14 Ways to Prepare for Christmas in December

December is finally upon us. I don’t know if “finally” is the right use of a word since it feels like this year has just been ripping by in fast-forward. But nonetheless, it’s here and I’m excited about it. Christmas is just 20 days away.

Thankfully, I’m not feeling too overwhelmed, because I started Preparing for Christmas way back in October, and then in November, I worked more on preparing for Christmas. So I’m feeling pretty good. I feel caught up and ready to take on these next 20 days before Christmas. It’s easy to have time for family and friends and to just enjoy this season since I spread the workload over the past few months. So now in December, we have a pretty easy workload, but there are all the little last-minute things that need dealing with, so let’s get to it.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the holidays coming up so quickly, don’t worry, take a breather and work down your list one thing at a time. Don’t sacrifice family time for getting ready for the holidays. Your family should always come first.

My hopes are that this simplified list will give you a little help while you get yourself and your family ready for Christmas, and a peace of mind that it doesn’t all need to be perfect.

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14 Ways to Prepare for Christmas in December

First things first, if you didn’t send your Christmas cards out at the end of November, you should be sending them out now.

Go Christmas tree hunting (if you haven’t already). Make a day out of it with your family, pack up and go hunt down the perfect Christmas tree, whether that means heading into the woods or heading to a local store, either can be fun and can be made into a family day.

Put up Christmas decorations. Some people will be long gone with this one. But others prefer to wait a little longer into December to put up their decorations. Now that we’re a week into December, I think it’s time!

Make a Christmas music playlist. This is completely optional and definitely shouldn’t be at the top of the list, but it is fun to do. That way you can throw on some of your favourite tunes that you have compiled into your very own playlist and get in the Christmas spirit.

Host a holiday party (if that’s your cup of tea). Hosting parties definitely isn’t everyone’s forte, and there’s no need to stress over that. If hosting parties is something you love to do, then now is a great time to do it, to bring everyone together and indulge in some pre-Christmas goodies and games with friends.

Make time to visit family and friends. In the midst of this busy Christmas season don’t forget to slow down and take a day or two to visit with friends and family and appreciate this time.

Finish working on any handmade gifts so that you don’t have to be working all the way up until Christmas. Everyone needs some time to relax before the big festivities start.

Finish your last minute gift shopping. Get any of the last-minute gifts or stocking stuffers you still need.

Wrap the Christmas gifts. Hopefully, to make it easier on yourself, you’ve been wrapping the gifts as you’ve been purchasing them, but some of you might enjoy dedicating a day to just wrapping gifts, which works just as well.

Buy the rest of the ingredients needed. If you bought the non-perishable ingredients that you need for the rest of your Christmas baking last month, then all you should need to get now are the perishable ingredients.

Clean out and make room in the coat closet and on the shoe rack. More than likely you are having family and friends over during Christmas. Making room in the coat closet and on the shoe rack is a good idea that is easy to overlook.

Do the rest of your holiday baking. We’re getting close to Christmas, so now you should be finishing up any holiday baking that is still yet to be done.

Do one last simple house clean before Christmas. Since you did your thorough top-to-bottom house scrub in November, now your house should just need a much easier cleaning, a quick dust, vacuum, mop, and cleaning of the bathrooms before guests show up.

And finally, pull out the cookies and Christmas snacks to munch on when guests arrive.

In the midst of the choas of planning, baking, and cleaning, don’t forget to slow down and take some time to just relax and be thankful for this great day.