The hectic Christmas season has descended upon us, and I have a few tips to save you time and sanity this month.
1. Instead of winding your Christmas tree lights around and around the tree, visually cut your tree in half vertically, and wind the lights from bottom to top, covering only the left side first, then the right side. (What a cool tip! I didn't invent it; I just heard about it.) Saves time and frustration, especially if you have a big tree. Or don't put up a tree this year and just enjoy everyone else's for a change. You can skip a year (or two, or twenty). You can still celebrate the birth of Christ without a decorated tree, you know.
2. If you haven't stored your summer clothes yet, and if you live where it's cold and snowy (like me), now is the time to throw out the worn, torn, dirty, or ratty summer items, and then store the remaining warm weather clothes somewhere away from your cold weather clothes. This will make room in your closet and dresser(s) for winter clothes and boots. More room means fewer wrinkled clothes, without your typical morning tug-of-war as you aggressively extract a long sleeve blouse from the crammed clothes hanging rod. Plus, you'll have more room for hiding Christmas presents in your closet.
3. Don't give clutter. Clutter is stuff that won't be used or enjoyed by the recipient. That pretty much describes 90% of the stuff on your shopping list. Pitch the list in the trash and start over. Think of only NON-CLUTTERING gifts: consumable gifts, really useful gifts, and things the recipients have actually expressed a desire to own.
4. It's kinda late to start early, so don't beat yourself up about not being so organized this Christmas, with your card list, or gift list, or (lack of) twelve dozen cookies cooling on your countertops. The traditions that Americans have created to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ are astoundingly complex. And most of them were set when women stayed home all day, caring for kids and (a small) home, without working outside jobs, commuting in maddening traffic, battling the daily onslaught of advertising messages to "buy buy BUY!,"or having to deal with the insanely complex life we call "the new millennium." Meh. Let it go. Jesus is more concerned with the state of your heart and spirit than with the state of your door wreath or gift list. Time to declutter your life of unreasonable expectations: the ones you have of yourself.
Have a blessed pre-Christmas week!
