Christmas 2014 Lessons Learned!

[AuntJamelle]

Every year after Christmas I add to a running list I keep of "lessons learned". They date back several years now and run the range from "NEVER use an oven bag in an electric roaster oven" to reminders to stock the gift wrap tote with the right kinds of tape, wire cutters, stapler, etc.

Looking back over your Christmas season, what were some of your lessons learned - small or large - this year?

 

[MinnieCo]

You know, I never thought about "wire cutters" in my wrapping tote, but considering I use wire ribbon and constantly ruin my scissors, I guess it might make sense. Thanks for that idea!

I did learn to set the timer when you put bacon in the oven. Needless to say, we didn't have any bacon for Christmas breakfast. I got side tracked with stockings!

I did also learn that having a pre made dessert was okay. I posted this on my blog, but for me not to be able to make something was a big deal. For others though, not so much. The last three years, I've come to realize with us having Christmas dinner later, by the time dessert comes around, everyone is still full or there is just to much going on. If we were starting earlier, it might make more of a difference.

I also realize that I do house plans much better in the spring and summer, then I do in the fall and winter. I got through the first part of the HHP great, but once the fall holidays hit, I was not on board 100%. But with that being said, I had done ALOT before the plans even started, so I was okay as far as that big stuff goes. But with the parts I did do, having the list all preprinted and ready to go makes such a difference when things get crazy.

 

[aggy]

Keeping a list is a great idea. I am going to start one.

One to add to my list is whatever I put on my shopping list to purchase, get it. In the grocery store shopping for my Christmas Eve dinner and I'm thinking I already have these seasonings. Get home and no I did not. Had to run back to the grocery store.

 

[Minta]

THis year I did not do a Christmas/Holiday Notebook and oh man could I ever tell. I was so disorganized this year ... all year ... so instead of having a Christmas notebook and Everything else note I will be combing them into One big binder with a small notebook for my purse to jot down ideas or spur of the moment gift purchases and I can later update my binder. Also need to plan out menus more and well in advance especially on days when we are decorating, baking cookies, etc where crockpot meals would come in very handy.

Usually I am the one trying to get everything done .. I NEED to delegate more to DH and the kids. DH and I are revamping the weekly chore list and the kids will be picking up more chores. With a set schedule that should help keep us on track which in turn will help once the holidays arrive. I will also be assigning more Holiday responsibilities to the kids as well.

One thing that worked well for us this year was to keep a Christmas Decorate box filled with replacement bulbs and a light bulb tester under the tree. This came in very handy when some bulbs burned out on the tree and since they were in a Christmas box it blended in with the decorations and didn't stand out like a sore thumb.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Less is More

Less decorations did not make one bit of difference in how our Christmas went. And it's so much easier to put away.

 

[tanya]

A few things learnt this year.

As DS is getting older (9 will be 10 next Christmas) he is able to help more. He took charge of the Christmas Village this year- set it up, arranged it etc.. He was good at it and it made things easier for me. I will delegate more to him next year. He seems to have inherited my love of all things Christmas- hope it continues!
We stayed home this Christmas- first time ever- we usually go to a fancy hotel for lunch- it was good staying home- both DS and I enjoyed it and we will probably do it again next year.
I need to rethink where/ how I display my cards- I ran out of room this year due to all the lovely ones that I received from the swap- need more space and will run a few extra strings around the room.
We do our own version of Elf on the Shelf- lots of small Elf Gifts- I had the gifts in advance- our Elf wraps and in hindsight I should have wrapped these before hand and numbered them. Some days our Elf 'Slept In' and the gifts/ mischief were held over til later in the day. This worked but not as well as in the morning!

I also need to tweak the HGP for us- I was really happy with the first weeks but was totally sidetracked toward the end- was just too busy with DS finishing school etc... I really need to plan to be finished wrapping a week before I was- or at least for DS and myself. With it being Sumner here- it is just too easy to decide to go to the beach etc..

 

[MinnieCo]

i wanted to add, that me finalizing my menu this year in advanced... well as much as I could, made such a huge difference. Less stress in the end. Now I"ll admit, some of the recipes I bought items for didn't get made, but that I'm okay with. I'd rather have it all on hand and used later, then having to make a last minute run. I'm going to do that again next year for sure.

 

[ejagno]

I think the things that stand out the most for me would be to utilize January through September to get the really big houshold projects(painting, remodeling) done and not smack dab in the middle of my Christmas cleaning plan. This also applies to major decorating adventures. There is no reason that wreaths, sewing new stockings, making a holiday quilt and things like this can't be done in the "off" season.

I need to get my room-by-room decorations all rearranged and packed into their own boxes. Yes, I had a separate Christmas decorations box for each room or area in my home This is how I had it for years and it worked really well to go straight from storage into the room it was intended for. Everything was combined last year when decorating well over 6,000 sq ft of restaurant. Now it's all back home and I couldn't find anything. I seriously still have a 15' x 22' garage stall completely filled in many layers from front to back with Christmas decorations that they all crammed in black plastic trash bags.

 

[AuntJamelle]

My biggest successful lesson learned this year was how heavily I focused on freezer cooking during Sept and October. Getting all those meals, meal components and cookie dough in the freezer during those months made Nov and Dec SO much easier.

In fact, I am still drawing on those items heavily and using them up will take us right through to end of January.

A trickier lesson learned this year was:

Not waiting to buy puff pastry for recipe needed for Christmas morning. It is $5 a box and I kept hoping it would go on sale - then when I went to get it the Monday before Christmas they were out. Had to make a special trip to Walmart and luckily they had it, but it was still stressful.

 

[Cindylouwho]

The Good:
Stayed on plan and on track right to Thanksgiving - so the house was in order.
Early Grocery Shopping kept me sane and made sure items weren't sold out and that there wasn't too much to put away all at once.
Christmas WAS a success (even if it about killed me this year).
Opening presents at 5am is surprisingly magical. It is still dark and the lights are twinkling. We might do it this way always from now on.
I pre-stuffed the stockings this year for the first time (and the kids didn't notice the stockings were gone). What a time-saver!

The Not So Good:
1. Changing up my menu plan to make Thanksgiving gluten-free took me a LOT of time. Time I should have spent gift shopping (I need to back up my hard-core gift planning into October).
2. Amazon wasn't there for me on Black Friday weekend. Prices were ridiculous.
3. DD's list was very vague so took much longer to get her presents figured out.
4. Shopping not complete by time kids out of school, followed by unexpected relatives arriving.
5. All this led to wrapping on Christmas Eve -- which is exhausting and stressful.
6. Second year in row that I didn't get out the Christmas cards.
7. Needed a few more strands of lights and some more bows and Thanksgiving is not the time to go shopping for them. Do this WAY earlier.
8. The new high school schedule and the extracurricular activities really cut into my time and I really struggled to keep up with my weekends being gone.

Change next year:
1. DH promised he had seen the light and we would never let shopping get this far behind again and he will help me do Christmas prep next October. Especially since not one single item (except for the clothing) was purchased at any sort of discount because we were so late in our shopping.
2. Need solid gift apps in my phone. And a specific app just for holiday grocery shopping (not my regular groceries). Excel and Evernote are not cutting it when I'm on the move. And I can't get an internet signal to access them when I'm in stores. I MUST GET AN APP.
3. I will be writing down every item I was cursing myself for not getting done earlier. There was a list of them!
4. No more surprise relatives arriving before Christmas -- when I'm already on a tight schedule.

Still thinking, there is more.... I'll come back and edit this as I think of them.....
I've decided entering the month of Christmas is like entering Disneyland. You go from zero to 60, and you'd better have a PLAN.

 

[missjane]

1. Take a picture of the wrapping supplies I have on hand and put them in my notebook so if I see things that coordinate with what I have left, I can pick them up.
2. Get menus finished in August so I can start picking up groceries EARLY!
3. Buy GCs each month for the stockings.
4. Do not neglect putting money on GCs for various purchases at Christmas.
5. Do Christmas with DS and his family early.
6. Plan ahead for all the Christmas "gatherings" (work, church, etc.) that happen that interfere with time needed to get ready for Christmas.
7. Do Christmas cards early.
8. Oh, yes...what Lisa said about gift cards! Also, several "dollar stores" sold them for 15-30% off closer to Christmas time, too.
I'm sure there are more, but I will add them as I think of them.

 

[teachermomof2]

I learned that I can purchase gift cards at Sam's Club for less dollars and greater value. I will remember that for next year.

 

[snowlvr]

I do think about this every year-here is my list so far:
-even after discussing it on MHH, and swearing I would do it-I only wrapped ONE present early and of course was frantically wrapping Christmas eve..I cannot do that again. I have to mail a number of packages, and it was awful slamming through wrapping presents so I could get them sent on time. I am seriously going to have to do better.
-we have to say no to a few activities in Dec. We were literally out of the house almost nightly.
-I used an app called "Santa's bag", which was pretty helpful..it has alot of ways to organize Christmas shopping but I used it mostly to keep track of present ideas and what I bought
-don't procrastinate! Bad weather, work schedules, and illness can all interrupt plans-try to get things done as soon as possible

 

[aggy]

Minta I carry a small notebook in my purse too. Been doing it for years. It really does come in handy.

One awesome thing that I did this year was prepared most of my my dishes a day in advance. So on Christmas Eve there were only a couple dishes to throw in the oven and were done hours before guests arrived. Just kept everything warm. As a result I was very relaxed and had an appetite so I was able to eat dinner with my family. Didn't have to be constantly told to eat something. Will definitely do this again for 2015.

Unfortunately this Christmas I dragged my feet shopping for gifts and didn't get to participate in the wrapping parties til the very end. I must go back to what I used to do, which was start my gift shopping in August and be finished by Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[Minta]

A lot of great ideas posted .... will have to incorporate several into our planning and handling of the holidays. Thanks!!!

 

[tanya]

I just downloaded the Santa Bag app- going to trial it to see if it works for me. Thanks for the suggestion.

I have just come into the real smartphone era- not really loving it as yet! I had a very early version of a smartphone which I totally loved as it had a keypad like a blackberry which I found easier to use than a touch screen. It was old but totally worked for me. Let me access the internet and get my emails but not a lot else.

I was dreading the day that it was going to die as it was well past its use by date but held onto it as long as I could. Just before Christmas it had an accident- It somehow slipped down beside the lounge- My fault as I should have been more aware of where it was. Also the fact that it was there for several hours before I even noticed it was missing. Then puppy found it and very helpfully decided to drop it into his water bowl!

 

[DahliaDoll]

I see a few posting about having to wrap gifts on Christmas Eve. When our children were little, we found ourselves doing that, too. What I finally discovered was that we were probably going to have to spend at least one late-late night wrapping. I would schedule one or more marathon wrapping nights before Christmas Eve. That really helped to get it done a little more ahead of time and made Christmas Eve so much more relaxed. I never was one to wrap each gift as I purchased it, although that certainly would have helped.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

Be sure to tell DS 13 what subjects are off topic to the grandparents. In the first 5 min he told them we are going to Disney (we are not taking them this trip) and that DH had got a new job b/c he hated his old job and would be making a lot more money know. Sigh...
Off to check out the Santa's bag app.

 

[tanya]

I wished that I could wrap as I go but for some unknown reason. I don't like to wrap until I have finished shopping for that person. Usually because I overbuy and hold stuff back for birthdays etc, I need to work out what is for Christmas and what stays in the gift closet.

I also like to wrap in batches. Some we give wine to, others chocolates. I like to wrap all wine in one session. All chocolates in another. DS's stuff gets done in another session. Mine in another. Puppy's took a different session.

Because I use a separate wrap for each person in our house getting Santa gifts and wrap stocking stuffers, It makes it easy on Christmas Eve to put the gifts out. DS was red this year. I was green. Puppy was silver.

Any other gifts get done in another session.

I was held up a bit this year as some purchases that I ordered for delivery were late in getting here by about a week.

 

[DawnSu]

I do have to start decorating outside a little sooner... hubby doesn't do much as he doesn't like it... lol but after I get started, he does help a little. but I didn't get everything done till about 2 weeks before Christmas. have to begin while hubby is on deer season vacation. lol lol but everything was sooo smooth, with dinners & parties & all....