I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We certainly did. We even saw some snow today! As the Christmas weekend draws to a close, I am doing a little mental recap of the season (so far) and have some thoughts about what went well and what I could improve (mostly by simplifying). I am going to use this space to jot down a few notes of things I want to remember for next year. When I start planning, I will have it all in one spot.

  • Consider not stopping the 3Rs during December. I think the kids and I both missed the daily trips to the school room. Maybe we will go the first two weeks before we stop.
  • Make teacher gifts the week after Thanksgiving.
  • Advent and Christmas unit studies went well and were enjoyed by all. Revisit those when planning next year.
  • Pre-make all the Jesse Tree ornaments. We fizzled out towards the end, but that was largely due to no time to prep the ornaments. Also, they enjoyed reading the stories from the Childrens’ Bible more than watching the videos.
  • Be at Christmas Eve Mass early, but not too early. Twenty minutes before is plenty of time to find a seat.
  • Changing the Advent wreath and candle made a huge impact. After Christmas Eve Mass remove the colored candles and swap out the purple decorations for red.
  • Don’t cook a big Christmas meal. Do a ham, rolls, and party food on Christmas Eve and then snack on it for two days. 
  • Have a special wrapping paper design just for Santa.
  • Avoid gifts with many, small pieces. 
  • Gift giving – Something you want. Something you need. Something to share. Something to read.  
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