Christmas Organizing Ideas for Family Life

Calendar with red and green holiday ornaments on it.

Christmas organizing ideas for family life. Sure, turkey leftovers may still be lingering in your fridge.

But there's no escaping the reality just about everywhere else in your home and beyond: It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Ready or not. Icicle lights have popped up on neighbors' rooftops seemingly overnight. Seasonal jingles and sentiments are suddenly everywhere.

It's enough to make the most festive of souls feel Grinch-like. After all, merrymaking of the Christmas sort takes heaps of work - and time. Or does it?

These Christmas organizing ideas are designed to make the weeks ahead a joy for you and yours.

Week-by-Week Christmas Organizing Ideas

The problem with the holidays is that they are too short. This year, Thanksgiving falls late in the month, so we've only got just four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make all our family's holiday fantasies come true.

And somehow still find time to savor the season. With the oncoming seasonal onslaught in mind, I've created a tipsy timetable - that is, a week-by-week guide to getting it all done before Santa arrives.

Week 1: (Nov. 27 - Dec. 3)

Deck the halls. Make your home festive. Add a few holiday throw pillows; affix a strand or three of white lights up and down the interior banister; get down that box of decorations, and you're on your way.

Rearrange the living room to make room for the tree. Then make plans for the family to pick out the Christmas tree and decorate it. Together. Consider a celebratory dinner following the Christmas creation.

Finish Christmas shopping. Plan to finish up most of your Christmas shopping this week, so you'll have time to enjoy the holidays without having to rush around - or pay last-minute gift prices.

Print the Christmas card list. Make adds, changes, deletions as needed. And if you don't have those addresses on a computer labeling program, this is the year to set aside time to do it.

Christmas Organizing Ideas for Week 2: (Dec. 4 - 10)

Take the kids' holiday pictures if you'll be including a photo with your family card this year. Have them developed. Make copies on photo paper at home using your home inkjet printer. Trim with pinking shears, or create an unusual trim of your own.

Mail holiday cards. Be sure to create a place to display the holiday cards you receive.

Make sure party clothes are clean. And don't forget to clean or have cleaned the rest of the family's holiday best, too.

Wrap creatively. You'll both conserve and create a memorable, personal gift. Consider using the kids' artwork for wrapping paper, or make your own wrapping paper from inexpensive butcher-type paper. Buy a few large holiday stamps, some red, green, gold and silver paint, and allow the kids to imprint on their decorations. Let dry overnight.

Finalize holiday travel plans.

Create a welcoming guest bedroom. If the gathering's at your home, make sure your guest bedroom is entertaining ready. If the guest room is your office or your child's room, plan now which area you'll clear out to make room for guests' clothes.

Create a welcoming guest basket of creature comforts: clove or other scented seasonal soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, bath salts or bubbles, a travel alarm clock, and any other necessities your guests may need.

Christmas Organizing Ideas for Week 3: (Dec. 11 - 17)

Make your holiday baking list. Check it twice, then head to the store.

Set aside time for family crafts. This can be as simple as stringing popcorn to wrap around the tree, or picking up a clear glass ornament at the local craft store and writing the family's sentiments of the season and the year on it in a gold or silver pen.