My sister Genny comes on weekends in October and November every year to help us put up Christmas decorations. Could NOT do it without her! Thanks, Genny!! This year, we’ve had a lot of fun on the phone, while looking at my Pinterest boards, and discussing what we may want to try this year. Spoiler…there may be a snowman in my bathtub for Open House!

Getting ready early is fun, really. My binders (see below) make it easy.

The red one is one of three binders that contain ideas I pull from magazines. I used to be unable to tear apart magazines, but I got over that four or five years ago, pulled out the pages I wanted, and stored them in page protectors in these binders. I think looking at six feet of shelving, brimming over with Christmas magazines, finally did it…it’s so much easier to review that pertinent material condensed into a binder! Or three.

Every year, I add to the storage binders with new magazine ideas. I look through them each year before planning Christmas decorating, entertaining, etc. They give me a lot of inspiration. New ideas pop into my head when I look through the pictures in these binders. Sometimes the ideas have nothing to do with the actual picture, but the inspiration is there.

“Room Pages” holds pages that list all the ways I decorate each room of our home, with new ideas I may want to implement this year filed behind each Room Page.

The Christmas Party Planner binder holds the information I need for the planning of each large event we host during the holidays…our annual Open House, the Christmas House Concert, and the Library Dinner. It also has tabs for smaller events we host, though these are not on the calendar every year.

The Christmas Notebook is the backbone of our holiday prep. My Weekly Plan Pages (and a lot of other stuff!) are in there. Each WPP (Sept. 1 through Jan. 6) has a list of the things that need to be completed during that week to be ready for Christmas. Lets me have the Christmas I want with a lot less stress.

This shot shows one of the TO DO pages. I have one for each room, and jot down the things I decide I may want to add this year. From here, those items will either be accomplished in the next few weeks or transferred to my Weekly Plan Pages for sometime in the next few months.

I keep a running shopping list in my Christmas Notebook, where I can list the things that need to be purchased or otherwise acquired. Each year, Genny scours thrift shops looking for items we may need and that helps with the budget, not to mention inspiration when she finds something particularly fun!

Without these helps, we wouldn’t be able to pull together the holiday celebrations that we enjoy so much. But an organized plan keeps all the details in place. Step by step, they are easy to accomplish. The hardest part is the self discipline to JUST DO IT.

~~Rhonda

When I get all the ribbons and little holly leaves on the stack to the left, the invitations will be finished.

I used Print Shop to design the invitation. I imported the vintage postcard print, then added the invitation and the light green background. It’s printed on a cream colored “parchment” card stock. Each sheet of card stock printed four invitations. When I trimmed them, I left a cream colored border around the green to add a light border.

I used gold Stickles to outline the border of the postcard print, then used red Stickles to outline the green background and to color the ribbons and the holly berries. Green Stickles highlight the holly leaves. Once they dried, they were matted with red card stock and I used a Krylon 18kt gold leafing pen to put the last border on the invitation.

The holly leaves were punched from green card stock printed with “Please Come!” and outlined with the gold leafing pen.

These will go in the Christmas cards and will be mailed the day before Thanksgiving. Once I get the invitations done, all I have to do for the Christmas cards is put together the Christmas letter. I’ll probably finalize that in October. But the cards/invites will be ready and waiting!

~~Rhonda

Today is the beginning of the Christmas Notebook season!

I teach the Christmas Notebook plan for holiday preparation on the yahoo group Christmas Notebook. It helps members organize preparation for the holidays so they have more time in December to celebrate the season with friends and family. It walks them through each stage of holiday preparation: from evaluating what they want their own Christmas to be, to showing them how to make it happen.

The first introductory article has been posted to the CNB list, with many more to come as the weeks roll by. Membership will be open for a few more weeks. If you are interested, send a membership request via email soon. To do so, send a blank email to

christmasnotebook-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

After a few weeks, the membership will close for the season. Don’t delay!

~~Rhonda