I know I am already ready to start thinking about holiday celebrations and family fun! (And I may be a little bit TOO ready for winter break already, given that we’ve just started November.)
If this is you too, today’s episode is for you! Jen Ludwig loves holiday planning -specifically, she loves planning around her traditions of Christmas. However, her tips apply no matter what you love to celebrate at the end of the year! In today’s episode, Jen shares her tips for creating a celebratory season that is filled with fun and not overwhelm. She also has some fantastic gift tips + hacks!
Find Jen’s book, Embracing Advent: Rediscovering Christmas in the Chaos (A Daily Devotional) on amazon, and more from jen at @jenludwigwrites on IG or substack.
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12 Comments
Oh my goodness, I am here for this conversation!!!!! (Jen, if you’re reading this, I want to be friends!!)
My daughter has had Christmas music blasting every second the last two days.
I had to laugh because I have had “monkey bread” for Christmas breakfast every single year of my entire life! My kids (and husband) would absolutely lose their minds if I didn’t make it Christmas morning.
This whole episode reminds me of a blog post I wrote a few years ago that I titled “Good Things I Don’t Have to Do This Christmas.” There are lots of objectively fun things that can’t get done if I’m going to survive a holiday season.
Loved this episode <3
awww! I’m so glad you liked it!!! I usually start holiday music after Thanksgiving (like that keeps it special somehow!?) but I totally love that some embrace it 11/1!!!!
Yay for Christmas morning monkey bread! (And also yay for letting thing go!) So glad you enjoyed the episode! (I also enjoyed your blog post!)
Stick with it! I love Sarah’s podcast so was disappointed when I wanted to turn this one off mid-episode. But I stuck with it and am glad I did. Initially her guest, Jen, tried to teach basic planning skills. I found that very off-putting. But under Sarah’s gentle and kind guidance, Jen started sharing her own experiences – things that worked for her family – and that was much more useful. Jen seems like a lovely human and once she started sharing her experiences – rather than telling other people what to do – her ideas came through much better. It’s a good topic with some useful information!
Stacy… I’m so glad you were able to glean something from the podcast!
In this episode, our goals are to do holiday planning so that we take control over the holiday season rather than the holiday season taking control over us. But in the past, I’ve never written down anything I planned to do or anything anyone expected of me during the holiday season, and yet, there was no point at which I felt the holiday season had taken control of me. Besides, you and Ms. Jen Ludwig have been asking “Must this be done in November and December?” in this episode, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger, and that’s what I would always ask as well.
I also recall that there was never a point in the past when I specifically asked for presents from anyone in November and December. Now, I make things using 3D Printers all the time – in fact, I work in the 3D Printer Industry. According to Ms. Jen Ludwig, I can send the things I made using 3D Printers to someone as gifts. And yes, I’ve done that many times – just not necessarily in November or December. If you’d like to view some images of the things I’ve made using 3D Printers, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger, I can send them to you.
That being said, there is a very specific thing during the time period from Dec 24 to Jan 1 that I do need to design. If you’d like to know what that thing is, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger, I can tell you more.
And just so we’re doing reality checks, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger: No, I was not losing sleep over where your Hobonichi planners have been shipped to.
I saw this new product from the lazy genius in my inbox soon after listening to this episode- might fit the bill for the holiday planner need you named!
https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/merch/p/the-playbooks-celebrations
Cute!
This was a very cozy, enjoyable listen. I love this season of the year. It can get overwhelming with lots of events and such. We have really simplified our gift buying over the year and cut back as much as we can get away with. We also have a December kid birthday, like you do. It is so hard to come up with gifts for Will’s bday AND Christmas and he’s too young to appreciate a delayed gratification type of experience unfortunately… But down the road, I like Jen’s idea of scheduling something special in July or something like that. Eventually, when he has an established group of friends, I would like to celebrate his half bday. I know Jenny did that for her December kiddos. He turns 5 so this is his first year of having a “friend” bday party. It’s a very challenging time of year to do that in Minnesota as the weather is so unpredictable! So we are trying to talk him into doing something extra special but only inviting one friend.
I am so glad you enjoyed the episode! (And yes, it’s so hard when we have family birthdays in additional to all of the other end-of-year celebrations! I think doing something extra-special with just one friend sounds fantastic! My 10-year old nephew took a friend to Universal Studios for the day this year and loved it!)
Hello Sarah, thank you for this episode. I loved so many of your guest’s planning ideas, the first being to write it ALL down on a piece of paper (the have to’s, the want to’s, the expected of you’s) and then start eliminating a few. Focus on what really matters to you and your family! Letting go of old traditions that don’t serve you anymore was great advice. Her take on gift-giving to friends (a charitable donation with a themed tangible gift) was brilliant. Listening to this got me kick-started on my holiday season planning – this time with an action plan to make the important things the focus. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Lucy… I’m so glad that Sarah and my conversation got you thinking about your holiday planning NOW! I hope that some of these new strategies work for you!