it is almost here....can you taste it?

WE ALL KNOW that Labor Day sets it in motion. Once we wash the sand from under our fingernails after the Labor Day fun, Christmas is only three house payments away.

Every year, I tell myself that THIS year, I will be Ms. Org A. Nized...that THIS year will be a stress-free holiday. THIS year....by the time the week before the night before Christmas Eve rolls around, my house will be spotless, presents all wrapped, and our family photo & newsletter decorating fridge doors everywhere. I will be lounging on the couch, sipping homemade hot cocoa, watching Elf, and sampling my homemade caramels to make sure they still taste as good as they did 20 minutes ago. Oh, and the freezer will be full of sugar cookie dough, just in case.

Now, Christmas is breathing down our necks and here I am...doing it again: making a pact about stress and the holidays. Only this time, I've had a real honest-to-goodness epiphany. I've decided not to change a thing. After much thought, I realize that my tried-n-true methods work. There hasn't been a single year yet that Santa has left a note in our stockings explaining he needs two more days and will come on the 27th.

I will do my shopping on Dec 20, like I usually do, which, as it turns out, is a real time and money saver. Whatever I want will be available, except in the size I need, and in no other color except fluorescent orange. This will force me to re-think. I call it my guess you won't be getting that for Christmas money-saving trick.

Let's consider all of the tasks I try to cram in during the week before Christmas. Actually, let's not consider them. It's exhausting. But just know that procrastination pushes me to be ultra-productive. Plus, think of all the time I haven't wasted in the weeks leading up to Christmas on stuff that I can get done in one week. The biggest bonus is the wonderful thrill of giving in to utter exhaustion by collapsing into bed on Christmas Eve and savoring every single sedentary minute of Christmas Day.

It's true, this method won't allow for a Heston Blumenthal Christmas Eve feast. But, my family will be together. We'll gorge on roasted turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, carrot souffle,  and seven-layer salad, sing and read the Christmas story from Luke. It is those small and simple traditions that forgive the road you took to get there or how organized your pantry is at that moment.

It is those small and simple traditions which mean the most.

how is that for reverse psychology?

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Check out the launch of a brand-spankin' new substance & style magazine called Anthology. I'm sure they'll have lots of great holiday ideas, just in case you don't subscribe to my method of madness....