Last night, good Dr. Steve and I participated in one of our favorite holiday traditions: watching the wonderful Christmas video, A Christmas Story. As we laughed along with Ralphie and his friends, we made the same comments we make every year.

"That kid looks just like my Dad, when he was little!" said Dr. Steve. "Mommy's little piggy!" sang CEO in sync with Ralphie's mom. Just as we have for the last eight years, we turned to one another at the end and said, "That is the best Christmas movie ever made!"

Earlier in our marriage? Meshing two sets of holiday traditions wasn't as simple as watching A Christmas Story. From our respective expectations to my children to his parents, we careened back and forth between traditions during the holidays, trying to please everyone.

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Ready or not, the season is upon us--and for most of us, our time is our scarcest holiday resource. The beginning of December is the perfect time for a calendar reality check! Sit down with the family calendar and evaluate where you are with holiday preparations.

How is holiday baking coming along? Will you need to pare down the list or oursource the goodies? What about crafts projects or handmade gifts? If they're not completed, it's time to tuck the UFOs away for another year.

Does the schedule include time for family and self-care? Block out a few afternoons or evenings for renewal--you'll head off last-minute frazzles and family meltdowns.

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December arrives this week and with it, the fullness of the holiday season. This week in the Houseworks Holiday Plan, we'll open the door to the season, focusing on the front porch, front door, entryway or foyer.

Decorations come out this week, if they haven't already. We'll inventory and inspect decorations and begin to decorate for the season. Mail chores get a nod: we'll send party invitations and wrap domestic gifts for mailing. Finally, the first-of-the-month status check means it's Deadline Week for crafts projects and homemade gifts.

Decor Storage Week Assignments

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We're in the home stretch! It's Celebrate! Week at the Christmas Countdown, a time to tidy up our preparations and shift gears into full holiday mode.

Take stock today! Find and tie up those loose ends. This week, we'll complete and mail Christmas cards, finalize gift-buying and gift-making, and plan any holiday parties. We'll finish holiday decorating, inside and out. We'll focus on family, bringing all family members into the holiday preparations. We'll consider the children, and find ways to teach about giving, not just about getting.

Most of all, we'll rejoice. While the holiday season means many things to many families, for all, it's a season of joy and celebration.

You're ready ... for Celebrate! Week. Merry Christmas!

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Focus holiday traditions around reading, and make memories for a lifetime with a Storybook Advent Calendar.

Wrap 24 childrens' holiday books in gift wrap, then open and read one book each night from December 1 to December 24.

The quiet time calms frazzled children, and parents and grandparents enjoy listening to uplifting holiday tales during the season.

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It's coming, it's really coming ... it's here? Oh, NO! The Saturday after Thanksgiving can be a time of flagging motivation. How is it that, despite cooking for three solid days, the leftovers give out less than 48 hours after the Thanksgiving feast?

In spite of all the preparations, no one feels really prepared for the Christmas season to come--and after the Thanksgiving holiday, it's no longer possible to avoid the obvious. Here it comes!

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For many families, the holidays present a challenge of values. How do you focus on the season's meaning when the celebration provides so many distractions?

Too often, the excitement seems to boil down to a round of gifts and goodies, with little thought to the deeper values underlying the fun.

One way to keep the reason in the season: Advent observances. Whether it's a customs like an Advent wreath, daily Scripture readings, or attendance at worship, plan Advent activities now. Entered in your calendar, they'll help your family keep the focus while enjoying the celebration.

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Who says holiday traditions have to be "sweet"? Thinking about Christmas trees, I can't help but laugh at my childhood memories.

An Episcopalian home, our family kept a good Advent. While we observed special Advent customs and decorations, no Christmas tree entered our home until December 24, the first day of the liturgical Christmas season. The tree then stayed up until Twelfth Night, and we'd make a little family party as we took it down on January 5th.

"Awwww!", I hear you say. Well, there was just one tiny little problem: our family lived in hot, dry Las Vegas, Nevada. Buying a once-fresh tree on December 24 was an ever-changing adventure!

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Decorating for the holidays can be a lot of fun--unless you must dig them out from under last year's storage chaos. Burned-out lights, broken ornaments, and scattered packaging can dampen anyone's decor spirit.

This year, lay a good foundation for years to come. As you open stored decorations, assess the state of holiday decor. Will you need to replace lights, candles or garlands? Add the new items to a shopping list for post-season clearance sales, and make notes of any items that will be retired this year.

As you unpack, take a look at decor storage containers. Have they held up to the job? Are they easy to stack? If new storage boxes are in order, begin looking out for them as you shop for the season.

This year, make it easy to pack away the holidays ... for an organized Christmas next year!

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We are thankful! Today, America gathers for family, feasting and football. It's the purest of our holidays: a day set aside to be grateful.

Gratitude is an attitude. Psychologists have proved that Pollyanna was right: counting your blessings creates a blessed heart. Those who are grateful weather life's minor storms more easily.

So be thankful, America! And our Canadian friends, and readers from throughout the world? You can be thankful, too--no assignments today on the Christmas Countdown!

Check in with family members at Thanksgiving celebrations. Ask for gift suggestions, and arrange to share or contribute to holiday meals.

Give thanks on Thanksgiving Day!

Jazz up the Thankgiving holiday for the short stuff with these free Thanksgiving Kids Table printables from HP.com!

With puzzles, place mats, decorations and coloring pages, you'll set a festive kids' table--and keep the little ones occupied--for Thursday's big feast:

Printable Thanksgiving Decorations for the Kids' Table

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There's something special about a holiday house.

This weekend, my husband and I will scour the storage room, drag out the boxes, and begin decorating for Christmas. Lighted garlands, fresh poinsettias, bright bows will the entire feeling of our home.

"It's such a merry, cheery holiday house, Sweetie!" Dr. Steve is sure to remark.

Yes, my dear husband loves the holiday season. So much so that he'll spend 30 minutes poring over the professionally-installed holiday lighting on a neighbor's home and laying plans for the coming weekend. Will he do our neighbors one better? Only the Home Depot knows for sure!

Best of all, his enthusiasm--and the spell of a holiday house--will rub off on me. Each evening, I'll circle the house, plugging in lights and flipping switches. I'll pause by the "travel tree", a small artificial tree holding all the ornaments and keepsakes we've collected on trips around the world. I'll smile at "The Wise Santa", and remember the wonderful afternoon when my 16-year-old daughter and I constructed him from batting and fabric and tiny toys.

Are you enjoying the holidays yet? It's the day before Thanksgiving, and time to switch out of stress mode and into a state of childlike appreciation. And if you're not there yet? Borrow a child! He or she will show you the way, marveling over each new manifestation of the coming holidays.

Where to begin? Right here at home. Let your home spark every sense with holiday feeling. Let's Decorate ... for the merriest Christmas you've ever had!

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Scratchy clothes, a long meal and aunties who want to kiss you: Thanksgiving Day can be tough on kids.

Keep the peace with these age-appropriate activities to keep kids entertained and happy, from RDLiving.com:

Entertaining the Kids on Turkey Day

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The big day is nearly here--but you're caught like a deer in the headlights? Try these quick recipes and easy tips for a last minute Thanksgiving from AllRecipes.com:

Last Minute Thanksgiving

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Welcome to the Rudolph Club! November's meeting sets the stage for one final holiday prep chore: writing holiday letters.

November Rudolph Club Assignment: Holiday Letters!

We've already assembled the raw material for holiday letters, by adding notes to a file each month on Rudolph Day, beginning in February.

Ready to edit? Here are some tips for writing holiday letters that are fun and fulfilling to read:

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It's a race! Watching our neighborhood over the past weekend, I had to smile. First one, then three, then an even dozen of our neighbors mounted their entries for the year's holiday light show.

Fads and fashions come and go. Last year, a few "early adopters" outlined their houses with the newest lighting fad, strings of light that race along the trim and roofline--and the year also saw the arrival of giant inflatable snowmen, Santas and reindeer on neighborhood front lawns. What will be this year's holiday decor must-have?

One family plants red plastic poinsettias over their landscape lights for a unique touch. Another household leaves the job up to professionals--creating so much light outside that one can read a book by them!

Dr. Steve and I, great believers in the art of the understatement, are left behind in the dust, adding only small window candlesticks and a front-door wreath to the blaze of holiday glory.

On this weekend, our neighborhood resembles just that: a neighborhood. Neighbors call from lawn to lawn and lend a hand as lights come out to be tested, hung and lit. Teenagers scramble up and down ladders. Children run about, frisky with cool weather and the festival feeling.

Each evening, groups of family members survey the job from the center of the street. Enough? Too much? Just right? Our normally quiet street comes alive with the holiday feeling.

Amazing, isn't it, what can happen when you put a little light into your life?

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Holiday catalogs are not just for gift shopping. They're a free and fabulous resource for holiday decorating, home-made gift suggestions, and even (thank you, Williams Sonoma!) holiday recipes.

Problem is, how do you keep all that good information without being led astray or drowning in paper? Answer: a set of tearfiles.

Grab a short stack of file folders, or invest in an accordion file--or add tearfile page protectors to the Christmas notebook.

Label folders or tab protectors according to your interests. Here are some suggestions, from my own well-seasoned tearfiles:

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A simple gift for the coffee lover in your life, Chocolate Coffee Spoons will give a sweet taste of mocha to the morning brew.

Wrap these chocolate-dipped spoons in holiday cellophane, add a pretty ribbon and stand several on-end in a new coffee mug for a quick, homemade gift ... that's sure to please.

Bundle them with a packet of Snowman Soup for an easy stocking stuffer!

Try these recipe variations:

Candy Cane Chocolate Coffee Spoons

White Chocolate Coffee Spoons

Mint Chocolate Coffee Spoons

Double Chocolate Coffee Spoons

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December arrives this week and with it, the fullness of the holiday season. This week in the Houseworks Holiday Plan, we'll open the door to the season, focusing on the front porch, front door, entryway or foyer.

Decorations come out this week, if they haven't already. We'll inventory and inspect decorations and begin to decorate for the season. Mail chores get a nod: we'll send party invitations and wrap domestic gifts for mailing. Finally, the first-of-the-month status check means it's Deadline Week for crafts projects and homemade gifts.

Entry Space Week Assignments

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Welcome to Decorate Week! We're up and running, in the home stretch to December. It's time to take stock of all we've achieved, and chart a course for the remainder of our Countdown to Christmas.

Where are you with your holiday preparations? Ahead of the game this year? Congratulations!

And everyone else ... including me? No matter what we've managed to accomplish, many of us still feel more than a bit behind. Thanksgiving gives everyone a shove toward reality: the holidays are here, ready or not.

With the coming of Decorate Week, it's time to focus less on preparation, more on celebration Here at the Countdown, we devote the week to decorating. Just around the corner is Celebrate Week, and behind it, Christmas itself. Ready or not, here's to a great holiday season: home, hearth and heart.

Decorate Week Assignments

Write and address one-fifth of Christmas Card List this week.

Make one-fourth of Gifts To Make
this week.

Begin interior and exterior decorating.

So you still think it's possible to have a "perfect" Christmas? CEO tells all with a Tale of Two Turkeys:

There's No Such Thing As . . . A Perfect Christmas

If good little boys and girls get Snowman Soup, what do naughty children receive? Snowman Poop!

Create this cute Snowman Poop stocking stuffer with recipe and free printable gift tags:

Snowman Poop

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