It is almost September! How are you doing with your preparations? Are you already falling behind? Or are you ready for the next steps?

In September we start on our crafts and check off some tasks early. I like to use September to start to declutter the house to get ready for all the holiday decorating. It is not just Christmas we are preparing for but Halloween and Thanksgiving too. If you declutter and organize now, it will make decorating that much easier next month.

Christmas Cards

If you haven’t started yet. Now is the time. If you finished your Christmas Card List last month then you know how many you need to make. I recommend adding 10% for those you might have missed or those who might enter your life between now and Christmas.

I will continue posting my card ideas all the way through November, but I hope you have some plans already. My Stamp-A-Stack classes have already started. Last weekend one of the cards was a Christmas card and they will continue making some this month too!

Gift Shopping

I know we have already been tracking our ideas but keep on it. This is the biggest area I always struggle with and the more I pay attention to people and what is going on with them, the better my gifts.

Even though my lists say gift shopping, I really don’t start buying until November. I just collect what I want to buy, my ideas. I have several people on my list that might purchase an idea for themselves before Christmas, so I wait a bit to be sure it is safe. (Mom, if you are reading this, I am talking about you). 😉

Now is also the time to see what wrapping materials you have left over from last year. Before I started doing this, it would never fail that I would be in a store with the Christmas stuff that came out early and see a deal on wrapping paper or bags. I would buy them because I thought they were cute just to get home and discover I had 4 rolls of paper that I bought because they were cute in after Christmas sales and forgot. It is always good to have your actual needs on a list for when you do see that must have item. This will keep you buying what you need and not what you don’t need.

Plan Baking

I know we have already started working on our Make Ahead cookies, but here I am talking about everything else. We make 5 different types of cookies each year. We often change up one or two so I will test drive a cookie or two to see if they will taste good or be able to survive a week or so. We tested out a cookie this year that was delicious but learned we had to eat it immediately. The next day they were already too soft and were falling apart.

I will share with you which Cookies we are making this year:

• Gingerbread Cookies – One of my Make Ahead cookies I shared – https://christmascheercentral.com/2024/08/13/make-ahead-christmas-cookies/
• Cutout Sugar Cookies – I will be making these this month. I use Our Best Bites for this recipe too – https://ourbestbites.com/sugar-cookies/ and I use the glace icing of theirs too. It sets up firmly and still tastes amazing!
• Baklava Sugar Cookies – This is a new one this year. I will be making this ahead as well. We tested it and was able to make it up completely and freeze it and it still held up well and tasted great when it thawed. This is a little bit more work so I am glad I can do it in advance. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/baklava-cookie-recipe
• Cake-Like Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – These are a crowd favorite. They are more cake like than cookie, but they bring all the best flavors together. https://ourbestbites.com/cake-like-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies/
• Christmas Kiss Cookies – We usually have a type of kiss cookie. For many years it was the traditional peanut butter kiss cookie, but we started to mix it up. This one is fun; however, uses a LOT of sprinkles! https://www.sprinklebakes.com/2019/12/christmas-kiss-cookies.html
• Italian Lemon Drop Cookies – The lemon cookie is a nice refreshing change for the palate. For the icing, we use the Glaze icing from Our Best Bites. We already have it made to decorate the Cutouts, so it made it easier. https://cakescottage.com/2017/11/29/italian-lemon-drop-cookies/

Something you might notice is there are six cookies here and I said we usually make five types. This is part of the planning. We can choose which one we are going to cut so I am seeing if I have enough that I can make ahead so we can do all 6six. 😀

Cookies are not the only baking you should be planning. What baking, if any, are you doing for Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas Dinner? If you plan this now, you can see if there is anything that you can do in advance.