Lower Holiday Stress by doing this in the fall

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Like many folks, our family defines the “holiday season” as Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Some consider the Epiphany (January 6) to end the season. The holiday season is a special time for our family. One of my favorite Heritage Ways YouTube videos is this one where all six of our children share their favorite things about the season. Watch our Family Christmas Traditions video HERE and perhaps you’ll glean some ideas to implement in your home.

Yes, it is mid-September now and Christmas is about 13 weeks, or 100 days, away. Now, don’t be a Scrooge…..hear me out.

If you are a proud and happy procrastinator, then roll with it. You may love the rush and last-minute shopping and activities. You may look forward to Christmas preparations a few days prior. If you do, that’s great and I can see where that would be exciting for some folks. But, if you are a planner, then let’s talk.

Generally, I repeat, generally, I have the great majority of my Christmas shopping done before the last day of October.

Now, I am not trying to impress you. I am not trying to show anyone up. I just have three goals:

to not go crazy or be overly-anxious during the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year’s)
to use budgeted money
to enjoy the days in December with my family by doing other things (baking, visiting, making gingerbread houses, hosting Open Houses, watching seasonal movies like this one)

For the last 30 years or so I have attempted to prepare for the holiday season and accomplish what I could early-on. Our lives are different now in 2026 with just a 15- and 18-yr old at home but detailed planning was especially vital when we had six children at home. The results blessed me and my family.

My red three-ring binder Holiday Notebook has kept me organized through the years. Our family and home sizes have changed, our situations and circumstances have changed, but this notebook has helped me through each holiday season. For a video tutorial of how I continue to organize the holiday season using this notebook, watch this video..

My Philosophy on Early Holiday Shopping

Mr. Patient budgets for the Christmas season. Umpteen years ago we had a Christmas savings account at the bank. Now, he puts back a certain amount each month in our envelope system. It is up to me to use that allotment for gifts, special food, etc. Because he puts some in the stash each month of the year, I am able to use it to buy Christmas gifts in April or any month that I want.
We have never bought many physical gifts. Each child receives about 4-8. That might sound like a lot but we even wrap up pajamas, socks and favorite snacks..
We keep the kids’ gifts fair not even. This means that I don’t keep up with the exact amount I/we spend on each child. We give according to needs and wants. If one child wants a sewing machine for leather goods ($$$) and another wants special socks ($$), then that’s what they get—within reason and budget. (true story gifts) No one has ever whined or complained about their gifts. In fact, our children have always been very thankful and for that we are blessed.
Mr. Patient and I enjoy giving and receiving gifts but there’s not much money left after we buy the kids’ gifts. Each of us gives/receives 2-3 gifts to one another.
Our family’s gifts are practical and very often handmade.
I do most of the shopping. In recent years, Mr. Patient decided that he also wanted to buy each child one gift from him. I think that’s sweet and special.

When to Gift Wrap?

The amount of hiding- or storage-space in the home will determine when I wrap gifts. Typically, I wait to wrap all gifts sometime during November and December. Putting on favorite seasonal music really sets the tone for gift-wrapping.

Waiting too long into the season can cause anxiety, however. I can’t tell you how many years I have put off wrapping stocking items and Mr. Patient has had to help me. He is good to do that but also adds, “Next year, can we please not wait ’til Christmas Eve?”

Click HERE to play the two-hour holiday ambience video created by LMM (youngest son) and me in 2020 for our Heritage Ways Members/Patrons. A gift from us to you is two-hours of relaxing, holiday music for your gift-wrapping, card-addressing, baking, fellowshipping winter evenings.

Other Preparations I Make in September and October

(If you chose to decorate very little, you might want to skip to #2.) One very, very helpful holiday season preparation for our family is to complete the decorating by the last day of October. There have been some exceptions but I’ve paid the anxiety-price when I have delayed decorating. We like to host Open Houses and other events and groups in our home during the entire holiday season. Having everything decorated and “off my mental load” helps so much! I can focus on so many other things. (NOTE: To those who want to kick up a ruckus about my having Christmas trees next to the Thanksgiving buffet, know this: 1. My people are used to it. 2. My guests have never made rude comments about it. 3. Feel free to do what makes you and yours happy and joyful.) For a few days we do have both fall decorations for Thanksgiving with Christmas trees and decorations waiting in the background, so to speak. After the Thanksgiving Day, we put away those remaining fall leaves and let the Christmas lights shine.
Buy tiny twinkle-type lights. I use these year round but it seems that, come September, they are starting to burn-out and die. This, of course, is an excellent time to replace those that I use year-round for coziness and stock up on lights I will need for trees.
Place any holiday orders. Do you want a beautiful Christmas wreath from Mrs. Shawn at The Lone Star Barn, or do you need to order your Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas dinner ham? Placing those type orders will allow time for the makers to create and mail to you or the farmer to reserve the turkey or be sure to save the right sized ham for your family.
Do I need to work on a homemade gift now? Folks like to complain about stores such as Hobby Lobby putting their holiday products, supplies, decorations out in July but there is very good reason for this. The complainers are not crafters or planners. If they were, they would understand that crafters, especially vendors for holiday craft shows, are working in the heat of the summer making those adorable holiday and winter decorations that are popular at holiday craft shows and markets.
Do I need anything for my table settings? Last fall I determined to add to my antique Friendly Village collection. Not able to afford the original pieces, I picked-up some reproduction settings from Facebook Marketplace. Additionally, I found amber Fostoria water glasses to match. When it was time to set the Thanksgiving table for my extended family, the settings I had anticipated using were ready for me to use.
Christmas cards are my joy. (Watch THIS VIDEO to learn how we afford to send and why we send cards each year.) I consider them a gift to the recipients. Indeed, now days the cards and stamps cost enough to justify their being a gift! The only year in the past 36 years that I haven’t sent 200+ cards was when we had major family upsets that fall and I just couldn’t bear to do much of anything that season. Other than that, we budget so I can order photo cards, buy the Christmas stamps and mail the family update letter. My goal is to get those out before Thanksgiving as our local folks also receive their Open House invitations in the same envelopes. The Open House is typically soon after Thanksgiving.
Is this the year I want to try a new recipe? Will this be the year that I make my great-Uncle Peter’s German Stollen? If so, I might like to try the recipe a time or two before I make it for the first time and hope it turns out well to serve on Christmas morning.
For 20+ years, our family has been decorating homemade gingerbread houses (watch me make the house pieces HERE). For a few of those years, I have taught classes on this topic to school children and adult groups. Each piece is handmade by me. I’ll admit to procrastinating making the pieces. They do keep very, very well in storage. (In fact, the decorated house itself will keep for years under the right conditions.) I hope this is the year that I have the pieces made before the Thanksgiving week-end!
And, likely most importantly, I prepare my body and mind. For so many years that our family can remember, I have been sick at Christmastime, often on Christmas Day. Last year I began to feed my body additional immune builders and will do that each year going forward. Mamas do a lot for the family and others during the holiday season so we need to pay attention to our immunity. We aren’t any good to anyone nor will we enjoy the season if we are sick. I’ll continue to take these vitamins as well as this vitamin C powerhouse.

Our Home Tours & Timeless Messages You Might Like

Home decorations and Christmas Eve snow at our little white house in Ohio, 2020. Click HERE for 3-minute video.
Christmas from our little white house in Ohio to your house, 2021. Click HERE to receive a holiday message and poem along with house decorations.
You are invited on a tour of our Tennessee home, Christmas 2025. Click HERE.

Home-spun Gift Ideas for Home-centric Folks

Consider your talents and create meaningful gifts for others. Even if you feel you have no talents or gifts (which is not true), you can offer your time to someone as physical labor or fellowship.

Hand-woven pot holders, homemade apron, or even more creative items like quilts
- Make your own pot holders using this kit, or purchase from our Missy HERE. Watch this video tutorial from Missy to learn how she makes pot holders and how the money is used.
Homemade vanilla extract
- Use this video to learn how simple the process can be.
Homemade food — bread, sweets, meal-in-jar kits, baskets of groceries with a theme (taco night, salad fixins, specialty diets)
Hand-created (not computer or AI generated) coupons to wash their car, cook/deliver a meal, walk their dogs, at-home massage or facial, weeding or help in garden, house cleaning, running errands, babysitting….so many options.
Use scrap materials to build a bookshelf or small chair-side table.
- Our son, Morgan, made some pallet board furniture for me one year and I love it still.
Write a meaningful letter telling the person how much they mean to you and stop by the grocery store floral department for a beautiful bouquet on the way to delivering the letter.
Not homemade, but shopping at thrift stores can often result in items that may be gifted or repurposed as thoughtful gifts.
Again, not homemade by you but this is a homemade product — a subscription to The Journal newspaper is a great gift idea especially for older folks who appreciate the “ways gone by” and tell you that they “don’t need anything.” The Journal newspaper is written by and for Heritage Ways community homemakers and homesteaders who value the time-honored ways of living. Click HERE to “read all about it!”

Planning ahead of the winter holiday season can remove some of the anxiety for Diligent Homemakers. The season is filled with special food preparation and fellowship planning, gift-shopping and delivering, traditions and memory-making. It is possible to receive more joy out of the holiday season by planning ahead in September and October.

One thing that I am still working on is this. Perhaps you have mastered it or perhaps you and I need to work on this together.

Know when enough is good enough. Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Every cobweb doesn’t have to be removed. Every cookie recipe doesn’t have to be baked. Every gift doesn’t have to have a department store worthy bow.

But, if there is something your heart would really like to accomplish or give this holiday season, then September and October are great times to plan. Is there a homemade gift you’ve always wanted to give someone? Is this the year you want to make Nanny’s Rotten Coconut Cake (one of my goals this year)? Would your family enjoy decorating homemade gingerbread houses this year, finally? Click HERE to watch a series on making and decorating gingerbread houses at our house.

The Most Important

Being thankful, reflecting on blessings, fellowshipping with loved ones, and making memories are the most important part of the holiday season. Whatever the preparation looks like for you, enjoy the holiday season.

Count your blessings,
I love all ya’ll,
Mrs. Katie of Heritage Ways

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Do you like recipes that are family favorites and tried-and-true comfort food?

Years ago my Mr. Patient and children encouraged me to write down many of their favorite recipes in one book. My first cookbook, From Katie’s Kitchen, Vol. One, includes 205 of the recipes that they requested. This book has become a fan favorite with Heritage Ways homemakers world-wide. Get your copy HERE and start making many of the recipes that our family has been cooking for generations.

Longing for old-fashioned ways?? Receive the Heritage Ways in-home newspaper written by AND for homemakers and homesteaders. Click HERE to “read all about it!”

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The Heritage Ways Diligent Homemaker’s Commitment

As Diligent Homemakers, we do the best we can with the resources we have at the time. These resources include our time, physical health and energy, money and possessions. We commit to using these God-given resources to the best of our abilities and give ourselves grace in the process.
Lazy hands make for poverty but diligent hands bring wealth.
Proverbs 10:4 of The Holy Bible, NIV