Good morning! How strange to be posting on a Wednesday! We haven’t posted on Wednesdays for a while now but here we go! Remember to head over to the original 12 Days of Christmas post here to look at all the other hosts and their ideas, to print out calendars and to enter the giveaway! Also, there is an inlinkz at the bottom of the post where you can add your ideas of how to survive the holidays!
Welcome to the 5th annual 12 Days of Holiday Ideas event, hosted by Shirley of Intelligent Domestications and Erlene of My Pinterventures Between Nov. 11th and December 6th there will be hundreds of new ideas shared by over 55 Co-host bloggers!
Go here to see our kick-off collection of Holiday ideas as well as all of this years talented participating DIY and Foodie Blogs. Download this years November and December calendars with all of the topics and dates so you can make plans to watch for ideas!
We are hosting a BIG GIVEAWAY from our Sponsors this year! Be sure to scroll all the way down for more information and to enter to win!
We are continuing on with our 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop. This is day 2 of 12 and we are talking about the best tips on Surviving Christmas! Christmas is one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year and this year will be no different. While everyone is trying to complete their Christmas list (for themselves and shopping for others), here is a short list of things you can do to make your Christmas go smoothly.
Order All of Your Gifts Early and Keep a Checklist
I think this is probably the biggest thing to help keep you sanity during Christmas. I like to write down everything that I want to get for people and mark it off when I have received the item. So for my checklist this year, I wrote down my sister, my mom, my dad, my Secret Santa for work, and my cats (you can’t forget them). Under each person I put what I am planning on getting them and put a check mark next to it when I have purchased the item. If you have a price limit for the gift, I like to write the price next to their name so I don’t overspend. And don’t forget to order way ahead of time! If you are planning on getting gifts from websites like Amazon, make sure you order them early so they have time to arrive. You would hate to order a very important Christmas gift a week before Christmas and it not arrive on time!
Set Up a Time to Wrap All of the Presents
This is something that my mom does every year. Once she has collected all of the gifts, she finds a day where she isn’t doing too much and wraps ALL of them. When my sister and I lived at home, mom would lock herself in her bedroom to wrap all of the presents. But make sure you have all of the things you would need to wrap. Paper, tape, ribbon, scissors, tags, boxes, bags, and tissue paper. Make sure you have all of your stuff so you don’t have to keep leaving the room. Make sure you have some water and a possible snack and some good music to listen to!
Make a Checklist of Christmas Activities You Want to Do
More checklists! Personally, I love making checklists or to do lists so this is definitely something I do. Your checklist can be as big or small as you would like. You can add things like visit a nativity, bake cookies, watch a Christmas movie, go caroling, and many many more. You can add as many or as few things as you would like to your list. This year, my Christmas list actually looks like a Christmas tree coloring page. All of the things I want to are ornaments on the tree and I get to color one in when I’ve completed it. And guess what? You can use it too! I placed it below so you can print out your own Christmas Tree Checklist!
Pick One or Two Days to Stay Home
With all of the craziness of the Christmas season, it is easy to get stressed out from going places and doing things. Take some time for yourself and stay home. Plan a day to stay home and bake Christmas cookies, watch Christmas movies, read Christmas stories, stay in Christmas pajamas all day, drink hot cocoa, among other things. You don’t always have to be crazy busy. Make sure you take time for yourself and relax for a day.
If You are Hosting, Enlist Help
During the crazy Christmas season we are always attending parties. If it’s just hosting Christmas at your house or hosting a Christmas Cookie Exchange, it can still take a lot of work. And it’s tiring to do it all yourself. Don’t forget to enlist the help of others to prepare for your party. Have your family help you clean (even if that means getting the kids to just tidy up their toys), ask some friends or family who are attending if they would be willing to help you prep, and asking others to help supply food. For our families Christmas, we separate the food duties out between all of the families attending. It makes life just a little easier when it comes to the actual day of the party. That it one less thing you have to worry about the day of the party. It makes the day less stressful and the party easier to enjoy!
Buy Wrapping Paper WAY Ahead of Time
Something my mom and I do is we actually buy wrapping paper AFTER Christmas. This is the perfect time get huge discounts on wrapping paper and other supplies for your Christmas presents. Ribbon, bows, paper, boxes, bags, you name it you can get it discounted. Now, I know it’s too late now, but I highly recommend buying your wrapping paper sooner rather than later. The sooner that you have your wrapping paper, the sooner you will feel less stressed.
And that’s it! These are just a couple ideas on how you survive the Christmas holiday season. There are more things you can do to help make the season less stressful. But these are my top things to help keep my sanity. So I hope you enjoy and let me know if you are going to try any of these this season!
Here’s the inlinkz! See what the other ideas there are for surviving the holidays!
MEET OUR SPONSORS who have generously donated fabulous prizes for the Big Christmas Giveaway!
DecoArt winner will receive a prize package valued at $100!
Dixie Crystals/Imperial Sugar winner will receive a Keurig Coffee Maker valued at $100!
Oriental Trading winner will receive an OrientalTrading.com gift card valued at $200!
Cabot Cheese winner will receive a gift basket of Cabot products valued at $75!
Burlap Fabric winner will receive a prize pack of products valued at $50!
Zulay Kitchens winner will receive one Milk Frother and a Lemon Squeezer valued at $21
It’s Home To You winner will receive one wooden Santa sign valued at $65
Giveaway begins Nov. 8, 2019 and ends Dec. 6, 2019. Winners will be notified by December 13, 2019. Sponsors will ship each prize to the winner. There will be a total of seven winners, one for each prize. Drawing is by random selection using the Rafflecopter widget.
Must be 18 to win. Open to U.S. residents only.
HOME ON THE CORNER 
Great tips and these will all help make Christmas less stressful. I’m exhausted the day after Christmas, but I always go buy my paper that day for the next year.
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I usually wait until the afternoon to go and there are still plenty of different wrapping papers to choose from. I’m glad to know someone else thinks the same way!
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