It's That Time of Year Again...

Christmas 2010 - Kellan's First Christmas Gift

I don't think I could ask for a better response to a first Christmas gift than this.  Christmas 2010 took place at our home in Alexandria, VA and was a magical Christmas, as it was Kellan's first.  It was also a frantic Christmas as it was my first time to navigate the holidays while caring for another human being.  Matt was training to fly the KC-135 in Altus, OK from about September until a couple of days before Christmas that year, which complicated things a bit.  Fortunately, my mother-in-law, Karen, was living with us at that time, and she was a huge help.

I am happy to say that I am way ahead of the game this year for Christmas.  The only thing I am running a little behind on are our Christmas cards, but hopefully those will go out next Monday.  At least they will be delivered before Christmas this year...  I think that will be a first for me!  What a difference a year can make...

I am attributing my success to some cool checklists I found on a couple of great websites chock full of printables and pointers for staying organized during the holidays and year-round as well.  Here are some of the checklists I am using:

Martha Stewart's Holiday Checklist  

Below is the first sheet of a three-page checklist offered on the site.

Organized Christmas 

Here are a few checklists I am using this year of the many this site has to offer:

It is a relief that this Christmas will be more organized and hopefully less hectic than last year.  (As un-hectic as Christmas with a Tazmanian devil can be.)  One thing I will say about last year is that K wasn't mobile yet, so he couldn't do much other than lie around looking adorable and sit in his bouncy seat while chewing on his stocking.  This year I fully expect that the Christmas tree will get knocked over on a daily basis.  Giddy up!