Two months from today is Christmas Day!  So today we’ll begin a task countdown that will help you prepare for the holiday with a minimum of stress.  Who knows? You might even have time to enjoy it.

We’ll start off slowly so that you can get into the swing of planning without pulling any muscles.  This week’s tasks are pretty easy:

• If you don’t have a holiday budget yet, now is the time to decide how much you can spend.  Your budget should include gifts PLUS all the extras:  postage, cards, wrapping paper, decorations, tree, cookie ingredients, and party food.
• Find a place to store gifts as you buy them.  When it’s time to wrap things, you’ll know just where to look.
• Begin collecting the mailing labels that charities send you.  They’ll come in very handy on your Christmas cards.
• Designate a spot to keep the catalogs you plan to look through.  Your night stand, an end table, or a magazine basket may be a good spot.  If you know you aren’t going to order from a given catalog, toss it right into the recycling bin.  If you try to keep them all, they’ll find you in the spring, buried beneath the avalanche.

That’s all for now.  You can do it!  I know you can.