Looking Back: Christmas in Review

Host Bee on Friday, January 12th, 2007

Host a Meeting with the Chairperson of the Board

Subject: Christmas 2006!

Although Christmas 2006 may seem like a distant memory already and your tree is probably laying by the curbside, this IS the time to meet with the Chairperson – YOU! This is the best possible time to sit down with a cup of coffee and a spiral notepad and review the highs and lows of the season! Eleven months from now, if you’re like me, you’ll barely remember a thing about this past holiday! In addition, you should gather the pile of Christmas cards that your family received, as well as any cards that you sent that were returned as undeliverable.

Topics for the Notebook:

Cards

How many cards did you order? How many did you actually send? I over ordered by about 15 cards, so this goes in the notebook.
How many cards did you receive? Are there some recipients who should be deleted from your list? I rarely eliminate people from our list, even if they don’t send to us. When you are in touch with certain family or friends only once a year, it’s hard to cut them out!!!
Don’t forget new friends who sent you a card for the first time this year! Add them to your list.
The mailing list! Do I hand write the envelopes or create labels? I admit that I have done both in the past. If you decide to make labels, it is very easy to purchase computer software to create these labels. Even the Post Office was selling a kit to make labels this year! Do this NOW! get your addresses into the computer, updating with any new addresses that you picked up when cards were returned as undeliverable. Print a copy of the labels on plain paper and keep this with your address book, in a handy spot. During the year, make notes of friends who have moved, jot the name of a new baby, etc. right onto the stapled sheets. updating the labels in December of 2007 will be a breeze!
If you choose to hand address your envelopes, creating a typed master list will still be helpful. Typing your list and keeping the list handy as in (d) will make your job in December 2007 easier.
I also use the typed list as a place to record the names of children, spouses, etc. whose names I wouldn’t be able to remember without help! One of my college friends has NINE children, and a few are on their second spouse. It pays to record these names, somewhere!!
Do you include family photos in your card? Starting today, take a manila envelope and mark it Christmas Card ‘07. Put into this envelope any reasonably attractive photo of your family taken throughout the year! You will be thrilled to have a number of pictures to choose from in December!

Wrapping Paper

How many rolls did you buy? How many rolls did you use? Did you have to go back out to the store or have lots left over? Put this in the notebook.
Ditto with tags.

Entertaining

Did you have company? Did you have too many or too few guests?
Were you happy with your menu and the quantities served?
Were you missing any serving pieces?
Jot down any ideas for improvements next time around.

Christmas Tree

Where did you buy it? Did it last as long as you’d hoped?

Baking

Favorite recipes or failures?

Christmas PJs (one of my own vacillating issues)

To buy matching PJs for the kids or not? If you wish to match, you have to do this early in the season. Note a reminder.

What Made You Crazy

Too late with the packages to be mailed? Not enough gift-wrap? Cards weren’t ordered in time? Nothing to wear to a party? Too many holiday activities? Couldn’t get a hair appointment in December? Up late wrapping gifts?
Fix it or eliminate the source of craziness. If you don’t write this down now, you won’t remember in December 2007!

Decorations

What were you missing? I had two window candle lights that didn’t work this year – will write this down and buy two to replace them right away in November.
The same with outdoor lights. The lights my husband and I liked best were no longer available in early December. Will look into lighting in October this year!
I also promise myself that I will make a hairdresser’s appointment for at least one of the Saturdays in December when we are going to a party! I WILL have a fresh blow out for one holiday party in the 2007 season!
Keep a short list of the gifts that you gave this year to the important people in your family. The list will guide you for the year ahead, both creatively and monetarily.
Use the notebook to record any gifts that you buy during the year. Without a log, I would surely forget both what I bought and where I hid it!