Merry Monday #5…these are a few of my favorite things…..Apps, journal organization and gift giving etiquette to help you avoid Christmas hysteria!

The big push is on as we forge head on into the great gift giving abyss. Have you ever been in the corner drug store on Christmas eve frantically buying gifts for the friend your daughter decided to bring home for Christmas break at the last minute? How about this: have you ever thought everyone in the neighborhood had received their cookie plate, just to sit down and put your feet up for a quick minute only to have Gladys from three doors down rushing in with that fruit cake thanking you for raking her leaves last month? Or….. I knew I had everyone covered on my Christmas list: from teachers to co-workers to door attendant, kids, grand kids, aunts, uncles yada, yada, yada…..only to miss your cousin Suzy with whom you ALWAYS exchange with every year!???

Well if you have EVER had a Santa “snafu” fear not!!!!! Here are some FANTASTIC ideas from others that I just had to share with you! Not that you have to use each and every idea. That’s not the point. The point is, take an idea or two and run with it! Put systems in place to make your life E.A.S.I.E.R. The holiday season DOES NOT have to be frantic……WE make it that way! and it is not too late to get out and enjoy the season! Gift giving should be enjoyed as MUCH by giver as the receiver. Give yourself grace and lean into a few of my favorite things:

PC magazine has some great apps to help in the gift giving organizational process. Some are free and some cost a small fee. All in all a great list for some great organizational ideas.

This great idea is from the Little coffee fox. She talks about having a bullet journal for those of us who feel more organized when we write it ALL down and can see it in COLOR! I love using a journal. for one reason I can take with me wherever I go. And….. I don’t have to worry about cell coverage in the store. I can just take out my journal and cross it off the list when I am done! So easy. What I love, too, is the fact I can write, rewrite and transfer all I need to and take extra notes.  Plus, at the end of the worn, torn journal…I get to buy a NEW one!

Last, but certainly not least is an article on Christmas giving etiquette. I find it very  important to emphasize here that, indeed, YES!, there is etiquette at Christmas! A great read and lots to think about in this one! Not, to guilt you but to help you realize that manners and etiquette MATTER! the spruce talks about all too familiar feelings of stress, anxiety and “craziness” at Christmas and share great info to help you sort out what to do when!

With these helpful hints, I know that you will just KILL it this holiday season in the organizational department! The entire scene is about GIVING. We (as women, anyway) feel the need to give and give and give until there is nothing left. And then all of our tinsel is in a tangle!  And THAT’S NOT THE POINT! This fabulous season was meant to be enjoyed by us gift giving divas as well as all those being gifted! These easy to use tools can help in so many ways. I even challenge you to find use for them OUTSIDE of the holiday season. Let them be the gifts that keep on giving to you and yours this sassy season!