‘Tis the season to enjoy it while it’s here. {it will be gone as soon as it came!}

#5. Plan ahead.
If it’s celebrating in your home or a relative’s or friends’, establish your game plan well in advance. Traveling, shopping, baking or entertaining all take time to prep and also can take YOUR time away from time spent with those you’re celebrating with. Freeze all that dough early and have the kids bake off and decorate while you finish wrapping. Make a map of local stores and make your shopping list accordingly. Set a time limit for each. Hit the popular ones at night when kiddos are in bed.

#4. Practice traditions and start new ones.
Make calendars with special nights with the kids. Build your gingerbread house one night and decorate the next night. Everyone knows the best night to drive around to catch lights is the second week of December. {right?} Consider participating in a local giving tree before you finish your holiday shopping. A new trend is the 4 gifts: Want, Need, Wear & Read. What an easy list for kids!

#3. Stay organized.
Go ahead, settle down on the couch with hot cocoa and your holiday candles glowing. Grab the kids and have them help you create lists. They love to help give as much as you do. Tackle bigger items earlier because stock is limited online and in stores. Reserve the small stuffers for later when a trip to the grocery store can knock-out most of the items.

#2. Shop online.
It’s a growing trend every year and Cyber Monday will soon become Cyber December. Take advantage of the savings. Have the delivery truck haul your gifts instead of in your own. Instead of braving the parking lot, hours in line, bags upon bags to carry between stores – simply browse with your mouse and enjoy the noises made by those in your home. Unless you’re the 3 A.M. Walmart shopper on Black Friday – we tip our hats to you. {and socks because the rest of us are in bed!}

#1. Enjoy this moment, yes this one, and the next.
If this year you only bake cookies from a tube with a dough-boy on it instead of from your recipe box, or if 80% of your gifts don’t require wrapping because they are gift cards, or if the only lights you have on your house are the ones on your front porch – It just means you took this year and have given your time to yourself and those you are most thankful for. Come the 26th we hope your memories are spent behind a camera or a glass of cheer instead of a line of strangers.

So don’t get your tinsel in a tangle – but if you do, we have an organizer for that too