A neighborhood cookie exchange. Christmas light looking. Your church’s annual Christmas production, nativity scene, or ministry event. Sitting on Santa’s lap. The Nutcracker. Watching your five favorite holiday movies. Making all those crafts you’ve pinned. Making jam as gifts for your kids’ teachers. Maybe even Christmas caroling. Giftshoppingcardaddressingcraftmakingsnowsledding.

There’s a lot of fun stuff to do throughout the Christmas season, and if you’re like me, you have grand ambitions post-Thanksgiving that fizzle to survival by the 23rd. December dawn, and it feels like you’ve got all kinds of time to do all the things on your list. One fun thing per day. What’s hard about that?

Well, grocery shopping, for starters. And school, and work, and laundry, and errands. You know… the liturgy of life.

It’s frustrating to want to do festive things and to ultimately not do them.

Last week’s task was to plan your gift giving. This week’s Plan your holiday calendar, well in advance. Life gets busy, and it’ll be hard to get your fun things on the schedule if you don’t plan ahead.
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Drumroll… There’s seven weeks to Christmas. Seriously. Doesn’t that sound bizarre? Apparently I blinked some time between the last holiday season and now.

I think the best way to have a peace-filled, reason-focused Christmas is to do your holiday tasks a little at a time, not too early and not too late. Tasks on our holiday to-do list morph from merry to miserable when we’re busy to the brim.

Like doing all things one bite at a time, so too can we best savor the season when we do a few things to help us prepare well, a little at a time.

In the past, I’ve done a 12 weeks to a peaceful Christmas series. This year, I’m cutting it to six. And since we at SLM are holding our annual Home for the Holidays giveaway week right after Thanksgiving, I want to start Week Six today. Even though Christmas is still technically seven weeks away. Just go with me on this one. And remember, these tasks can still be applied to whatever holiday your family celebrates.

Ready for your first task?
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On Twitter? Join me and three other authors for a #SimpleXmas party this Thursday, Decemeber 9 from 10-11 pm EST. We’ll talk ways to simplify and organize Christmas! You’ll have a chance to win one of our books, plus get a download link for a free e-book, a compilation of helpful holiday organizing tips.

The kids will be down (hopefully), so don your jammies and grab your favorite drink-in-a-mug for an hour-long holiday party from the convenience of your couch.   I’d love to live chat with Simple Mom readers!

How it works:

1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Head to TweetChat (click on ‘toggle speed’ to slow down the conversation for readability)
3. Enter the hashtag #SimpleXmas
4. Join in the conversation, adding #SimpleXmas to all your tweets

It’ll be an hour long group conversation with lots of question-and-answer time. My book’s publicist will pick her favorite answers to three pre-chosen questions we’ll throw out, and the winners will receive either:

• Absolutely Organize Your Family, by Debbie Lillard
• Organize Now!, by Jennifer Ford Berry
• Or my book, Organized Simplicity

After the hour, my publicist will ask you to send her your email address (you won’t be put on some list without your permission, I promise), and she’ll send you a free e-book with some helpful tips for simplifying and organizing Christmas. This is only if you want; it’s not required.

Hope to see you there! Again, that’s Thursday, December 9 from 10-11 p.m. EST.

The holiday season, if not planned, can get expensive. Add up lights, decor, a tree, extra baking ingredients, plane tickets for travel, not to mention gifts, and Christmas can become a major line item in your annual budget.

But did you know that this time of year is often a charity’s biggest push for donations? Many people want to get a tax deduction before the year ends, so charities ask people to give to their non-profit organization during the holidays.

As someone who has been involved in non-profit work for many years, I know these end-of-the-year gifts make a big difference in a charity’s annual budget.

But as someone with a home and family to manage, I know finances are usually tight. We want to give, but it’s not easy to decide where to give. We want our money to go where it’s needed most, and we want it to be used appropriately.

Here are some tips for giving as a family during the Christmas season.
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