I've got a plan...

....well, actually Kristyn has a plan and I'm latching onto hers.  If you followed Kristyn at all last year, you probably saw her ADVENTure posts.  Throughout the year she would update us on her preparations for Christmas.  She was purposeful in thinking through what she wanted to create, gift and enjoy throughout the year so that when December came she wasn't harried, frazzled and cranky.  I watched and cheered her on...but I didn't join in due to a road block in my mind. 

You see, I had this notion that Christmas inspiration wasn't really Christmas inspiration unless it struck me from October on.  I felt like I had to wait closer to the day for the real inspiration to hit me.  What if I made a gift in February and then in November - THE PERFECT GIFT IDEA came along?  What would I do then? 

 So, I've been thinking through my ideas and what I think really makes up the perfect gift and I've come to realize a couple of things:

1. the thought that goes into the gift is more valuable than when that thought occurs (it doesn't matter if I think it through in February or November)

2. I will enjoy gifting much more if I don't have deadline pressures on myself (anyone ever finishing a project in the wee hours of the morning know what I'm talking about?)

3.  I can wait for inspiration on those gifts that need inspiration, but for those that I can, I'm going to knock them out ahead of time and leave myself some room for when the inspiration happens (I can make my teacher gifts in the summer and my book club gifts don't have to wait until November)

4. If I keep doing what I've always done, I'll keep getting the results I've always gotten (I'm always wanting more creative time and more time to relax closer to the holidays - perhaps with some pre-planning I can achieve that this year)

I may be a bit slow to catch on, but once I'm on fire watch out!  I went through and made a recipient list and jotted down any gift ideas that I already had.  I'm keeping this list where I can update it and add to it when I get a gift idea. (and yes, I'm giving my mom something in addition to the gift tags that I listed by her name, but she liked mine so much this year, I thought I'd give her a set early in December that she can use on her gifts)

Then I went through and put a stickie note on each page in my calendar.  On these stickies I wrote some projects that I want to work on for gifts (and for myself) this year.  I have three people who I want to give dishcloths to, so I wrote dishcloth on the stickie for three different months.  I left myself plenty of room for last minute inspiration and personal crafting. 

There are plenty of weeks for me to enjoy the seasonal ideas that come along and plenty of time for me to stockpile some of the gifts that I really do want to give at Christmas (or for any holiday/special occasion).   I've already got some tags ready for giving next year...check, check...smile, smile! 

So, that's my plan...I'm stockpiling blessings for next Christmas....how fun!  If you want to join, jump over to Kristyn's and check out her post, it's full of great inspiration and it'll get you started on your own ADVENTure!