Good Intentions . . .

I know, I know. Much too early to post Christmasy pictures. It's barely October. The leaves haven't even turned, which means I'm in that happy window of time where I'm free of the guilt that comes with not having gotten the raking done. On the other hand, I have a whole mess of guilt concerning the ever-growing pile of flotsam and jetsam in my driveway that's destined for the dump. It's been there for weeks. And weeks. The neighbors must think that we're attempting to compost an old dresser and a broken chair. But I've drifted from my point, which is that I'm making personal resolutions to be organized about Christmas this year.

Years ago, my goal was to have all the "extra" people done and wrapped by Halloween (friends, co-workers, babysitters etc.), extended family and Christmas cards done by Thanksgiving, and then in theory that would leave December for just focusing on Ben and the kids. A few times it almost even worked. For the last few years though, I haven't even gotten far enough to think about being that organized. But here we are in October . . . which means there's still a chance.

So here's to good intentions, right? Just for fun I've whizzed up some gift labels - and I'm just throwing out the hot tip that these are CHEAP. Print some out and shove them in your closet next to your tissue paper and you'll thank yourself when the December wrapping frenzy rolls around.

Step 1: Grab yourself a pack of Avery shipping labels - 2"x4" 10 labels per sheet. (Should be under $5 for a pack of 100.)

Step 2: Click here for the PDF which you can then print out as often as you'd like and slap them on your presents with wild abandon.

Step 3: Feel smug that at least that's out of the way, and it's only October.

For my final, parting hot tip - look for poinsettias at the dollar store. They're generally horribly ugly as they come on the spray, but if you pop the blooms off they make for festive toppers on your packages. And you can't beat the price since they come in clumps of 8-10.