Christmas Countdown Help

It's three days until Christmas. Are we delighted or debilitated?

Try these five easy tips to make next year's holiday season more joyful than Tiny Tim on Christmas morning.

courtesy of stockimages @freedigitalphotos.net

5) Prep for next year.
Get in the habit of post-Christmas and other clearance shopping. 

Watch for new-in-package items at garage sales and thrift shops. 

Keep the gifts in a tote, and you'll have a head start for next Christmas. 
Try it for birthdays and baby showers too. 

4) Limit spending.
Set a gift budget and stick with it, even when those mounted singing reindeer heads beckon. 

Re-gifting is great, especially if you've received a mounted singing reindeer head.

When you get a potential re-gifting item, tape a note on it. 
Include the date and who it's from to keep from giving it back to the original giver.

3) Break Tradition.
If you always cook a feast for your extended family, ask each member to bring along a side-dish instead. 

You'll save time and money. Plus it assures your guests of one dish they'll enjoy--their own. 

Create new traditions, like taking a special family outing in lieu of gifts. Seriously, how many Xbox games do your children need?  

2) Under-commit.
It's OK to say no.
"Sorry, I can't host the ... cook the... head up the ..." 
No need to explain why. 
A simple, "I'm sorry, I can't." suffices. 

You might need to repeat it several times, or threaten them with a mounted singing reindeer head, but it will work.

courtesy of digidreamgrafix @ freedigitalphoto.net

1) Remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
Focus on the joy of Jesus birth. Let cooking, cleaning, and shopping take a back seat to the great news found in Luke 2:11:


"The Savior--yes, the Messiah, the Lord--has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!"

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!