jannie...
That is a nice tip, thanks. I do like to concentrate on one thing at a time and that sounds like a less stressful way to do it. I wonder though...here is where it might need to be different for me...

Shopping at our house always ends up lasting the whole month of December. I am usually waiting on family members to tell me what they want and they keep saying...'I don't know, I will get back to you'. [g]

Then it would seem to me that the cleaning and baking ideally are better done the same week as Christmas..or the baked goods are not fresh, or they hang around tempting everyone to eat them, and the house is dirty again by the time Christmas Day comes.

How do you handle those problems?

pm2

Once the house is clean, daily maintenance is a must, takes about 15 minutes per room. Pick up, dust, sweep, vacuum. Bathroom includes keeping clean towels on the shelves, clean toilet at least weekly, no wet stuff on floor or in tub,etc. As I bake, I freeze the cookies. But first I mail some to my Mom (who no longer bakes) and drop off a tray of cookies at my old job,etc. One hint from my Mom, she used to store cookies in her garage to keep them fresh. It was around 40 degrees in there in December, so it was like the world'sa biggest refrigerator,

I really like the idea of dividing up the holiday "chores" that way. Thanks! I think I'll try it next year.