January's Christmas Club meeting

First, I must apologize to our long-distance club members.  This meeting was scheduled, and then rescheduled for a week later due to my hesitancy about driving in what could potentially have been freezing rain.   The weather was iffy again the second week, and our vehicle was in the shop so I wasn't sure I would even make the meeting.  With all of that, I forgot to notify Vicki or any of the other ladies who had expressed interest in the Christmas Club, and I do apologize.

I think that we are not meeting again until April, and when I learn the actual date I will try and inform you ladies.

So ... as to how this club meeting went.  There were four of us present: Susan, Carrie, Rachel, and myself.  Interestingly, every one of us is in a somewhat different stage of life.  Susan and I are both empty-nesters, but her children and grandchild are not close by, while I have six local grands (plus their parents, of course).  Rachel's daughter is approaching her senior year of high school and thus the empty nest is looming scarily for her.  She wants to make Christmas 2019 just as wonderful as it can be.  And Carrie has four children at home between the ages of 4 and 14.  So Christmas looks different for all of us, and we have varying expectations for the season.

Basically, we talked a lot about how Christmas 2018 had gone for each of us and how we might plan changes or improvements for the 2019 holiday.  I was thankful that I had found time a day or two previously to do my Christmas debriefing (see previous post) and so I was able to share exactly how things had gone, along with my thoughts on what could work better next year.

We also brainstormed with Rachel a bit as to how she might make Christmas 2019 all that she hopes to.  There are great forms available at Organized Christmas that will help with every aspect of planning.  One thing Rachel mentioned was that she did very little baking this holiday, and it is something she loves to do.  The Baking Planner will be a huge help with that, as it has a place to list recipes, where they are found,  what ingredients might be needed, and so on.  I suggested also my own idea of making a list of needed holiday ingredients.  I also had Rachel make a copy of the Post-Christmas Debriefing questions I use so that she could sit down with them and sort out just why she was a bit disappointed this year and how to make some positive changes for 2019.

I also alluded to a form I'd forgotten the name of, but just now as I was browsing around on Organized Christmas I found it -- a Values Worksheet which looks at the previous Christmas to help get plans in place for the next.  I'm thinking I may go through that soon, while last Christmas is fresh in my mind.

Susan showed us her Christmas notebook and, in particular, some of the photo collages she makes from the photo cards she and her hubby receive each year.  This is really a lovely idea.  Susan says if she is feeling a bit down, all she has to do is turn to her Christmas notebook and enjoy all of those smiling faces of friends and loved ones in the photo collages.

And then I also shared with the group a Shutterfly photo book which I have just put together featuring some of our best-loved Christmas cookies.  I will write a separate post about that, as others might like to learn how I did this.  It's a project I've had in mind for awhile and I am so thankful to have finally been able to put it together.  Now I can just tweak it a bit and make copies for family and friends.  It will be nice to have most of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes all in one place.

We all felt as if our Christmas Club meeting had been time well-spent.  Maybe some of our thoughts will encourage you, as well!