House & Holidays Plan and Other Christmas plans - 2025 edition

[Nancy]

I am doing some zone work found tome holiday items red and green baskets I found in the former sewing zone.
Put in the storage area with the red and green totes for holiday items.

Thinking on even more simplifying for holidays as gatherings are not here any longer sigh ~
it's a challenge and energy draining because if some one comes it's a great motivator to get busy
and clean better.

[L.Ann]

We will be at the beach this coming week. I am hoping to get one photo book done. When we get back I start the fall/preholiday detailed cleaning.

Cleaning October and November
-spare bedroom
-DD32’s room
-my room
-hall
-kitchen
-dining room
-living room

Decorations
-tree
-bins from shed

Gifts
Christmas
Brother, sister in law, sister, brother in law
DD32, DD38(half done), DD41
DD38’s DH, DD41’s DH
Little Bit, DGD12, DGD6, DGS6, DGS11

Birthdays
DD38-handprint card w/flamingo, DD32 got her gift, two cards
DD41
DGD12
DGD6-DD32 got her gift and I got mine, got card
DGS6-DD32 got her gift and I got mine, got cars
DD32-12/19 hotel weekend w/ICE and Holidaze cirque tickets

Christmas cards, Christmas stamps, mail gifts, wrap gifts
Christmas shopping plans
Christmas activities-
Shutterfly thing-make card, DD32 2025 book, Little Bit 2024 book, calendar for DD38, Little Bit 2025 book, Little Bit 2024 school book

[trissie]

House & Holidays Plan Week 4: Close to Home Week

https://organizedhome.com/christmas/hou ... -home-week

This Week's Focus: Kid's Room or Bonus Room
With school in full swing, what better time to turn attention to children's bedrooms? Clearing clutter, assessing wardrobes and creating space for holiday gifts will mean a calmer, more centered life for your little one.
No children in the household? Use this week to work on a bonus area or room in your home ... or just play catch-up (or hooky!)
In holiday prep, we'll address the "state of the house" with a home spruce-up exercise. It's designed to help you identify realistic and attainable home improvement goals around the house as you prepare for Christmas.
And don't miss the last clearance sales in the back-to-school aisle! Heavily discounted craft supplies, gadgets and school goodies make great stocking stuffers!

This Week's Household Checklist
- Declutter, clean and organize children's rooms. A pre-season toy declutter makes room for gifts to come--and with fall's cooler weather at hand, children will need space for indoor play and homework. Once the room is decluttered and cleaned, work with your child to create efficient storage for pared-down possessions.
- No children in your household? Tackle any bonus room or area this week--or take the week off!

This Week's Holiday Prep Checklist
- Seasonal Spruce-Up exercise. Complete the seasonal spruce-up exercise to plan any pre-holiday home improvements. It'll help you make a realistic list of home improvement chores to complete before the holiday season gets underway.
- Declutter children's toys. Work with your child to reduce clutter in the toy closet. Assessing the remaining toys will help you make good choices as you shop for gifts--or give Christmas gift recommendations to Nana and Grandma!
- Begin collecting stocking stuffers. Print a stocking stuffers inventory to remind you about stocking gifts on hand.
- Hit the back-to-school clearance sales. After-season sales are a great source for stocking stuffers and crafts supplies. Check your wrap and mail checklist, too; don't forget to load up on tape, mailing supplies and scissors at bargain prices!
- Consult the kids and decide on Halloween costumes. Schedule any sewing sessions in good time to be completed by October 10. Halloween is closer than you think!
- Think ahead to family Advent celebrations. Look for creative ways to make the season come alive at the library or on the Web. Order any day-by-day materials or Advent calendars now.
- Start working on Christmas cards or letters. Divide the Christmas card list into five sections. Complete one section this week. Goal: to be finished writing, signing and addressing cards by November 15.
- Take note of birthdays and anniversaries. While addressing Christmas cards and hunting for gift ideas, it's natural for thoughts of loved ones to come to mind. Add a Birthdays and Anniversaries Calendar to the House and Holidays Planner. As you write cards, note your loved one's special days. It'll remind you to send cards and letters throughout the year!

all the printables and more reading material can be found at the website linked above.

[trissie]

Holiday Grand Plan Week 4: Master Bedroom

https://holidaygrandplan.com/master-bedroom-week/

HOLIDAY PREP
- Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
- Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
- Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
- Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes.
- Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
- Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
- Make list of any table and bathroom linens that need replacing before the holidays, and pick up a few each week.

CLEANING/ORGANIZING AREA: MASTER BEDROOM

all the printables and more reading material can be found at the website linked above.

[trissie]

Week 5 - DS14's room
- clean door
- clean lights
- clean window
- wash mattress cover
- detailed vacuuming
- clean baseboards
- clean convector
- clean/reorganize wardrobe
- clean/reorganize bookcase
- clean/reorganize toy storage bins
- clean/reorganize small shelf unit

[trissie]

I took advantage of DS being out of the house most day yesterday (he's the one to hide in his room when he's home), and made a lot of progress in his room, even if it's not "due" yet. Week 4 means no new area for me - my plan figures in a "catch-up week" every three weeks, because life happens and all that.
Still busy with processing this year's harvest, but I do manage to squeeze a task here and there. Progress still counts!

[Kittykatt]

I didn't get as much done last week as I had hoped, mainly due to time spent at the vet and other appointments. But, on the plus side, the tickets and poster for parish Christmas lunch are now printed, and I've done a little more deep cleaning in the sitting room . Oh, and I e got a few more ideas for DH for Christmas / birthday.

[Kittykatt]

Christmas Preparations:
Decluttering and deep cleaning:
Declutter hall
Deep clean hall
Declutter stairs (there shouldn’t be anything on there apart from the bowl with toys for Matilda!)
Deep clean stairs
Declutter sitting room WIP
Deep clean sitting room WIP
Declutter landing book case
Deep clean landing bookcase
Declutter bathroom
Deep clean bathroom
Declutter bedroom WIP
Deep clean bedroom WIP
Declutter spare room/ office
Deep clean spare room/ office
Declutter kitchen
Deep clean kitchen

Prune roses 14 done, 12 to do.

Christmas List!
( I’m going to need to make amendments and additions, but it’s a start.)

Christmas prep:
Find my Christmas book!
Gifts:
DH birthday (and card) and Christmas(and card)
DH stocking
DF E
Dnextdoorneighbour C
DH’s family: A, DH will sort: R, S, L&G, B, L2, R2 & D, J
Give tubs of chocolates to: vet, hairdresser, anyone else who has been really good to us this year to say “thank you” – Ocado order for this last year - see if they give good value again?)
List gifts I still need to buy
DH is supposed to be buying for his family
Wrap gifts
Cards:
Do I need to buy more?
Update card list
Check addresses and get DH to print out address labels
Write cards
Are we doing a newsletter this year?

Food:
Ring butcher and order Christmas meat
Veg and fruit
Christmas “goodies” – cheeses, biscuits for cheese, sweet biscuits, chocolate...

Baking:
Mince pies
Gingerbread men
Christmas cake
Glaze Christmas cake
Fudge?
Truffles?

Christmas grocery order – Waitrose (KEEP CHECKING
FOR CHRISTMAS DELIVERY SLOTS FROM MID SEPTEMBER and put the basics in my trolley.) Just need to add any seasonal items, and be careful not to get carried away! Remember fruit for fruit salad, also parsnips, carrots and sprouts (unless I decide on a veg box)
Am I having a Christmas veg box?

Decorations:
Tree
Wreath for front door
Lights round porch
Lights on kitchen windowsill
Wooden Nativity scene (this depends on whether Matilda tries to chew it!)
Church organ musical box, gingerbread house tin and Christmas tree tin (on top shelf of sitting room bookcase?)
Christmas card holders over kitchen door
Hang Christmas count down ornament? (Or will this make my life too stressful? )

Events:
Christmas shoebox for Moldova - check what suitable gifts I have already (I'm assuming our church is doing this again this year)

2/12 Women’s group meditation - S and S are organising it.

4/12 Parish Christmas lunch. I'm organising this for the first time this year Booked for 04/12 at the back of the church. Need to book caterers soon? ( I'm keeping it really simple this year, so just a buffet). Caterers booked!
Find phone number for caterers (in the end I used their "Contact us" form, which was souch simpler)
Write everything down in a logical order :
Full address of the church, name and email address for the treasurer, Date: 4th December
Time, 11 am-12 pm (they have hourly slots)
Which menu I want to order with all the add-ons (simple buffet with bite sized cakes and fruit platter)
Order for 20 guests (Remember at least a couple need to be GF)
Explain that the treasurer has the "chequebook" for the church (she actually does everything online) and ask them to send the invoice there.
MD has suggested we make it a ticketed event, so liaise with D (parish administrator over design of tickets )
Ask D to print tickets
Number tickets and keep a list of names!
Work out costs per head:
Also need tablecloths, crackers (DF PM has lots of Xmas napkins she will provide) fairy lights on font, paper chains? MD has offered to make simple centre pieces for table
MD has also offered members of the social.committee to help set up /clear away
Remember we need a separate table for GF food
Tea and coffee from the urns, soft drinks? (No alcohol as we would need an Events Licence, and I'm not going down that route )
Bite sized mince pies?
How / when do we publicise it? Ask D to print poster advertising the event
Tickets and poster now printed!


Carol service at church? Am I reading? ( does the catering committee want me to do the mulled wine?)
Christmas services: are we having a Bethlehem Mass at 9 pm on Christmas Eve again? (It was a lot more popular that midnight mass, especially now people are getting older!!!), will I be asked to read?

Date to visit DBIL and family? (Probably early January)

To be continued...
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[trissie]

House & Holidays Plan Week 5: Guest Room Week

https://organizedhome.com/christmas/hou ... -room-week

This Week's Focus: Guest Room or Bonus Room
Making ready for guests this year? Whether your home includes a designated guest room, or you bed down visitors in a multi-use area, it's time to prepare for holiday houseguests.
This week, we'll check on all the items we need to extend hospitality, and clean and organize any areas devoted to visitors. As we go, we'll consider what makes a welcoming home, and find ways to make our guests feel cherished and comfortable.
In holiday prep, we'll begin thinking about holiday decorations, make a first-of-the-month status check, and begin decorating for Autumn. Try these resources to jumpstart your holiday home:

This Week's Household Checklist
- Declutter, clean and organize guest areas. Whether your household has a dedicated guest room or a simple fold-out sofabed, declutter, organize and clean the area you use to host guests.
- No guest room or guest space? Take a bonus week, tackling another area of the household or catching up on earlier assignments.

This Week's Holiday Prep Checklist
- Status Check! Review the progress of the House and Holidays Plan on the first day of the month. If you're falling behind, adjust goals to a more realistic level.
- Begin planning holiday decorating. Check magazines, library books and the Web for decor inspiration. Use a printable room-by-room decor planner to coordinate decor plans.
- Inventory holiday decorations. Make a quick inspection and determine what you have to work with. Will you need to replace or upgrade decor items this year? Make a note on the decor inventory form.
- Declutter before you decorate for autumn. Do your visual field a favor with a quick decor declutter. A clean sweep now makes holiday decorations all the more impressive!
- Decorate for autumn. Choose "generic" decor items. Nearer to Halloween, add a few Halloween items which can be removed easily after the holiday. Come November 1, swap them out for Thanksgiving decorations.
- Schedule houseguest stays. Grab calendars and check in with family about travel plans. Will you host houseguests this year?
- Make a guest room "pamper basket". Guests feel welcomed when the guest room or guest area boasts a simple basket of toiletries and personal care supplies. Add a coffeemaker and beverage supplies for a "bed and breakfast" touch.
- Continue working on Christmas cards. Divide the Christmas card listinto five sections. Complete one section this week. Goal: to be finished writing, signing and addressing cards by November 15.

all the printables and more reading material can be found at the website linked above.

[trissie]

Holiday Grand Plan Week 5: Master Bath

https://holidaygrandplan.com/05-master-bathroom-week/

HOLIDAY PREP
- Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
- Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
- Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
- Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes.
- Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
- Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
- Take toys and books that are outgrown, clean them up and prepare them for donation to toy drives.
- Make list of toys and books that children would enjoy and that would fit in their rooms and that would work with what they have. Keep it hand for telling family what they would like.
- Inventory clothing and have another list of clothing items needed. Measure the children and put measurements on this list.

CLEANING/ORGANIZING AREA: MASTER BATHROOM AND LINEN CLOSET

all the printables and more reading material can be found at the website linked above.