Preparing for a Relaxed Holiday Season

The Thanksgiving Holiday kicks off one of the busiest seasons of the year.  Somehow, in all of the hustle and bustle, a warm time of family and tradition becomes a frenzy of chaos.  This does not have to be.  With a little bit of planning and preparation, you can enjoy a simple, relaxed holiday season.

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My husband and I have been married for 20 years this year.  As I look back over the Christmases we’ve spent together, I am convinced that the best years were the simple years.  The years when we had little money and few engagements are those that are etched in my mind and bring a smile to my face.

There were years when we had little to spend on gifts, so we handmade lots of things.  There were years when, due to sick children, new babies or limited finances that we could not participate in every single holiday party we were invited to.  Those were the years that we spent evenings at home, together.  At at the time I thought we were limited by our circumstances, but looking back I realize that God was providing us with precious, stolen moments.

In other years, we were busy.  It seemed that the holiday season passed us by before we even knew it was there.  Time with our children and family was limited by our commitments.  Stress levels were high due to the demands of the lists; lists of gifts, food and events.

Looking back I realize that I can have the holiday season I want by being intentional in planning and preparation.

Designing the Holiday Season You Want

{Simplicity is key to finding joy, and the key to simplicity is planning.}

As we work through this 31 day series of preparing our hearts and homes for the holiday season, we will also be building an amazing holiday planner piece by piece.  I recommend you get a small binder to keep your worksheets and to collect ideas.

We will work through some simple steps of preparation that are practical for our home and purposeful for our hearts.  I encourage you to brutally honest with yourself and absolutely purposeful about your time from the very beginning.

What Can I Do Today?

Today, you can dream.  Think about your best Christmas season ever.  What made it the best?  Think about what would make this year even better?  What have you always wanted to include in your Christmas celebrations, but just never quite got it done?

You Are Invited!

Join us!  Come along with us as we plan and prepare for the simplest and most relaxed holiday season ever.  Join in the discussion on our facebook page.  Get ideas from others and share what you are doing.  Follow our family preparations via Instagram and Twitter and be sure to join our email list below so you don’t miss a single day of the series.

I can’t wait to get started!  How about you?

Find all of the posts in this series here!