We have combined all the printable pages of our “Purposeful, Peaceful Christmas Planner” into a handy-dandy Ebook! Simply click the link after this post to download and print your Christmas Planner.

If you want to jump on board – you can still join us!

View the Week 1 Task & Week 2 Tasks, Week 2 Task

We have combined all the printable pages of our “Purposeful, Peaceful Christmas Planner” into a handy-dandy Ebook! Simply click the link after this post to download and print your Christmas Planner.

Okay, let me set up a quick scene for you. It’s the first week of January. Christmas is behind you, the decorations are packed away (yeah..right!) and you have your current New Year’s Resolution firmly in place. Everything is rolling along at a smooth and wonderful pace. That is….until you head out to the mailbox one day and are greeted with tidings from your dear friends at the credit card companies!

Yikes!

A slightly unpleasant reality, but one that most of us have faced, especially if we have not taken the time now to create a realistic budget for our holiday shopping.

So that is why this week, it is all about the budget! If you are keeping up with your weekly tasks to tackle, then last week you spent some time creating your Christmas List. Not so much naming the exact gifts that you want to find, but rather forming a list of names. Today it is time to build upon that list and set a tentative dollar amount to each name.

Here is the idea. If you know who you need to buy for, and have an idea of your budget, then you will be more aware of your spending and be able to keep it under control. Plan for success ladies! It’s all about the baby steps, but each step matters.

Task to Tackle:

* Set a tentative dollar amount to each name on your Christmas List. Make sure that the overall total falls within your Christmas Budget.

If you want to jump on board – you can still join us!

View the Week 1 Task & Week 2 Tasks

52 Days and Counting!

Sounds a bit ominous doesn’t it?  Well then, let’s think about this in a slightly different way.  If we were to start our Christmas Planning right now, we would still have 52 whole and amazingly beautiful days to work with.

See, it’s all about perspective!

I’ll admit, I started a few weeks ago with the best of intentions.  My plan was to be much further along in my Christmas planning and, ladies, I have fallen a bit short.  But I have a good reason!  You see, a few weeks ago I was attempting to work and sleep simultaneously while at the in-laws and my computer slipped off of my lap to have a nasty encounter with their hardwood floors.  (And, on a side note, this type of meeting between technology and timber was one that neither gravity nor Sir Issac Newton ever intended!) Very Ugly Outcome!  I now stand here, 3 weeks later, as a living testimony to the importance of accidental insurance policies.

So with my computer now “carefully” in hand, I am coming to you all today to say that it’s time to get busy!  Those of you who are already on track and have been following the suggestions each time we post a new page for the Christmas Planner?

Fantastic job ladies!

Now, please cheer the rest of us on as we take this time to re-launch, re-focus and hit the ground running!

Week 1: Focused Not Frazzled

•    I have found that the best way to start any new undertaking is with prayer.  So, if you are comfortable, find a few quiet moments and spend them talking with our Great and Wonderful God.  It is He who knows the deepest desires of your heart and it is He who will guide us to understand our areas of struggle.

•    Those of you who have not already printed the individual Christmas Planner pages, there is no time like the present!

•    Those of you who are leading the pack and are ready to encourage and love the rest of us as we catch up….have no fear!  More pages will be coming very soon.

The goal of this process is to help each of us find and achieve the peaceful and purposeful Christmas that we dream of.  But, before we get to far into the planning process, there is one quick point that I am really driven to make.

Ladies….first and foremost….please give yourself permission to be yourself!

This process is all about suggestions and finding your own path to peace.  It is not about legalistic rules and deadlines that force you to get caught up in a “schedule.”  I can admit to you all that as much as I want to be organized and prepared, the thought of making a list kind of stresses me out.  It makes me feel as if my already full plate has become a never-ending buffet that I have no hope of working my way through.  And, when I think about all of the different lists involved in planning for the holiday season (I seriously found that I needed to make a list of all my different lists!) I start to feel a bit claustrophobic and as if I am running around in circles with my pants on fire!

But I have to look at the big picture.  I desperately want to experience a peaceful Christmas Season, and I know, from experience, that it will not happen spontaneously.  So, I take my personality into consideration, prioritize my stressors and work my way through.  In short, I make the program work for me rather than trying to make me work for it.

Tasks to Tackle!

• Christmas Cards!

No, it’s not time to send them out quite yet!  But, if you take a few minutes this week to start making your list and figuring out which addresses you need to hunt down, then things will go much smoother when the time comes to hit the post office.

• Focus on Giving

We have all heard, and if we are fortunate lived, the saying that “it is better to give than to receive.”  But how are our children supposed to know this if we do not take the time to introduce them to the concept?  Therefore, one of the most important things that we can do this week is to take some time, sit down with our families and focus on giving.  There are two sheets in your planner to help guide us through the thought process.   We even have one specifically for kiddos who are old enough to write.  This is such a valuable tool girlfriends and guyfriends to help take the focus off ourselves and to help our kids see beyond themselves.  If I want my kids to become purposeful givers, then I’ve got to model a lifestyle of giving.

November is here. If that strikes fear into your harried heart, with Christmas getting closer and your mind racing with plans, preparations, and stress, take a time out and remember that we’re here to help you!  Join us as we plan ahead, so we can have PEACE as Christmas gets closer.  Feel free to print out any of the helpful planning pages we’ve been working on!

Christmas Planner Printable Pages:

1. Tis The Season: Set Your Christmas Goals
2. Time2Give: Set Goals for Family Giving and Time2Give:  for the Kids
3. The Christmas Budget: Page 1 &  Page2
4. Christmas Card List
5. Christmas  Season Mini Calendar  (November & December)
6. Gift Ideas Planner (Immediate Family, Extended Family, Misc)

Click HERE to download FREE Christmas Planner

 Okay girls it’s time for the next step in our journey toward a Purposeful Peaceful Christmas. It’s time to tackle our gift list this week, and we’ve created gift planning pages to help.  Each page is designed to help guide you through the thinking process one step at a time.

I (Kasey) have to admit I am not a planner by nature.  I desperatley want to be organized but it’s a HUGE challenge for me.  This may shock some of you …I have never written down a Christmas Gift list, GASP!   We are all in this together no matter how much or how little you’ve done so far it okay no pressure here.  Our goal is to encourage and challenge each other towards a most worthy goal, A Purposeful Peaceful Christmas.  Let’s start off with an easy challenge and devote just five minutes tonight or tomorrow to help get us started. 

It’s our hope, that this year we can sit down with our calendars and spread out the little “tasks” that must be done to prepare for Christmas. We’ll do our shopping along the way, we’ll make lists and menus, we’ll gather ingredients and supplies for our Holiday meals, we’ll scrimp and save with smart shopping.  And by being purposeful in these things, we hope to have PEACE in our hearts and homes this Christmas.

If you haven’t joined us in our Purposeful, Peaceful Christmas Series yet, you can read all the posts and tips we’ve shared along the way HERE.  As you scroll through all of the posts you’ll also see amazing online deals we’ve found and great freebies like photo books and photo Christmas cards to help minimize Christmas spending. 

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Download Printable Christmas Planner e-book Click HERE