How to Celebrate Hanukkah with a Little OCD Flair

In our home, we celebrate almost every holiday in December. While we've decided to leave a few of the festivities for others to enjoy, we have Hanukkah and Christmas firmly in place.

While it's fun and games for the kids, Mommy has to prepare spreadsheets and flow charts to keep everything straight. 

First (in no particular order, since Hanukkah changes each year), there's the Twelve Days of Christmas. I don't know what other families to for this (seriously, I really don't. I was married into all of this.) but for Pat's family, the tradition has always been that Santa leaves a little gift in our stockings for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. So Mommy needs to coordinate with Santa regarding what everyone would like and when they will get each item. 12 gifts x 4 = 48 gifts

Then there's the Eight Nights of Hanukkah. While they may not be iPads and and new cars (those Lexus people do it on TV so it must be real), I need to gather up eight decent gifts for each night. (Side note: when I became a mother, I vowed never to give my children underwear or socks for Hanukkah. Ever.) 8x4 = 32 gifts. Current tally: 80 gifts.

Finally, there's Christmas. In many other families, the children cannot wait for Christmas morning. They wake up earlier than the birds and fly through the house and down the stairs and scream and squeal like it's... yes, Christmas morning! The truth is, that's exactly how our house is on Christmas morning. But the thing is, our kids have been getting presents all freaking month. It's not like they had to wait since Thanksgiving to see what Santa brought them. In fact, there have been years that Hanukkah started right after Thanksgiving. So in a way, Christmas is like a bonus day of presents. Really awesome presents that landed in our living room via the chimney. 

Oh, yeah, and I haven't even mentioned  the three sets of grandparents who like to spoil my kids. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) Yes, December is a great month for the kids. They looove it. And truth be told, Mommy does too. But I have to follow some basic rules. To be specific, there are only two rules.

1. Do not breathe of anything of what I want to get the kids to the grandparents. In fact, if I pretend these items do not even exist in our universe, if I'm really lucky, none of the six grandparents will even think about purchasing them. It has (mostly) worked. 

2. Stay organized or die. This comes in two vital forms - shopping and giving.

Shopping: I have detailed lists from which I shop. I allow myself to stray from the lists, but not too far. I have 80+ slots to fill and I need to do it carefully, without overlap, repetition or error. 

Giving: When it comes time to wrap, I need to stay uber-organized. I don't remember my mom doing this when I was young, but I have to label our Hanukkah gifts with names and numbers. Yes, I do. And it is glorious. 

Once everything is bought, wrapped and labelled, the rest is a piece of cake. I can practically hand out gifts blindfolded! 

These circle labels are SO LAST YEAR... but I liked them, so here they are.

The circles were really simple to make:

1. Scallop punch cardstock or patterned paper.
2. Circle punch white cardstock.
3. Stamp the numbers 1-8 on the circles, leading off the edge.
4. When dry, write the recipients' names.
5. Adhere together using Pop Dots.

For extra sass, change the color scheme for each recipient. Go with your crazy self.

Here are my labels for this year.

Again, easy and simple win the race. Or however that saying goes.

1. and 2. Either cut apart the tags first or use your border punch and then cut the tags apart. It depends how you like to work. I found it easier to do it the second way. (My tags are 2.5 x 3.5)
3. Find some scraps of patterned paper and cut small pieces (I cut 2.5 x .75) to adhere to the edges.
4. Round the corners using your over-worked and well-loved corner punch.
5. Stamp the numbers 1-8 on each tag.
6. Write recipients' names.

And there you have it: the key to my sanity. Spreadsheets and numbered gift tags.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

May your holiday season be happy and bright... and really well organized.