Holiday Early Bird – See.  Perceive.  Act.

In mid-October, former procrastinators, our daughter received three packages – Christmas gifts she had already ordered.  Oh, wow.  I’m inspired!  I imagine some of you shop all year for Christmas; others have at least crossed off several items on your shopping list.  Not me. I can’t stand last minute panic shopping, but I definitely need to up my game on shopping early.

Our daughter had already put thought into these gifts, searched, purchased, and received them.  This is “seasonal See. Perceive. Act.”  What stress-relief!  It’s budget relief, too, as purchases are spread out.  Lumping all gifts onto the December credit card is a major stressor in January.  This is avoidable if we don’t procrastinate.  Procrastination makes holidays more expensive.

Early gives time to think outside the gift box.  Passes to the zoo?  Aquarium tickets?  Something homemade?

Does the appearance of shoe boxes in the church lobby shock you every year?  Start filling them in October to avoid a rushed job.

Watch for early sales. There’s often no need now to wait until after Christmas.  Thinking ahead primes you to purchase when the price goes down.

Write down what you’ve purchased, for whom – and where you stored it.  I’ve lost gifts before I could give them.  Put your list where you see it.

Early lets you enjoy a wrapping session with fun and time to spare.

Start buying pecans.  That’s what I have to do, but apply this to whatever helps you.  Pecans are pricey and they disappear during the high demand of holiday cooking.  So, I lay in a few bags starting in early fall.  Plus, a few bags of black-eyed peas for New Year’s.  They’re cheap but they vanish.

Early means you avoid frustration from “Sold out!”

Early gives time to notice who might need an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner or a carol sing at your house.

Consider “out of season” gifts.  Maybe some folks would rather receive their gift box of cheeses at Thanksgiving because that’s when they have company.  When would your gift best serve?

Decide who’s hosting, who are the guests.

Early travel arrangements are less frustrating and often cheaper. It’s a relief to settle in advance airline reservations and hotel rooms along your route.

Giving the hair dresser and lawn man their Christmas gifts early might help with their shopping. 

On another note, some things are just too early.  I was dismayed to see workmen hanging wreaths and swags on subdivision entrances – October 15^th.  Awful!

That did remind me to think early about our Christmas tree.  The children have been pressing for a new one.  Ours is the kind you have to stick the branches into the trunk and it has no lights.  But really, it looks good.  We’d add extra lights to a new one anyway.  And the old one is easier to store.  Arguments for and against a new one have become part of our tradition.

What do you make sure to do early for Thanksgiving or Christmas?