Preparing to Prepare: Catalog Christmas Books

Can I tell you how happy my children have been since I made my big push to take the slalom course of Advent and Christmas paraphernalia out of our hallway and to get it all sorted, organized, catalogued, and put away? 

I am not exaggerating.  When the children saw our hallway all cleared up, they began literally kissing the walls.  They were that happy with "all this space!"  And me?  I was, too, and, I've been feeling doubly glad to have my kitchen table back.

Finishing the Final Bits of Packing Up Christmas 

This early week, I worked for hours and hours purging, organizing, and cataloguing Christmas books as part of my efforts to prepare throughout the year for Advent and Christmas.  In fact, I was still working on the final parts of this mini-project as my kiddoes had their St. Brigid Day oatmeal the other day, which was a bit disconcerting, because I had hoped to be done long before then.

Luckily, the kids were champs that morning and, after breakfast,  they helped peel and dice apples for homemade applesauce while I made one last push to finish my second mini-project in preparing to prepare for Christmas.

Just in time, I finished cataloguing and storing all of our Advent and Christmas books away and set the table for our Luncheon Tea for St. Brigid, St. Verdiana, and Our Lady of Altagracia.

That delighted me.  For Christmas books all put away = clear table = table ready for company = one happy mama!  One happy mama who has celebrated twice since clearing the table.  Yep, it's been a double-hitter tea week here.

We celebrated a Candlemas Poet-tea with friends, too.

More on teas another time, though.  Right now, back to explaining about those books.

Just How Do We Own So Many Christmas Books?

For years now, we've spent most of Advent into Christmastide reading, reading, reading with our Alphabet of Advent, Literature-Rich Advent, Works of Mercy Wisemen, and more.  Thus, every year, I pull out whatever I can find from our personal book collection and also borrow baskets of books from our local library to enjoy during our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E +, Together Time Bag and bedtime reading. 

Without question, Advent and Christmas have become synonymous with cuddling up with books in my house.  Unfortunately, that has often meant book explosions, too. 
Some years, our library books don't all get returned until nearly Lent, and, most years, our personal collection gets stashed away bit by bit, here and there, causing parts of it turn up missing the following Advent, lost somewhere in the abyss of mounting disorganization.

This year, then, I was quite proud of myself, for getting some of the many library books we had borrowed returned before Christmas, and more before Epiphany, with the last of our borrowed Advent and Christmastide books out of our home before the end of January.

Indeed, I was ever so pleased last week when I checked to see what was due on our library cards and didn't notice a single Christmas book still checked out.  (Little things give me great feelings of accomplishment and success these days!)

Unfortunately, my self-congratulations ended, when I began organizing our various book baskets, shelves, and stacks with February reading, whereupon I realized just how many of our personal Christmas books were still hanging around everywhere and, moreover, just how many Christmas-themed books we actually own.

By the time I had collected all of our Advent and Christmas books from sundry shelves, baskets, and drawers, I faced stacks and stacks of books on my kitchen table that were more than a foot high each.
How on earth did we collect so many Christmas books? I marveled.  For, before seeing our Christmas collection stacked all in one place, I had known that we owned a lot of Christmas-themed books.  However, I simply did not realize just how many we've been blessed with!  Between gifts, purchases, library discards, and pass alongs, it is amazing what piles and piles of Christmas books we had amassed and - lo! - there were even some repeat titles among them.

Thus, began a sort and purge.

First, I sorted all the Christmas books into categories:  

• books we use during each specific week of Advent or Christmas,
• books we enjoy in general throughout the season,
• books we definitely will enjoy for years to come,
• books we can part with now,
• and, books that I want to decide on after one more year in our possession.

That step done, there were still 70+ books on my table and - yikes - later, I found another small stash of them.

THAT WAS A LOT OF BOOKS!

Thus, I gave myself a limit for how many books to keep and catalog:  I would only keep as many books as would fit, sorted into drawstring bags by category, in a single 18-gallon plastic tote.

Of Sorting, Storing, and a Ready Reference List

Once I had decided on the limit I would allow for our Christmas book collection, I sat down with my laptop and created a document that included the following columns for each book:

• Date to Be Read (if applicable)
• Tradition We Tie In with the Book (if applicable)
• Works of Mercy Wisemen for the Book (if applicable)
• Title
• Author
• Illustrator
• Type of Book (Boardbook, Hardcover, or Softcover)
• Notes
• Themes
• Whether the Book is Religious or Secular

Now, this might seem like overkill to some, but, for me, it is just the right amount of information to note. 

With such information, I can work out this year's Advent and Christmas reading plan easily throughout the year without having to drag out our bin. For the list will remind me which books we own, which we may wish to borrow, and which I might buy on sale.  I can also easily retrieve particular books that we may want to revisit on specific dates throughout the year - like Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree on June 5 for St. Boniface's feast day or picture books about Christmas around the world when we study specific locations in Geography Club.  Since I cataloged and, then, stored our Christmas collection by theme and typical date(s) of use, and since I know whether each book is a boardbook, softcover book, or hardcover book, I now know which book is where and what exactly I am looking for, so I can easily go to the bin and retrieve just what I am looking for within minutes without much rummaging, hefting, or hauling.

Likewise, with my newly catalog list, I can also be more prudent when it comes to which additional Christmas books that I may buy and borrow.  For, yes, (and here I hang my head in shame) in the past, I have been known to borrow - or even to purchase - books that we already own because I thought we did not since our copies of some book had been lost in the abyss of our home.  I have also - much to my children's disappointment - neglected to borrow family favorites from the library, thinking we owned them and that they'd turn up before the season ended, when, in reality, I was confused.  We'd borrowed certain books year after year, not bought them.

True fact is, that Mama's memory is not what it once was, but mama's newly catalogued list solves that problem.  I now have a ready reference of what we own, so I will better be able to determine what we may want to purchase on sale or borrow again.  Not rocket science, I know, but a tediously long step taken which will now make my path to a more prepared Advent and Christmas so much easier.

I don't know if I am more excited about having purged some Christmas books and catalogued the rest into a neat little file or having my kitchen table back.  Honestly, both delight me and have me revved up for the next step in my preparing to prepare efforts.

What steps are you making month-by-month to prepare for Advent and Christmas?  Are there favorite Advent and Christmas titles you'd recommend?  I'd love to hear about them.

Also, be sure to stop by each month this year on the 2nd to see what more I've done to prepare for Advent and Christmas - or to prompt me to do more.  Thanks!

Preparing to Prepare: A Commitment to Spend Time Each Month Preparing for Advent and Christmas

 

I know.  I know.  You have just read the title of this post and are thinking, "Christmas?  Why is she talking about Advent and Christmas?  That time of year is months away."

Well, let me assure you, I have a sound reason to be thinking about Advent and Christmas.  For, I admit it: I am not the most organized housekeeper and a mere day or two before turning the calendar page to February, Advent and Christmas items were still exploding throughout my home.

Now, I know some of you, like me, purposefully leave certain decorations out until Candlemas.  however, I am not talking about having an intentional Nativity set or two still out.  No, I am ashamed to admit that my family and I had been slaloming through Advent and Christmas bins in my hallway, wading through stacks of Advent and Christmas books, separating our homemade12 Days of Christmas ornaments from other ornaments that we took down after Epiphany and finally wrapping them up, and more until I made huge push this past weekend to get the Advent/Christmas chaos under control.

Yes, with humility, I admit I am not a gifted housekeeper, and, I often let tasks literally stack up.  Yet, with hope, I plan to change that.

One of my goals for this year is to finally break the cycle of disorganization that has plagued me (my children, my husband, and our home) for years.  And, one of the ways I have decided to work on that goal is to invest time up front to prevent seasonal explosions from derailing the rest of the year.

Thus it is that I have determined that I will NOT spend late November and early December of this year pushing to prepare for this year's Advent and Christmas seasons and, likewise, I will not still be tucking away the majority of our Advent and Christmas items away as February nears next year. Rather, - God-willing - this November will find my family and I peacefully prepared for Advent when it rolls around in early December this year, and, then, equally able to slide right into a joyous Christmas, before heading into an organized Ordinary Time with a smiles on our faces and but few intentional Christmastide about the house.

Great intentions, right?

Indeed.  But, they are only as good as the effort behind them.

So it is that, as of today, I am committing to doing extra preparation and organization each month this year in an effort to make my family's next Advent and Christmas among our most organized and peaceful ever.

My first step has been an easy one:  Creating an Advent and Christmas Corner.  

Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind
 I re-delegated a portion of my attic to storing 18-gallon totes with our:

• Advent and Christmas Books
• Jesse Tree Ornaments and other Advent Decor
• Nativity Scene Figurines
• Christmas Ornaments and Lights
• Christmas Eve through the End-of-Christmastide Decorations
• Christmas Gift Storage
• Christmas Craft Items

Then, I began the process of sorting, purging, organizing, and cataloging items - as well as carefully labeling bins - so as to ensure that I know exactly what was in each bin stored in our attic and how those things may be used intentionally in the years to come.  (This is actually something I hope to do with ALL of the things in our  home - sort, purge, organize, catalog, and label. Wish my luck!)

I have finished that process with all of our items except our nativity sets (which I leave out until Candlemas) and our picture books, which are sorted, but not catalogued and tucked away yet. 

So it is, the process continues


Your Invited to Follow My Progress - and Prompt Me to Keep Going

Once I get our nativity sets and picture books tucked away until this year's Advent and Christmas seasons, I do not intend to stop the organization process.  Rather, I plan to do a little each month so that I am not scrambling to prepare on December 1st of this year. 

Yes, since Advent begins this year on December 3rd, I have decided to give myself interim deadlines of the 2nd of each month to make further progress on preparing to prepare, and I plan to share about my progress as I go.

So, please continue to pop on over on the 2nd of of each month to hear how I have been moving along with my next steps of preparations or to prompt me - please! - to progress if need be, and if find yourself scrambling to prepare lessons, heart, and home just before Advent each year, join me in parallel efforts at your own home.  Maybe what I share can inspire your efforts.

May we each be disciplined in getting through tedious tasks in order to better prepare our hearts and homes!