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A Joyful Christmas Season: Setting Goals for December 2016

Setting goals for December 2016 to create a joyful Christmas season.

Making simple ornaments for the Christmas tree

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Christmas is my favorite time of year. It’s a good thing, because my children have been playing Christmas songs in our home since July. They’ve probably been working on presents since then, too. They had, at one point, 100 handmade presents under our tree. Then they opened some of them. There are still quite a few tiny packages sitting under the tree.

The thing is, they started making presents in July because I started buying presents in July. I think this comes from the summers when I was 12 and 13. We were living in Bolivia, and at that time it was really hard to find the types of gifts my parents wanted in Bolivia. We had summer home leaves, and they would buy all of their Christmas presents in the United States. I was really into helping with the Christmas shopping during those two summers. Ever since, July arrives and my internal clock says, “Time to buy Christmas presents!”

The beauty of this is that, by the time December rolls around, any Christmas preparations have been finished for weeks, if not months, so we can sit back and relax.

Setting December Goals for a Joyful Christmas Season

Using advent calendars to create a joyful Christmas experience

I LOVE advent calendars, because they make Christmas a month-long event instead of a single day of celebrating. Making this advent calendar was one of my November goals. I got it done! We are filling the pockets with our Sing Your Way to Christmas songs. I got the panel at a (sadly now closed) local quilt shop, but there are some other cute advent calendar panels online. My sister-in-law came over and got me started, or I don’t think it ever would have happened. She also gave me the courage to try making my own binding, and got me to look up how to sew it on properly. Things like that turn into HUGE obstacles in my head. I’m glad I’ve finally conquered that one. I didn’t get anything done on Lily’s quilt top, so that is going to be a goal for December.

We had a lot of great weather, and the kids LOVED riding their bikes. We got some much-needed rain – mostly at night, which is beautifully convenient. We had five of Mike’s students over for Thanksgiving dinner, and the kids and I enjoyed making these easy gratitude trees. My friend Maggy of Red Ted Art released an ornaments ebook, which my kids used to make the little orange ornaments (we used cuties, actually) in the photo at the top of this post.

Setting goals for December 2016

Setting Goals for December 2016

Here are my goals for December 2016:

  • Finish Lily’s quilt top. Focus on learning.
  • Celebrate Johnny’s birthday. Focus on gratitude.
  • Help the kids identify and take advantage of service opportunities. Focus on gratitude
  • Sing lots of carols around our Christmas tree. Focus on mindful living.

That’s it for us! I have a few blog friends who join me in setting goals every month. Here are the ones that are live so far:

What are your goals for the final month of 2016?

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MaryAnne at Mama Smiles

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

9 thoughts on “A Joyful Christmas Season: Setting Goals for December 2016”

  1. What a beautiful advent calendar! I also tend to think ahead when it comes to Christmas. You can get a lot of things here in SA, but they are sometimes double the price. I order lots of things on Amazon throughout the year when teams are coming over and have them bring it. It works out great!

  2. I go through random spurts of buying lots of Christmas presents early, and then all in a panic right before Christmas happens.

    I love your Advent calendar, it’s gorgeous.

  3. Elisa | blissful E

    I also think about buying gifts in July, because that’s when it’s cold here. :) But I don’t get it all done then, by any means. Maybe that should be my goal for next year… :)

  4. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants

    Your Advent calendar is gorgeous. I am slowly getting into a habit of buying more gifts during the year. Wishing you and yours a great Christmas season!

  5. I love your countdown that you made! I’m trying to take a relaxed December and just enjoy the season!

    You have such simple and nice goals and great ways to make sure they get done!

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