Map out your holiday plans

Do you know what you’re doing on December 17th?

Yes, I know that we’re only midway through November. Maybe the idea of scheduling your life into December sounds premature. But this tends to be a busy time of year. People often travel or host for the various holidays, and if you’ve got kids they’ve no doubt got concerts, pageants, and class parties to contend with. Maybe you’re racing to hit year-end deadlines at work, or at least you’re aiming to finish projects before everyone leaves on vacation.

So do yourself a favor: Map out your holiday plans. Think about what you’d like to do over the next 6-7 weeks, and — just as important — think about when these things can happen. You’ll do the things you have to do. But this little exercise boosts the chances that you do the things you want to do as well.

Longtime readers know that I often create a Holiday Fun List (check out some lists from 2017 , 2019 , 2021 …). Maybe you’d enjoy creating one too! Think about what makes the holidays feel festive. What do you actually enjoy doing? You can ask your partner, your kids, friends, or any extended family members you spend the holidays with to contribute their favorite ideas as well.

Of course, having a list, and actually executing on the list, are two different matters. There are four December weekends before Christmas this year, which is a bonus, but even so, you’ll need to work around office and family parties and kid events. So get out your calendar. Look to see if any of your festivities can happen early or later. Our zoo’s light display opens in mid-November, so if we want to do that it can get crossed off the list before Thanksgiving. Some places keep festive decorations up until the first weekend of January, which creates possibilities as well. Perhaps some activities are best done with kids, and some with adults only, so plan accordingly. Certain things might require timed tickets, whereas others could happen in a smaller window of time if the weather is nice, or if you’re at home for a few hours.

Anyway, you can just take the season as it comes, but if your life features a lot of moving parts, taking it as it comes means it’s quite likely you’ll get to January and think “oh, it would have been nice to do [fill in the blank]…” When life is less full, I can just plan a week at a time. When it’s more full, it’s more effective to look a few more weeks ahead. December tends to fall in the “full” category, and that’s a good thing!

Now I’m off to make those botanical garden reservations…