Advent is right around the corner! As you know, Christmas can be such a busy season. With all the shopping, cooking, and activities, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I have found that planning for Advent and Christmas before Advent begins makes the season more peaceful. Advent is meant to be a time of quiet reflection, a time when we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ. In reality, many of us end up spending this time feeling anxious as we rush to prepare for Christmas! Organizing and planning ahead ensures that the holidays remain peaceful.
I’ve created a checklist to help you keep track of all the things you need to get done before Christmas. I try to check most of the boxes by Thanksgiving, but feel free to do what works for you. I hope this helps you feel motivated and excited! Here’s what you can expect from the PDF:
1. Have Your Advent Wreath Ready: If you don’t have an advent wreath, now is the time to purchase one. If you already have a wreath, Also, don’t forget the purple and pink candles before they are out of stock. Also if you don’t have a Advent Wreath Devotional now is the time to get one. Or if you want to have a fun family activity you could make your advent candles with THIS advent candle kit! My kids love them!
2. Pick a Personal Devotional: Advent is a perfect time to draw closer to Christ, and a devotional is a great way to get started. Blessed Is She makes an excellent Advent devotional, if you are interested in purchasing one they do go fast, so you might want to pick one up. You could also read one chapter of the Gospel of Luke every day.
3. Budget for Advent & Christmas: Buying gifts can be expensive, so setting money aside before Advent helps! We budget for Christmas in smaller increments throughout the year.
4. Take Family Photos: If you plan on using a family photo for Christmas cards, plan now! I take ours in November, and my kids usually wear the same outfits for the pictures, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since professional photos are pricy, we usually take photos ourselves using a tripod and a remote for my iPhone that takes pictures. I use Canva (it’s free!) to create our Christmas cards, and Vista Print to print them (we print large post cards). This is the photo (below) we did ourselves last year for our family Christmas cards and we are really happy with how they turned out!
5. Choose Advent Family Devotions & Activities: Advent devotions and traditions always draw me closer to God. If you’re doing an advent devotion or activity this year, such as the Jesse tree, Our Lady of Guadalupe feast day, Saint Nicholas feast plan to purchase supplies in the beginning of November. A really fun idea that is much better then Elf on the Shelf but has a Holy theme is Mary on a Mantel, where every day Mary is getting ready for the Baby Jesus read more about it HERE.
6. Finalize Christmas Plans: Do you know what your children will wear for Christmas photos or Christmas mass? Have you figured out travel plans? Finalize plans early, so Christmas isn’t stressful.
7. Finish Christmas Shopping: I try to have my gifts purchased by Thanksgiving, but even starting some shopping before Advent will go a long way towards preparing for Christmas! Here are my different Catholic and Non Catholic Gift ideas for the whole family Men, Women and children.
8. Print Christmas Recipes: If you have recipes for your favorite Christmas cookies HERE is our favorite cookie recipe. Also print out your special Christmas meal ideas, print and save them so you’re not scrambling later. Below are the cuties sugar cookie Nativity Cookie Cutter we use, the kids LOVE them!
9. Plan a Christmas Party: You can plan a traditional Christmas party, or if you’re looking for an idea for Advent, you can throw a baby shower for Mama Mary! This is such a sweet idea. Have your friends bring gifts for expecting mothers and donate them to a shelter.
10. Buy Christmas Decorations: If you’ve been married for a while, you may already have a stash of Christmas decor. But if you’re still collecting things, make a list of what you need. You may also wish to shop after Christmas. Lots of things go on sale then here are some of my ideas.
11. Have Christmas Envelopes Ready: Address & stamp your envelopes early, so that when your cards are ready, you can send them off without too much hassle. We always get our envelopes from a store like staples to fit our post cards.
12. Prepare for St. Nicholas’ Feast Day: If you set out shoes for your little ones on the feast day of St. Nicholas, buy your gifts early. Traditional things to stuff in shoes are chocolate coins, Catholic books for children, or even Christmas Matching Pajamas.
13. Prepare for St. Lucy’s Feast Day: St. Lucy’s feast day is great fun if you have daughters! If you plan on celebrating, you’ll want to purchase a white gown, red sash, and a wreath/headpiece. Below is a video of what our family does on St Lucy’s Feast Day if you are looking for ideas.
14. Declutter Your House: Deep clean and declutter before Advent! We try to go through all the kids toys and clothes before Christmas. It helps up simply and prepare for the big gifts the grandparents love to buy for the kids.
15. Plan Your Christmas Meal: Choose your recipes and write your shopping list down. If you are hosting a big crowd but want something quick and easy but still yummy check out the video, I did a couple years ago, this help ease any worry you might have about hosting a party.
16. Pick out your family matching Pajamas: I say this because sometimes it is hard to find sizes for the whole family unless you get them early! We do this every year and it is a fun family tradition. A great time to give the PJ’s are as a gift on Saint Nicholas feast day, (which is Dec 5th) that way the kids can have them all season! A great Christian Company that I love is called Holy Pals they have the cutest and best quality Pajamas on the market! Plus you can get 10% off with code HEATHERJ
I hope you find some of these ideas helpful, and that you feel motivated to make Advent and Christmas a peaceful time for your family. If you have any other prep tips, drop a comment below! Also make sure to print out your copy of the free checklist (below) HERE.
Below is my video of all my ideas on my YouTube Channel. I hope you enjoy!
3 Responses
Hi Heather, I’m Marta, from Madrid, Spain. I follow your Youtube Channel since 2020, I think you do it so well! I am thinking to write a book telling my conversion and catholic things or start a Catholic blog but I don’t know if it is an idea from God or from myself, I have been thinking about it for many years, but I’m not completely sure plus I don’t know anything about creating a blog or editing images on photoshop or stuff like that… How did you know it was from God? Thank you very much for reading me and forgive my bad English! God bless you! Marta
Hi, Marta!
Heather compartió esta entrevista suya hace poco donde cuenta cómo empezó su canal de Youtube. La entrevista fue su colaboración en “Called to Communicate”, una conferencia para mujeres que tienen un llamado a comunicar la fe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rma4mk_yR5g
En fin, espereo que te sirva mucho.
PD. Tu ciudad es hermosa, viví ahí por un año de 2021 a 2022 y hasta ahora la extraño. La Navidad en España, es otra cosa!
Gracias María por el link! Acabo de verlo, muy interesante!
Madrid es precioso, celebramos la Nochebuena con toda la familia comiendo pavo, y yendo a la Misa del Gallo a las 12 de la noche, es una tradición muy bonita 🙂