Holiday Planning challenge starting Monday, November 2

 

My wonderful daughter Carrie clued me in to this great-looking 2020 Holiday Planning Challenge. It's with  A Virtuous Woman and starts Monday, November 2. It includes not only preparing for Christmas but for Thanksgiving as well.  Everything is free -- a 120-page planner to print as you like and other Christmas printables as you choose.

My life feels insane right now, but I am going to join in.  I feel as if, after the craziness of the election and the ongoing "pandemic", I am going to need something to help me focus on the wonderful, upcoming holidays that we will be celebrating soon.  This looks enjoyable and even calming.  So I thought I would share the information in case others of you would like to join in as well.

Happy planning!

And a few more tiny steps

 

 Today I realized that I really didn't have enough of the global mail stamps for Christmas cards I am likely to send internationally.  I quickly went to usps.com and ordered ten of these pretty poinsettia global stamps.  I really like that they are the Forever stamps and can be used indefinitely for international cards and letters.

I've done a few other things toward Christmas preparations.  My daughter gave me an idea for her 5-year old, so I've jotted that down on my tentative Christmas list.  This jogged my memory as to some ideas for other family members, so I have a few more spaces filled in on the list.  

A new grandchild is due in December, (in Nevada) so I've got another of the crocheted stockings to make for him/her.  That went on the list as well, of course.  I have made these in varying combinations of dark green, dark red, and cream, so I need to check out a photo that includes the existing stockings in order to decided what the color combo will be for this one.

I've ordered a couple of gifts from Shutterfly and also have a couple of gift books that I found on ThriftBooks.  As I've mentioned before, this is a fantastic source for used books -- new ones, too.

Although I've not made a formal "Kitchen Gifts" list yet, I have noted down some very specific ideas for individuals -- my Christmas granola for several people, and cinnamon pretzels for others. 

 I'm truly beginning to feel that Christmas is going to be very important this year, though we may be somewhat hindered in the way we celebrate.  I think (speaking for myself) that we're all hoping things will be back more toward normalcy by Christmas, but it seems unlikely, so planning ahead is going to be more important than ever.  Personally, I am guilty of letting the days slip by without much planning, but I'm getting on track now.  How about you?