A Little Christmas Planning!!

As kids many of us quickly learn that, about this time of year, Santa Claus is - as the classic song says - making a list and checking it twice.

It's certainly fun as youngsters to think this is the case and I still enjoy the notion that there's a mythical "good list" out there in the universe (or at least at the North Pole) that I'm trying to remain on each year.

Hop ahead to adulthood however, and the lists I'm much more preoccupied come December are the ones I make myself to help steer me productively through the endless whirl of activity that is the holiday season.

I've always been a list maker, right back to the days of when they were jotted down with crayon in the margins of my colouring books. In recent years however, for the majority of lists, I tend to still use pen to paper rather than the computer.

Certainly some are online services that I sometimes use. For big list, I do tend to turn to the handy-dandy convenience of the Internet.

Specifically, this year in particular, I've been using a site called Remember the Milk for lists of daily tasks, and another by the name of tadalist.com to keep track of things like shopping and wish lists, as well as long term roundups of tasks to be completed over time. - You can see more information about these sites and planning on my Calender Questions Post. Also don't forget the video I made about how I keep organized Right Here.

Both offer what I consider to be very straightforward interfaces and features that spare you the unnecessarily complicated bells and whistles of certain online/desktop list making programs. This works well because I'm usually just interested in having a place in which to list entries and check them off (don't you adore the feeling of ticking off something on a to do list?) as each is completed.

{Like the iconic image of Santa Claus pouring over his list of children's names each December, most us also find ourselves with a mile long checklist that requires our time and attention if we're to conquer it productively over the course of this wildly busy month.

I find that making lists helps me really focus on the tasks that most need to be completed, which isn't to say I couldn't do so without such lists, but they do provide an especially nice backbone on which to build an itemized set of jobs you need to do or items you'd like to purchase. And the same goes for a calender. I would just die without one.

Writing lists is certainly anything but new, history tells us that many ancient civilizations who had written language kept lists, and I'm sure that for nearly as long as man (or woman!) has had a writing instrument and something to jot down his (or her) thoughts on, organization loving folks have been putting together lists.

With the holiday season is full, merry swing, I thought I'd mention the two lists above in case you happen to be on the hunt for a list building site or two to help steer you through the five million things nearly all of us try and get down, hopefully in as stress-free a manner as possible, this festive, wonderful time of the year.

Just remember to follow Santa's lead, check your list twice, and you should be well on your way to productively soaring through the holiday season!

These list saves me.. I have everything I am working on written down. I am still trying to figure out the cookies list but will get it all written out in the coming days! There is no way to get through this holiday or any other for that matter with out some organization and planning!

K Jaggers

♥