It’s Begining to Look a Lot. . . .

Like Christmas. . . .

But only if you visit your local supercenter. Can you believe that there is already Holiday stuff out at some of the stores? Personally I hate rushing the season-I think that each holiday should be enjoyed for what it is before you move on to the next one. Thanksgiving in particular seems to get a really short shift most of the time. It seems like retailers think we go straight from Halloween to Christmas!

However much I hate to rush it (and I’m one of those folks who refuses to put up any decorations or listen to any carols until after Thanksgiving) I have to admit that in order to be frugal you must start thinking about Christmas gift giving early. To get things on sale you must be looking all year long, and to make anything from scratch you have to plan ahead-both for the time to get them accomplished, and also to catch the actual materials (be it baking or crafting) on sale.

(side note-a lot of baking supplies like butter, flour and sugar seem to go on sale around Thanksgiving. If you plan on Christmas/Holiday baking you might think about stocking up then!)

I’ve already started to think of some of the things I need to do for the holidays. My problem is usually that I try to do TOO MUCH!!! I love to make things and give things, but can truly stress myself out about it all. I tend to underestimate the effort involved. So my hope this year is to try to simplify things and do as much as possible ahead of time so that the month of December is enjoyable.

So, lets all spend some time thinking about the holdiays. What we want to give, how much time that takes, who we are actually giving things too (are there too many on that list?), what kind of activities we are going to do, should we cut down on some of our committments, and what things to just let go of-like the perfect tree decorating party or the sparkling clean house.

Just think about it some and we’ll talk more about it this week. I’ll let you know my thoughts and musings, and we’ll see what kind of great ideas we can all get from each other.

Also, although I’m Christian, I realize that there are those out there of other faiths. I don’t want to exclude you, and I know that within the next 4 months or so most major religions have some pretty festive celebrations (or at least celebrate secluarly in the spirit of the general holidays) What do you do for the seasons coming up?

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