It's that time of year when I start thinking and planning ahead. Just like everyone else we have a lot going on. We have four birthdays in our family and the new baby will make it five then add Thanksgiving and Christmas all within a two months. So a couple of years ago I created a Holiday Binder to help me keep everything organized for the next two months.
Now my Holiday Binder is one of those 1/2 size binders nothing fancy but I like to have all my notes and ideas in one place. As you read this you need to understand that my children are grown up. Two are married and expecting and two are single. So when I refer to one per family, I mean my child plus anyone else in their family.
I have six pocket dividers, one for each of my categories:
I have the dates for the parties, gift ideas and what food I offered to bring.
I have a list of dinner guests, the menu, and our favorite recipes from over the years.
Ideas for stocking stuffers. I give one large stocking per family.
This day is a double celebration in our family we have a birthday and we celebrate Christmas together. In this section I have the menu and recipes. I also have a list of our family favorite Christmas cookies and recipes. My children are very pecticular about their Christmas cookies.
I have a list of all my friends at school. I like to come up with a creative gift to make for everyone.
First I have a list of the gifts for the extended family and anything else we need and times for Christmas Day. I keep all gift receipts in separate envelopes for my extended family.
For my immediate family I have a pocket folder for my husband and each of my children. I keep all my receipts for them and their family member in their pocket folder, including birthday receipts.
Not many people have phone books anymore, however I still use our book for a couple of things. I do keep updated addresses for our friends and family. It nice to have them at your finger tips when someone calls, you can just look it up and give the answer. We also have all our friends and family's addresses on the computer as well. By updating this early it gives my a count of how many Christmas Cards I will need to order.
Finally my goal this week is to pin down my family for a date to take a Christmas Picture. This will be a challenge, we want the new baby in the picture so we have to wait until after Nov. 8th. Then my other son has two retreats and is moving before Thanksgiving.
Every year the family picture becomes a big project plus with 10 of us now the picture looks best outside so we need good weather.
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