Yooooo hooooo. I'm just tucked over here in between the couch and the sofa table in my safe place. You of course can't see it, but I'm wearing a hockey mask, 14 dinner rolls as a hat, mittens and steel toed boots. Why the get up? Well #1, it's super-cute. And #2, it's the most adequate protection I could scrounge up last minute.
Today, you see, is the day I broach the most controversial of all subjects on The Art of Doing Stuff. Today I announce it's time to take The Christmas Pledge.
WHAPPP!!
Ha! See? Those dinner rolls came in handy. That shoe one of you threw bounced right off my forehead. No damage at all.
I realize that October might seem a tiny bit early to start preparing for a holiday that isn't until the end of December. And I couldn't agree more. It's ludicrous and I would never suggest you do such a thing. That's why the pledge doesn't start for another 2 days. Which is November. Which is an entirely different thing altogether. Once we hit November, Christmas is just around the corner basically and if you don't pledge to start getting ready for it now your December is going to be miserable. It'll be filled with baking and sloshing and looking for parking spots at the mall, which inevitably leads to high blood pressure, fist fights and more often than not incarceration. You know it's true.
On November 10th, 2011, I introduced the very first Christmas Pledge on The Art of Doing Stuff. It was originally called The Christmas Challenge and it was a bit loosey goosey compared to how it is now, but the sentiment was there. Get shit done. Now.
Every year I hear the same thing from Americans. BUT NOVEMBER IS WHEN WE HAVE THANKSGIVING.
I know. Buck up. Take it like a champ. I've given you a few hours of free time so you can eat your turkey and show off your stretch marks.
The rest of the month is devoted to accomplishing one or two small holiday related things every day. Make cookie dough, decide on presents, drink wine. You can handle that can't you? I knew you could. I will walk you through step by step, every single day. I have compiled all the things the average person has to get done and tends to put off every holiday season into one handy calendar. Actually it's more of a dated list this year. All you have to do is follow along with it. It could not be any easier.
For the rest of you, who aren't ready, willing and able to take the Christmas Pledge, for those of you sneering and laughing and pointing a finger know THIS; you can do what you want, but the rest of us, the pledge takers will be spending December carelessly floating around, suspended by gold thread from flying angels. We will have so few worries in December that we will be weightless. We will be made of powdered sugar and kisses. YOU? You on the other hand will be posting bail.
Ready to do it?
Here's this year's Christmas Pledge calendar. Memorize it.
Click here for a 2 page printout of The Christmas Pledge.
Do you think you can handle it? Is everyone calmed down now? Can I take the buns off?
If you're ready to commit to a calm December and a slightly harried but not completely insane November ... take the pledge. There are no legal obligations (that I'm bound to reveal to you), no payments, no nothin'.
There is a private Christmas Pledge Facebook Group you can join to help motivate you. It's great for sharing ideas and looking for inspiration. Ready to take the pledge?
To show you've taken the pledge, just comment below with a simple "I'm taking the pledge!". Don't forget to join the private Art of Doing Stuff Christmas Pledge Facebook group if you think that'll be helpful for you and print out the pledge.
O.K. Give your virtual signature NOW.
Lois Baron
omg. I am frickin' ahead of schedule! Today as I was discovering where my leftover Christmas cards were, I thought of your pledge, which I failed pretty well last year but enjoyed. Am totally in for this year! I even have made some new ornaments already.
Karen
OK. just don't get too high on your horse thinking you're ahead of things. That usually leads to disaster, lol. ~ karen!
Lois M Baron
Boy, don't I know it. It was just SO surprising.
Gayle M
I'm In! Heading on over to the FB group right now--thanks, Karen! (I actually started on the holiday ornaments the family exchanges each year. I figured it would take a while to cross stitch 11 of the little buggers, and I can say that starting them in September wasn't early enough!) But oh I'm hoping my dil who gave us all a cardstock ornament cut out electronically from her computer last year will finally be shamed into getting with the program like the rest of us--but after 11 years, I think I'm just gonna do my thang and let her stew. Not gonna ruin my holiday again, and besides--I'll be floating on golden threads, sipping wine and just grinning thru it all!
Monica
Maybe she did the best she could. It's hard work for some people to be creative. I'm sure the cross stitch will be a hit, though.
Gayle M
Thank you, Monica, for the optimistic reply, but...this girl is totally creative. She did a great deal of the demo and renovation of her and my son's 1924 bungalow (amazing restoration, by the way). She knits, crochets, created an amazing tiled garden complete with espaliered fruit trees on trellises she designed and built herselfin their back yard, personally handled/created their favors/meal/flowers/etc at their wedding, arrives late and leaves early to the 2 family gatherings (down from 3 that she will attend), and announced in a loud voice "that's YOUR family, not mine" to my son (her husband) in response to all of us standing in front of the Altar waiting for her to come up for the "family" picture at my second son's wedding (she sat in the back rather than with the rest of us in front). But that day we all knew where we stood with her, and were blessed with an amazing new daughter. Dil#1 just prefers to look down her nose at us, sulk silently on the sofa (she will not engage in conversation no matter what we ask her, just yeah, no, and meh) for the 2 days our family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas on the days she says are the only days she is available--and not ever the holiday itself. Eleven years ago, at her bridal shower she said no kids, and I am grateful. Who knows how she would care for them while she is busy doing what she wants for herself all day? Sad, but all of us don't let it dampen our get togethes for the rest of the year.
Andrea
I am so sorry. I hope you will have a wonderful Christmas in spite of that DIL!
Monica
I have a pretty strained relationship with my mother-in-law. On our first meeting she casually mentioned that she had run into my then-boyfriend's ex. She then decided to talk about how smart, kind and pretty she was and how sorry she was that they couldn't make it work for the rest of Thanksgiving. To this day she doesn't understand why on Earth I don't make it to more family events. Partially because she thinks that I'm too dumb to read between the lines despite never having had a real conversation with me.
The short of that story is, I get why you're upset that you ended up with the DIL you got; I'm not a fan of my MIL. But I'm optimistic that one day some activity or conversation will spark a note of camaraderie and maybe we'll find a peaceable place to exist. I have to be for my husband's sake. We just have to keep trying (hence the only reason that I continue to show up for Easter, Christmas, Birthdays).
Karen
O.k. I don't think I mentioned anything about sipping wine while hanging from golden threads. That just seems dangerous. ;) ~ karen!
Gayle M
Well, yeah, the wine was my idea. But I love the image of carelessly floating around, suspended by gold thread from flying angels. Just sounds so serene.
MaggieB
Yahoo, it's Christmas pledge time. That means I can start officially taste testing lebkuchen and domino steins and gluhwein. The children will enjoy the first two and I will definitely enjoy the last!
Lois Baron
LOL. My son works at a German bakery and he brought a box of dominosteine home two days ago, announcing the Christmas season has started as far as they are concerned.
Marie Anne
lol! Christmas starts when I eat my first Weinbrandbohnen! I'll have to find some for November 1st :) I think I will also make some Gluhwein this year too! Enjoy!
Daniela
Oh!! Wishing I had experienced a German holiday just for the baked goods.
Traditions around this house will soon be remade since my nuclear family is to be dissolved in the next weeks.
Maybe I could learn some recipes?
Kiera
Yup. I'm in. I made a decent showing last year but didn't quite keep up. This year we have two camping trips planned in December before Christmas so you better believe I'm going to be all over it this time around under!
Rachael Keefe
I'm taking the pledge! With 2 toddletd and a business to run I need as much help to get myself organised as possible 😉
Willow
Well, I am taking the pledge, last year did not turn out like I planned. I was baking cookies, while cooking Christmas Dinner and overcooked the Prime Rib. My wreath fell off the door and blew away in the wind, and I bravely walked through 4 feet of snow to retrieve it. Yes, I love Christmas, I just kept thinking I have a plenty of time. I think it is because I am getting older. Oh yeah I am older I turned 70 this year! You really are a lot of fun, and I have to tell you, I spent today gluing bone crowns together for my Halloween Pumpkins. Thanks for the laughs, I really enjoy you!
Karen
I'm so happy you did the bone crowns! :) More important you have Prime Rib for Christmas dinner? I'd like that. We have turkey every year, which is great, but a nice prime rib?? Yup! ~ karen!
Hazel
Yep!
Hazel
Except the decorating the house bit. I'm English and I do that in the middle of December. (Though my equally English ex-SIL will have her tree up in about a week, but I'm sticking to my guns!)
Karen
I like to have the decorating doen by December 1st because for me it's SUCH a huge job. It takes 2 days really. So I want it to be up as long as possible for all that work, lol. Tree, however doesn't go up usually until later. ~ karen!
Hazel
:-)
Karen
I'm taking the pledge! I have Christmas and 3 birthdays in December, and I need to reclaim the fun to be had in December! Thanks!
Karen
Atta girl! ~ karen!
Sandra
I am in!
Susan Alexander
Oh shit...ok...I’m in.
Karen
Oh shit. O.K. ~ karen!
Kathleen Aberley
It's going to be a dismal / peaceful Christmas this year. The kids & my darling Granddaughter are away until after New Year and my brother and his family are too. Just me, two dogs, a snake and a leopard gecko... I wonder what the gecko would like with the crickets as a side dish? :)
So, no pledging this year for me. Maybe next year.
Karen
Just 'cause you're alone doesn't mean you can't have Christmas. Is it better with your family around? Yes. Should you completely ignore it because it's just you? No. Do some stuff. Decorate, make a Christmas dinner for yourself etc. You'll feel better about the whole situation if you do, I bet. ~ karen!
Jacquie
Please decorate your home and enjoy a fabulous meal. You might be surprised how melancholy you may feel at the end of Christmas Day and pretending its not happening makes it worse (learned from experience). Plus, you deserve a celebration too, just for being you :-)
Jacquie
Just saw Karen's response, dimwit that I am! Great minds think alike though :-)
Karen
:) ~ karen!
Kathleen Aberley
I am going to do a few decorations - the chicken wire frame Karen showed us a few posts ago (with baubles and fairy lights). As for the meal, I might just braai (barbecue with wood) and open some champers. Thank you for the awesome moral support. You people are just wonderful!
Mary W
So let the Gecko watch some Geico Insurance commercials, give the snake a lovely frozen rat, prepare homemade treat for the dogs and play some music. Sounds like a party to me. My favorite thing is to lay some white twinkle lights in a pile on my dresser, add one decoration, some Hallmark movies, and enjoy laying in a 'frosty winter wonderland' crying about some movie I've seen several times and eating Christmas cookies with egg nog. So comforting - to have a normal quiet and traditional (for me) Christmas day. You got to go for the gusto and grab all the pleasure you can! Sometimes I even put a peppermint candy on my pillow. At my age, I easily forget it was from me and am so happy to get it.
Karen
OMG I'm addicted to those awful Hallmark movies. I. Love. Them. ~ karen!
Kathleen Aberley
LMAO at your last sentence. I forgot about the music... I will dust off the CD's at least. :) And I do love the Christmas movies... Thank you for the suggestions. I just might take you up on a few.
Monica
Go big, let him also have meal worms. Christmas is but once a year, afterall.
Michelle @ Eamonn & Jack
From experience I can tell you to do something, anything, on Christmas.
My parents were traveling one Christmas so they cancelled it (Boo hiss!!!). I was at a loss as what to do with myself, so I made plans. I went to a movie on Christmas eve. I spent Christmas day with a friends family after they took pity on me when I sobbed on Facebook that my parents had ruined my Christmas. Was it a traditional Christmas? No, but it was fab just the same.
When my parents cancelled the following Christmas as well I got smart and decided that if they were going to travel, then so would I. I traveled to Ethiopia and experienced Ethiopian Christmas that year. Best decision ever.
Pats
My husband died 6 weeks ago. I need something to focus on. And I don't need a stressful December. I'm doing it, so I don't lose my shit on December 15th. Which has happened.
Kay
I'm so sorry, loosing a loved one is difficult - especially those first holidays. Something that helped me was holding on to traditions that we shared, it helped me to remember the good times. Sure, the tradition changed somewhat but it helped to keep my heart open.
Karen
I'm so sorry Pats. ~ karen!
Kathleen Aberley
You are right. However I am not going to travel to Ethiopia to get over my Christmas blues! :) I will however make the most of it. Thanks for cheering me up!
Kate
I pledge! I only half-assed it last year, and , well-you know how that goes. This year we have to travel for Christmas to see family and that means shipping all the gifts ahead of time. I need to be on top of things! Thanks for the kick in the butt!
Michelle Vaughan
I am taking the pledge! Printed my calendar and I am ready to start, be organized and have a wonderful December!
judy
Ha! One of the few advantages of being ancient is no jobs,for Holidays. Mostly everybody we would gift or card or invite over are dead. We have 2 dogs,2 sons,52 and 57 and we don't drink so it's pretty much the turkey dinner from the local grocery store and everybody to a recliner and snoring by 7 PM at the latest. I"m not sure if this is making me happy,relieved or slightly depressed-if I had anything to drink I might. Thanks for all the laughs you crack me up and that's a good thing.
Karen
O.K., well why don't you plan on doing ONE special thing for Christmas? Stay up past 7 for instance, lol. Something. Anything! :) ~ karen!
Monica
Or a game or two of Uno. Nothing physically exerting just a little activity to do before 8. :)
Mary W
Merry Christmas Judy and husband of Judy! I think it would be great fun to set up a tiny artificial tree with lights and hang 2 stockings for the dogs filled with treats. BUT only if you put on the Christmas music - music does something to the soul. I'm wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas.
Margaret K.
Thanks for the reminder - I have been dedicated to getting it all done no later than December 1st, when the outdoor decorations go up, for many years. Except for the tree. We buy it, but put it in a bucket of water in the garage for another week so it lasts better through Christmas. My husband, on the other hand, MUST shop on Christmas Eve. So I save a short list of unessential stocking presents for him to get.
DLM
I'm with Elaine!
Oh, and number 18 needs a little revising - or not - it actually reads like one has been into the vodka!
Karen
That was intentional. :) ~ karen!
Ev Wilcox
Okay, this is the deal. It's a right brain/left brain thing. I KNOW you're right, but I don't think I can do it. We'll see.
Karen
Why not, lol? You can do it. Of course you can you weirdo! I'll put you down as a "signed up" ~ karen!
Mindy Northrop
After moving into a new house two months ago, a normal person would give every excuse to bow out. I'm not normal. I'm taking the fucking pledge. I rocked it last year, I can do it again this year.
Karen
Here we go!! ~ karen
Elaine
Bah humbug
Jeannie
Amen!
Jenn Billesberger
I am taking the pledge!! Again!