I will be honest: I like to start planning for the next season before the current one ends, especially for Christmas. Hear me out, though. I am trying to help future me out for the next holiday season. I am not planning the whole calendar 12 months in advance, but I am preparing a guide for next year. Well, except for Polar Express, if you know, you know, booking that is a true art form, and 11 months in advance.
Every holiday season, I open a new note on my phone, I copy my event list from the current year, and start making updates for next year. I have written out all the big local events that we love attending year after year, such as Winterlights at Newfields, Yuletide with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Christmas at the Zoo, and more, plus all the at-home traditions I might need to prepare supplies for in advance. While I love all things Christmas and holidays, I am not making my gingerbread house from scratch. I will buy that thing a month or more in advance so I can get a pre-made one and get my future reminder ready.
With each activity, I love to document the date and time when we had tickets, planned to go, or actually went. After the event or towards the end of the holidays, I spend time reflecting on whether those times worked well. For example, with outdoor walk-through lights, did we go too early in the day, and the lights weren’t as twinkling as much as possible, or did we go too late, and my kid was too tired and wanted to leave 20 minutes into arriving? This helps me tremendously the next year when I am buying tickets and choosing the best days and times for my family.
In addition to documenting the times we have gone and whether they worked well, I note when the tickets went on sale. Some local events go on sale as early as January. There are other events that have historically gone on sale on the same date/time every year. This way, I can make sure to add a calendar note as well. I have also been known to send this ticket PSA out to other mom friends.
Right now, we are still at an age when the Christmas and Holiday Magic is strong, so there aren’t many events we’ve outgrown. As my daughter grows and her interests change, I plan to update my notes to indicate whether an event may be ready to be phased out or added to the rotation. If we are taking a one-year pause on an activity, I will keep it listed so it stays on my future radar. At the same time, I love taking note of other events that friends have found and seeing if it is something we would like to add in the future.
I love to use this note for more than just events, I will track and save holiday meal and baking recipes. I embed links to what I have made that was successful, so I have it ready for the next year. Making notes along the way of recipe adjustments I may have made. I am hoping, if consistent with these recipes, I can put them together for my daughter in the future to keep for her future holiday seasons. Also saving me the time each year searching and debating if the recipe works well or is just AI garbage.
It never fails, the winter weather hits, and we are digging out my kids’ coats, boots, and snow pants. Some years, we are lucky enough to get an extra year of use; others, we are scrambling to find bigger boots at the first snowfall. Now, we’re trying to document the last size she was in so that next season we know whether she will fit. If we are able, we try to hit up the end-of-season sales to prepare for the next. However, if not, we at least know what we have in stock.
As we wrap presents and take down the Christmas decorations, we also take inventory of the wrapping paper, tape, bows, tags, etc. Again, if we don’t snag anything at the end of the season, at least we know where we stand when Christmas rolls around again. The same with the lights and decorations. Did a strand or three go out on the tree that will need to be replaced, or did the house roof lights go out and need to be replaced again? There is nothing worse than bringing the tree home and setting it up, only to plug in the lights and find that half of them don’t work. To then have to go to the store, the same weekend as everyone else. By jotting down at the end of the season to prepare for the next, I will know early November that I need to pick up a few strands on the next trip to the store.
I am a big proponent of taking a few small steps today to help future me out 10-fold. While this system is like any data set, if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. But if you take a few extra moments today to help set yourself up for success a year from now, you will not regret it. I use this strategy for Christmas/Winter as well as for the Fall and its many activities. I also like to use it for Summer and our Summer Bucket List.
