Bare Minimum

It's that time of year.  I can feel the pressure creeping in - the lists are mounting and I've decided that I'm going to just do the bare minimum so I can enjoy every minute of the upcoming Holiday Season. 

What does the bare minimum mean?  To me, it means doing what I normally do every day and every week, but allowing some wiggle room.  If the floors don't get washed on Thursday, oh well.  If the sheets get laundered every week and a half or two weeks (gasp!), whatever.  I'd rather craft Christmas decorations with my kids, sip hot chocolate and go sledding any day of the week. 

I'm not throwing my to-do list out the window, but I am going to cut myself some slack and try not to sweat the small stuff so I can enjoy the next month and a half.  In order to do this, I need to get a few things done in the next week or two to alleviate some of the mounting tasks on my lists. 

Here's my game plan to get started:  This weekend I'm going to try to start and finish Christmas shopping.  I'm going to do a lot online and the things that I need to wait to get next month, I'll save in shopping carts and on wish lists so that when the money is there, all I need to do is finish the transaction.  I like to find a few really neat items and purchase multiples for people on my list.  For instance, a great drawing book for all of the kids over 3 or some unique pajamas for all the ladies on my list.  I also need to narrow down my Christmas Card plan.  I have a few ideas and have always made my cards so I have to get started on what the card will look like.  I'd like to get the family picture snapped by December 1st, but we'll have to see how that works out.  Maybe I'll just concentrate on getting envelopes addressed.  For me, when I have a large amount of the shopping and the cards out of the way, I feel like I can breathe a little easier.  I'll keep sharing my ideas for simplifying things this year.  What's your bare minimum plan?