Stressfree Holidays

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are holidays geared for family time. They are just a day each, yet packed into that time between Thanksgiving and Christmas the average person (moms in particular) have this written or mental list that could scare the elves away. And yet, moms, unlike Santa, don't usually have a company of elves at their bidding to do all this preparation. The trick to stress-free holidays is to learn to enjoy not only the holidays, but the preparations as well!

The day after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas preparations in our house. Black Friday is when the majority of my Christmas shopping is done. My goal is usually to have it all bought that day, but goals are made to be adjusted.

That evening, or the next day, the Christmas decorations go up. This is when I usually call on my elves if they are available. Decorating as a family is quicker and easier. It's family time. It's memory-making time. And yes, having the boys bring up the plastic containers of Christmas decorations from the basement is much easier for me!

The next available Saturday when the house is not full of watching eyes is when I wrap the presents and get them under the tree. Stockings are stuffed and stored out of sight. This usually goes over much better for me if I've a large cup of coffee and a chocolate bar to set the mood.

As Christmas draws closer there are cookies to bake, a menu to plan, and a myriad of other events to plan and attend that take place in that time period between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.

It's a fact that the preparations and events surrounding this Holiday Season take time and effort. Yet if we can learn to slow down on the inside as we hurry up on the outside, enjoying the preparations as much as the holidays themselves, we'll find that stress-free holidays are possible! It's a paradox...but it works for me!

Labeled at Last

The labeling of the basement storage took longer than planned. My initial attempt was using my handy-dandy label maker. I labeled the containers and stood back with a pleased look on my face. I figured I would have to get the camera later, take a picture, and reveal this one organized area of the basement. (Yes, there are more sections of the basement to conquer!)

Returning at a much later date than planned, I found the humidity in the basement had wrecked havoc on my labels—or I had just inserted a bad label-making tape? For whatever reason, instead of finding tidily labeled containers, I found curled up labels laying on the floor in front of my organized shelving units. Groan....

After several frustrated attempts at finding the correct container when needing items from the storage containers, I went back to the old-fashioned method: a permanent black magic marker. The containers are now organized AND labeled! When technology fails ... reach for the old standby, the permanent black magic marker.

The Basement With a Mind of Its Own!

Shortly after moving into the parsonage, we faced a hiccup when our basement decided to take on about five inches of water when the sump pump went on the blink. Like a wayward child pulling a temper tantrum and screaming for attention, our basement used this method as a cry for attention. The rest of house was settled into, organized, and looking quite nice. The basement on the other hand was our boys' domain, boys who had little care for my grand organizational ideas. It was functional and they loved it. It was a frontier that I had yet to breach with a frontal assault of organization. Amazing how a little water can spur one on!

Knowing my time was limited and that this territory would have to be taken over in sections, I decided step one of the frontal assault on the basement would be to corral the storage into one area. This meant finding the perfect freestanding shelving unit that was sturdy, could hold much weight, be easy to assemble, and could withstand the possibility of another temper tantrum acting itself out in our basement!

Researching on the internet I found the perfect shelving unit wasn't as easy to find as I first thought. Sifting through one after another and reading up on the reviews, I finally found what I wanted at our local Lowe's. I bought one on my first trip to the store, bringing it home to test it out before committing to buying more. Though two people are recommended for putting it together, it's easy to do. Once together the shelves can be adjusted to the desired heights by one person alone. I loved it so much I went back and bought two more! The pile of storage containers stacked and difficult to access are now nicely organized on the new shelving units. Labeling them is the next step.