Free printable Christmas bucket list!

12/1/2019

Are you usually too stressed out to actually enjoy Christmas? Download this free Christmas bucket list and reclaim the magic!

Christmas presents wrapped in brown paper and red string

Christmas can be a stressful time.

There are presents to get, decorations to put up, travel to organize, and family to be around. But remember when Christmas used to be fun?

When all you had to do was help your parents put ornaments on the tree (for probably all of twenty minutes before you ran off to new adventures), bake Christmas cookies, and sneakily shake your presents to figure out what they might be.

But just because you have responsibilities now doesn't mean that the magic has to be gone, right?

My homemade gingerbread houses on messy table

I always make my own gingerbread houses from scratch. It's messy and fun and I usually invite a girlfriend to spend the day with me!

Enjoy the holiday while it's here!

It's so easy to just focus on the stressful things about the holidays, to just see the endless to-do list it comes with. But what's the point of doing it all if you don't even enjoy it before January comes around and it's time to pack it all away again?

Related: How to handle Christmas when you're easily overwhelmed

This year I want you to be mindful. I want you to appreciate the hard work you've put in. And I want you to be purposeful about it!

I have a tendency to miss festivals and events because I don't hear about them until it's too late. I've never even been to a tree-lighting ceremony before because I never think to look up when they happen! So this year I decided that I will find fun things and I will put them in my calendar and I will enjoy the Christmas magic, dammit!

Some are easy, and some require some planning. But sometimes it's good to pencil in the stuff at home too! Knowing when things will happen (like having a night blocked off for wrapping presents while drinking eggnog and listening to Christmas music) can help minimize the stress about the things that have to get done and help you look forward to them instead!

So print out the free Christmas bucket list below, google holiday events in your area, think about what you enjoy the most about the holidays, and get planning!