can be really daunting; but I’ve found that if my husband and I work together to set a limit and then breakdown that limit into the various categories listed on my sheet, we save ourselves from the horrible post-Christmas financial drought. I posted both a blank version and a sample version on my site.

I can’t promise these files will make your Christmas preparations stress-free. However, getting you game plan down on paper, planning out your gifts, and making a budget should help you reach New Year’s with your sanity still intact. You can find the free file downloads below. Just thought I’d pass it on.