Okay, it’s still a few months away, but the advent calendars have been in the shops since August and you know you have to make a decision sooner or later on which relatives to land on or have landed on you on the 25th. Plus November is one of those awful months where you blink after Halloween and bonfire night and it’s gone and you’re left with just over two weeks to do all the Christmas shopping. So…to make sure you can sit back in December and soak up the chocolates, here’s our Christmas planner to take the stress out of the season of goodwill.
1. Book the holiday period off as soon as humanly possible so that that colleague who always gets in there early doesn’t consign you to another year of sitting in the office on Boxing Day with a limp mince pie and the endless Christmas songs of yesteryear background music. Or maybe you’d prefer to be there…
2. Arrange childcare well in advance. It’s Christmas, season of family and friends. Use every single one you can to look after kids, take them to the cinema, etc.
3. Prepare ahead to avoid the usual heated arguments of many a past Christmas. Avoid internal family politics and get into a regular routine – his family this year, yours for the next five years [to recover from his]. If you know that your great aunt is bound to get on her high horse about working mothers try to avoid the subject by organising charades and other activities, going for a family walk, liberally topping up the sherry at regular intervals, etc. Alternatively, wear a tee-shirt with the words ‘I’m a working mum and I’m proud’ emblazoned over the bosom and tell her exactly what you think of her. It will make for a memorable Christmas for your children.
4. Do all your shopping online where at all possible. Choose a theme for Christmas for the more distant relatives eg books [relatively cheap, easy to wrap and educational too] and get it all at the same online outlet to save on postage.
5. Get your children to write long letters to Santa. The longer the better, that way there is sure to be something that is a) affordable and b) available online somewhere on the list so they won’t be disappointed.
6. Hide everything very carefully, if necessary bury it in a vault. Children are always on the lookout for any excuse not to believe in Santa.
7. Get your children to design their own Christmas cards and print them out. You can usually do this for cheap on any of the design your own card kits on the computer. If you don’t have one of them, photocopy the design onto card. Failing that, buy the cheapest bunch of cards from the local bargain shop. You could go for the expensive charity cards, but if you’ve got a few children and they are at school that is going to be a LOT of money you are shelling out just for them to send a more or less blank card to someone they don’t even like and barely acknowledge. Keep all the cards they get and use them for labels next year [if you can find them by then].
8. Draw up a list of action for the food. Two weeks before Christmas, buy the turkey and non-perishables like crackers, etc. Of course, you could prepare months in advance and make the crackers yourself with your children…It’s also worth checking the cupboards – you may have a few left over from last year if you’re lucky.
9. Indulge yourself – after spending the whole year dashing off after work and never having any time to go down the pub with colleagues, give yourself some time off to go to the office Christmas party or if you’ve lost the taste for office politics, arrange a party with your friends [who also have kids and you haven’t seen since last year].
10. Make sure you allow for the many, many Christmas celebrations organised by schools, nurseries, etc, for your delectation and delight. Check with the school, write them down on your calendar, book the time off, offer to do extra shifts or alternatively, if your boss is unsympathetic, stand as near to any colleague/schoolchild with a bug as possible without looking too suspicious. After all, they’re only second sheep from the left in that nativity play once in their lives [and you have stayed up for endless nights sewing bits of fluff onto that pyjama suit].
Post this entry to:
del.icio.us
|
Digg
|
Newsvine
|
Reddit
