Getting Ready for Christmas

Since I refuse to get heavily into Christmas planning before Halloween, now it's time to get serious about preparing for Christmas! One of the most valuable resources I've found is Flylady's Cruising through the Holidays. I admit that I've been "flywashed." Before I stumbled on Flylady's Web site about two years ago, my house was always a mess and I dreaded having people over because that meant scrambling around to clean up my house.

With Flylady's (a.k.a. Marla Cilley) approach of babysteps, I've been able to get better control over the chaos 15 minutes for a time. Now, I'm usually 30 minutes away from being able to have friends over. I do still have issues -- like I would rather do almost any duty than wash dishes -- but I'm moving in a good direction. Before using her tips, I always felt overwhelmed at where to begin with housework. 

My favorite thing about Flylady's tips is that they're FREE! Of course, she tries to earn cash for her Web site by offering items for sale, but I've never felt pressured to buy and love the fact that her tips are sent out by email. To keep me on track, I look at her Holiday Cruising Missions that involve small projects to get me ready for Christmas by the end of November.

I'm not keeping on track with all the missions, but it's been helpful to start thinking of my budget for Christmas presents. Since we're in a new house this year, I hope that some early planning will help us figure out where to place our decorations and get everyone in a festive mood. After all, I don't want to spend the season preparing for baby Jesus' birth stressed out and irritable.

Any fellow "Flybabies" out there?