christmas and new years
January 8th, 2014
This was meant to be two posts, but well then the polar vortex swooped down and cancelled school and any other plans I had.
Do you have all your Christmas stuff packed up already? If so (or even if not so) I have one more thing for you to put in those boxes: a letter to yourself. I stole this idea from my sister years ago. She would write a little note to herself about whose turn it was to put the angel on the tree, what things should be done early, and what things not to do at all. My twenty year old self laughed at her I’m sure, but my 35 year old self is totally in need of this.
Usually I write a quick note on the back of a ripped up envelope. This year I thought I’d get a little fancier. Click here to download this Christmas letter to yourself. Print it, fill it out, and slip it into one of those giant boxes in your basement. Trust me, you’ll be happy you did.
The let’s do better, get fitter, eat well energy in the air every January is amazing. I love getting swept up in it. But I’ll be honest, resolutions where I have to change what I do every day are too hard. I forget, feel bad, and I’m back where I started. Something I have to do once a month, though, those are goals I can get behind.
I made up this handy little monthly goal chart that you can hang up on your fridge or slap in your journal. Click here to download the Monthly Goals chart. I already started filling mine out and I may need to print another. I might also need to stop making new goals, because those cookies are starting to look attractive and I only have a finite amount of will power.
Thank you. I did it. I probably the last person on the planet to pack up their Christmas gear, but I did it today and included the letter. Every year I make a mental note of what I want to do next year and every year I am disappointed when it is too late; hopefully this letter will help me stay on track. Thank you for the great idea. Now time to get my Christmas decorations and letter to the attic!
This is freaking brilliant!
Sarah M
This is so effin’ genius. We already put our Christmas stuff away but I sort of want to dig a box out (or make my husband dig it out) just to add this to a box and yell at myself in the future. This Christmas felt especially rushed and hectic – we got our cards out late, we barely squeaked in a couple essential Christmas activities, and I was sewing like a madwoman until 1am multiple nights in a row leading up to the big day. Not ideal. Not ideal.
exactly. The first thing I wrote to myself last year (the note I found in the box this past christmas) was Get your shit together EARLY! That didn’t completely happen, but there were less late nights for sure.
You read my mind! I wanted to write note to myself for next year as well and now that I have this pretty little piece of paper I might actually do it…..and then climb up into the garage rafters and tuck it into our in of Christmas gear;)
Oh my gosh…I love, love, love the Christmas letter! Every year I tell myself I will write it all down, and I’ve even contemplated blogging it all, but it seems so silly write about it when it’s all over. I love this! And, I love your approach to Goals as well. Thank you for sharing these goodies!
I love lists and checklists and these are great! Thank you for sharing!
Love it!! What a fantastic idea… off to print and fill out!!! Thanks! Hope it helps with my sanity ;)
And don’t forget to get out the Christmas boxes next year in time for the letter to be useful. Learned that the hard way!
Oh I put it in the Halloween box for next year.
Wow, how smart is that!
Meg, these downloads are so clever! I’m in on the Christmas list for next year, totally great idea!
What a wonderful idea and I love the tree design. I am always hopelessly disorganised at Christmas and only managed one handmade gift this year. Still, it shouldn’t be too hard to beat that.
[…] Meg Freeman blogged recently about how she was planning to make next year’s Christmas less stressful by writing her future self a letter while the lessons were fresh in her mind. I thought it was a simple and delightful form of personal AAL or “lessons learned”. […]