It's Christmas . . . well ... almost! :)

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just a couple of months away. Am I ready?  Uh no!

I didn't finish getting all my Halloween decorations put out . . .   

Thanksgiving is looming in the horizon and thinking about Christmas today seems a little premature.

Or is it?

Every year Christmas is a blur of activity and obligation and responsibility and house cleaning and present-wrapping and cooking and . . . you get the idea.  You probably can identify with the madness Christmas can become if you're not prepared.

I hate those Christmas holidays when I don't get all my decorating completed . . . nor my Christmas Cards mailed (like last year) . . . nor all my holiday candy making done . . . nor all the many activities with the boys I want to do . . .

So this year I'm going to try something different.

(Like I need one more thing to start doing.  I'm decrapifying my house.  I'm blogging everyday in October.  I am doing a make-over of my living room.)

Like I said . . . I'm going to try something different.  I'm going to try the Holiday Countdown Planner with Shauna at Satori Design for Living.

She just started it this week so I'm not behind.  Some of the suggestions she has for this week are activities that I haven't done in a very long time  . . . like planting my amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs.

Some suggestions are more extreme for her than for me . . . such as to winterize your house.  I need to do that, but she has to prepare for snow!  In fact, it's already snowing where she lives!

Anyway, I'm going to try it.  You should too.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to be ahead of the game this Christmas?  To actually get to enjoy Christmas with your family and church as Christmas is meant to be spent . . . worshiping together as a family and teaching my children more about our Savior.

You can go to her website, Satori Design For Living, to get your Planner for this first week.  I'll be sharing with you as I attempt to prepare for Christmas ahead of time by using her planner suggestions.  We'll see if it makes for a more stress-free and enjoyable holiday. . . .

Here's a copy of her planner:

You'll need to go to her site to download the planner and print it for yourself.  It was really easy to do.

This is the 3rd year that Shauna has done this Holiday Countdown.  You can read about the Week One activities at her Holiday Countdown Series Recap (Week 1).  She summarizes and explains the tasks that are listed for this Week 1 of the Holiday Countdown.

I've already completed item #3.  We had our Christmas card pictures made this past Saturday at the Refuge! ü

Item #2 is a little tricky since I haven't taken my Christmas icicle lights down from last year!  I know, you would think I could just leave them up there, but the spiderwebs covering the icicle lights are not very festive!  :D

Anyway . . . you can see I'm actually looking forward to this new blog challenge.  Let me know if you are trying it too.  

Now where can I find some Amaryllis bulbs and Paperwhite bulbs around here?  There's lots of bulb planting to do this week in preparation of Christmas for . . .

                                the Ferrell boys and me!

Check out my other posts from my 31 Day Writing Challenge in October on the topic of "Comfort and Home"  HERE.

I'm linking up to these awesome parties!  Come join me!