The Love of the List – The Final Chapter
Tuesday 2nd October 2007 by Cherry Menlove
Working with lists, whether they’re physical or simply something that you keep in your mind, can be extremely helpful when trying to get organised and but DO NOT get bound up in keeping lists. To the domestic goddess they're are an aid, a helper, a prompt, not a guide for life.
Although I can often be seen scribbling away at some note or another I don’t let them keep me permanently in the present tense. What I mean by this is that you need the here and now to be organised and clear in order to get to where you want to go. But if you get stuck in the minutia of the here and now you’ll stay there...forever.
One set of lists that are now hanging on my fridge are my Christmas lists. Yes I'm afraid so; due to the nature of my business and the fact that it’d go under were I not prepared, I’m unable to save certain events for specific times of the year. So if I get some Easter inspiration in September it has to be scribbled down. That said I don’t let my ‘Home for Christmas’ lists go up until the start of October.
I’ve just begun working on the following:
 Christmas Food List – I’m hosting Christmas this year so each and every time I remember an item I know I’ll need in the fridge or the pantry I write it down. I’m planning on paying FoodFullStop  a serious visit.
I’m bound to go foraging for something early on Christmas morning only to discover that it isn’t there but this is a great way to give myself plenty of time to envision the entire day in my mind way ahead of time.
 Christmas Project List – I make a lot of my own trinkets and decorations and if there are trimmings I need to order for certain projects (from MacCulloch & Wallis and VVRouleaxu then I write them down. I also add the date that I’d like each project to be finished by.
I remember getting up very early one Christmas day in order to finish off some hand embroidered table napkins that I’d made my mother. I really don’t want to be doing this when I should have my hand up the turkey’s bum.
 Christmas Gift List – This is the one that I shall be keeping on me at all times. If you’re a family that do stockings then make sure you keep your eyes open for fillers from now. Make a note of each person you're buying for and think about each gift that goes inside. You needn’t spend a fortune, visit Forever French Interiors and Aspen & Brown for some reasonably priced ideas.
A last minute panic on Christmas Eve, when there’s a glass of Winter Pimms awaiting your lips, is simply no fun at all!
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