I know I speak for almost every woman I know when I say that holiday cards seem to be simple enough, but they end up being quite the ordeal. We had a long discussion about this and we have come to a few conclusions. There seems to be a story going around about people who have all of their cards done and out in the mail by the beginning of December. They are all addressed properly, and they all have a nice personal note from the sender. We have searched in vain for these people. If such an organized person exists, no one seems to be able to say who they are.

For me, I always start out with the best of intentions when it comes to holiday cards. I buy them early enough.  I do try to make time to sit down and write them. I am always too busy to do more than a few at a time though, and I always seem to be short when it comes to addresses. There is always someone who has moved, or some address I have lost. It takes me at least a week to find the addresses I need so I can proceed with the holiday cards.

I don’t know who said you should include a personal note in each of the holiday cards you send out in the mail, but I have concluded that they are either insane or they only have to send out two cards. There is no other way to explain it. I would love to put special messages in each of my holiday cards, but this is something that I cannot do. It’s next to impossible. I manage to do it for some of the cards, but end up having to just sign the rest of them. Then I feel guilty and hope my friends don’t compare notes about the holiday cards I sent out to each of them.

That’s not always a worry though, because there are times I don’t get them sent out at all. This year I have a stack of holiday cards addressed and ready to go, but they are still sitting on my table. If I am lucky I will get them out this weekend and they will arrive in time for the holidays, but I’m not so sure it’s going to happen. As usual, there are two cards with incomplete addresses. If I were to mail all of the holiday cards out now minus the two I need an address for, those two will remain forgotten. I have to send them out all at once. This means I will have to apologize yet again for them being late. That’s ok though. If my friends got them on time they may think something is wrong.

One thing that you should never leave off of any gift is the name tag. You may think you can remember who each gift is for, but you are bound to get a few of them mixed up. You may even end up giving Grandpa a new set of lingerie while you have given your best friend a brand new power tool. Both may get a kick out of it, it is not what you intended. This means you should have some great Christmas gift tag sets so that you know exactly who gets what and there will not be any embarrassing confusion.

What is great about the Christmas gift tag is that you can find something to go with almost any type of wrapping paper. If you are giving some of your gifts in bags, they may already come with these attached and you won’t have to think about it.  If you have chosen something really neat for your gift wrap, you want to have tags that match that idea. You can usually find what you need very close to where you found your wrap and matching things up should be easy. Some even come in matched sets so you don’t have to worry about it on your own. The holidays are hectic enough, right?

You can also go in another direction entirely, but it might depend on your circumstances. If you have children, you have a great source for making your own types of Christmas gift tag. You can have them make some that will be unique. Cut out whatever size or shape you want, on any type of paper you want and have them decorate them. You may have to direct them to leave space for the names, but they will get the hang of it after a while and they can then finish them up for you. You will probably be very pleased with what they have done and those who get gifts from you will love them as well.

When it comes down to the last minute, you may have to make your own Christmas gift tag in a hurry. This is something that I have had to do many times because I am always procrastinating when it comes to wrapping up what I have gotten for everyone. When this happens to me, I like to take some of the same paper I used for the gift and make it into a tag. You can just fold a strip of it in half and write on the side that has no color or design. This is not always the best look, but it does work in a pinch. If you have forgotten to get them and you are out of time, this is the perfect idea to keep your gifts going to the right direction.