As I work my tail off to get ready for the Christmas season, I find myself often thinking about the things I hope to do differently next year. So right now I’m setting my goals for 2012.

1. Pace Myself! If I got more done in the early part of the year, I wouldn’t be pushing myself to finish 9 hats everyday now!
2. Think Ahead! Especially when it comes to patterns. A couple of weeks ago I decided that this year I HAD to write a Santa Hat pattern. It had been in my head for months, and I decided that I needed to write it and get it in my shop before November got underway. Notice I said that this hat had been in my head for months. But I didn’t do anything about it until October 20th. Genius. Thanks to my wonderful group of testers, and the wonderful Camilla Olsen at Cioco Photography I was able to get it completed and posted less than 2 weeks later, but it would have been a lot less stress if I would have done it earlier!
3. Relax! This one is actually going into affect this year! Last year I was filling orders until Christmas Ever. This year, NOT going to happen! I am going to enjoy my Christmas. I am going to buy a tree with my husband, make an early Christmas dinner with friends, and watch lots of Christmas movies. I’m going to enjoy Christmas this year!
4. Take Care of Myself! Lately I’ve found that I don’t exercise as much as I did a couple of weeks ago. Some of that has to do with the change of weather. I can’t hike nearly as much, and sometimes it’s just too cold at night to take a really long walk. Next year I need to find an activity that I can do year round, and that I enjoy enough to stick to!
5. Don’t Over-Commit! I actually had most of these thoughts last year, and to be honest, I did a much better job and getting more hats made earlier, but I blew that by committing to more and more shows until I ended up more stressed this year than I was this time last year! I just need to keep it going and not commit to taking orders I know it will take a miracle to fill!

So those are my 5 goals for the coming Christmas season, and for next year. Anyone else have to set crazy rules for themselves in order to keep sane!?