Oh my holy no, no, no… it cannot be a month until Christmas. Seriously, how is it possible that I reach this day every year and shudder at the reality that I am so far behind and there is no turning back? Now, it’s all just about getting it done as fast as possible, with as few opportunities to freak out as possible and hope that the traffic gods love me and I hit all of the green lights in town for the next four weeks.

I envy people with refined organizational skills who plan out, step by step, how they’ll move peacefully into December – dropping Martha-style mail off at the post office in time for it to reach Africa rather than Port Alberni, moms whose kids pile into the kitchen that first week of December to create amazing gems that take intricate planning. We are making chocolate suckers… that’s the plan in our house.

Once upon a time I day dreamed about six weeks of home holiday happiness. Now, I send letters to Santa begging him to not charge me $53 to send a box to my parents in Florida on December 20 and hit the mall Santa on December 23.

It’s time for an organizational intervention.

I am yet to be convinced that my attempts at getting my stuff together this year will have the profoundly joyful effect that I day dream about hourly right now.

But, here are some tools I am implementing this year to give myself the Christmas gift of sanity:

1. Actually following the Canada Post guidelines for mailing. People get holiday cards from us some time in January, if they are lucky. This year, I don’t care what happens, there will be something in a mailbox during the month of December.

Canada Post has all of its recommended mailing dates (along with some great tips on packaging and other goodness) at www.canadapost.ca/sendjoy

But, here’s the basic rundown for mailing regular post. We’ll avoid the Xpresspost and Priority mail dates here because I am in denial that they will be significant this year (mostly because they cost more than the gifts do):

• Canada-wide – Dec. 11 (that is too freaking early)
• Africa – Nov. 23 (whoops)
• Australia – No date. Apparently, you can either forget about it or send it and it will magically arrive on time
• Caribbean – Dec. 1
• Central/South America – Nov. 23 (what is up with this earliness)
• Europe – Dec. 1 (Cripes, guess I’m making cards this weekend)
• Middle East – Dec. 1 (maybe e-cards are a better choice)
• New Zealand – No date, there we go again making me feel like our pals The Reynolds will receive holiday greetings some time next October
• USA – No date. I can tell you from personal experience that you can mail something to upstate New York and it takes two days. Mail it to Seattle and it takes two weeks. Go figure.

2. Limit gift expectations by creating priority lists, but make it magic by thinking out of the box. I want to go whacko with the Christmas extravaganza. But, the reality is that giving family members, including our kids, the chance to think about a few special things instead of piling on a huge list is a real priority for me this year.

I’m collecting the special wishes of all family members in the next week or so and trying to creatively come up with something memorable. Making gift lists and checking them off will give me a sense of accomplishment and a super warm fuzzy for having enough time to be relatively thoughtful.

3. Do all of my holiday food shopping well before the week of Christmas. I implore anyone coming in to town, wandering around town or just hanging out in the grocery stores during the holiday week to take some happy pills and make a list of what you need. One of my biggest stresses during the holidays is going to the grocery store (and I honestly L-O-V-E grocery shopping) because people have their nasty on for everyone who gets near the butter or eggs they are focused on.

The menu is getting planned this week. The food purchases are being pre-bought through local grocers, farmers and food producers. I am sending all of the check-out cashiers around town gift certificates to the spa to redeem after December 25.

4. Take the baking and goodie making off of my list by having a fun friend goodie exchange. Our wheat and dairy allergies have kept us out of the cookie exchange loop and it makes me feel very lonely during the holidays. This year, I’m going for a goodie exchange that gets a bunch of girlfriends together to trade yumminess and take the extreme pressure I feel to create holiday treats off of my plate, while getting together with special friends.

There may be more, but that’s enough pressure for me.

I’d love to hear what you’re implementing this year to keep the holidays in check and the Mominator at bay.