It’s been a busy November, but I’ve never been so organized heading into the holidays. I like to load up the month with all of the ‘work’ of the holidays so that I can just goof-off and enjoy ourselves between now and New Year’s.
My approach this year was inspired by something I saw used at our metro zoo. I’ve been involved with the zoo for a long time and recently their head of facilities shared how they manage their seasonal activities.
They have a giant project list – organized week by week – for maintenance, landscaping, winterizing, and special events. For any given week, the facilities crew can look at the list and see what activities – many of them done just once a year or season – need to be done.
At the start of November, I created a weekly list of projects for myself. I actually went through old pictures on my phone to see what I did in previous years (and when I did it). Week 2 of November included: putting greenery in the window boxes, hanging the bikes in the garage, ordering Christmas photo cards, and mowing the lawn a final time.
I’ve organized & entered the long list in my Notes app on my phone. Every week is listed out. When to buy the Thanksgiving turkey, when to winterize the car, and when to put the light-up snowman in the backyard. All together, I ended up with 35 seasonal chores listed out for November.
For some people, keeping organized like this might be second nature. Not me. I usually get everything done, but not so far ahead of time or in the right order. This year, I’m happy to be so organized! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
How organized are you with your holiday projects?
Image Credit: (c) MrFireStation.com
MrFireStation 
I try to plan everything and find that my time estimates are almost always off on non-repetitious tasks. The tasks either take more or less time. The reason for projects taking longer, is most time a problem that wasn’t known going in is discovered.
Here is a current project that shows how the time estimates are off.
I had to take the ivy off the front of my house to make State Farm happy. It actually came off easier than I thought because it came off in large sections. So, I was able to do enough very quickly to keep my insurance.
Getting the ivy tendrils off stucco was another matter that required judicious use of a brush torch, strong detergent with bristle brushes and welder’s wire brushes.
Last weekend, I cleaned up the aluminum clad window frames, and the tendrils came off much easier than anticipated with plastic razor blades without hurting the paint.
Planning Thanksgiving and Christmas is easier, because most of these fall into the repetitious category.
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That sounds like s big project. Things always taking longer than you expect is one of Murphy’s Laws, Im sure. I haven’t put time estimates to my list, but I suppose that’s my next step. I fell behind my weekly list early in the month, so I probably have some shuffling to do before next year. Do you keep s weekly list of seasonal chores?
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Absolutely.
You mentioned getting your yard ready for Winter. In a Mediterrean climate Winter is busiest time. I cut my UC Verde Buffalo Grass for the first time in four months to get it short to allow the ground to absorb the sun, so it stays green. During the summer you let it go native to shade the soil and reduce the water requirement. Right now is also when you need to apply preemergent herbicides to stop weed seeds from germinating. It is also the best time of year to plant Native perennials to take advantage of the Winter rains. My Redwood Trees also get a good feeding.
This happens to be the biggest week of the season. Thanksgiving meal prep starts today with making the Cranberry Sauce to allow it to mellow. Tomorrow the New York Style Cheesecake gets made. On Wednesday evening the Turkey goes into the brine. At the end of the week, we will buy a Christmas Tree and put up decorations. Also planning to take advantage of Black Friday Sales to buy a ten pack of dog wash tokens, and getting a range membership.
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It sounds like you have a lot to keep track of right now, both seasonally & for the holidays. We just put our Christmas tree up last night. We’re hosting Thanksgiving this week for ~15 people, so the rest of our time to Thursday is all happily focused on organizing the FEAST! We are forgoing the traditional pumpkin pie for a giant pumpkin cheesecake (Costco) with a caramel, gingerbread, pecan, and whipped cream topping ‘bar’.
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