Planning for Christmas for Next Year

So, a few days ago I touched on how I'm already brainstorming for next year. I realized this could sound like I'm never enjoying the moment, always worrying about the future. Really I enjoy planning a whole lot and so that's part of how I enjoy the present. I do need to remind myself to enjoy the now, however, which is why tomorrow's post (Christmas Eve) will be about this year and the fun things we did and the things I wish we would have done differently, etc.

But for now, I love to plan!

Next year, I would like to make more gifts by hand. To do this, I need to get organized now so that throughout the year I can be working on the presents instead of realizing come December 15th that I haven't gotten or made gifts for anyone. That panic that settles in the pit of my stomach is just rotten. And it makes me cranky.

So currently I'm working on my various lists. I have a list of who I would like to have a gift for, a list of who I need to have a gift for, a list of possible gift ideas, and then approximate cost per project. Like I said, I love to plan. I'm trying to decide how many gifts I should get people. I'm also trying to decide if I should do little "gift basket" type things with a little stash of gifts for each person or not. I don't want to go overboard and fall flat on my arse and feel terrible for not getting everything done, but I also want to be able to make something for everyone.

Some of the ideas I know I will do. Some of them are more expensive, but I have ideas on how to make them cheaper. Some of them are probably just not going to happen. For example, I thought it sounded really cool to brew my own beer and give it away as a present, but the startup cost for that is in excess of $100. Especially since I wouldn't be getting the bottles back, that is a huge money sink. If I could find the things I need on discount I might be able to, but it's just not looking too likely.

I would like to make one gift each month. I think that's reasonable. We'll see if I still think that when school starts back up, haha, but for now it sounds good. My thinking if I do one per month, is that each month's gift would have to fit within that month's allotment towards Christmas stuff, so I'm not sure how that would work. Since some presents are just more expensive than others. Hmm, lots to figure out with this.

So for now, I plot and wait.