Your Easiest Holiday Season Ever (and My Honest Balsam Hill Christmas Tree Review)
It's September and I already have a Christmas tree up in my living room.
I know, I know! Let me explain.
I start planning for the holidays way early, and it's honestly the whole reason my season feels smooth instead of underwater by late November. So I'm sharing exactly what I'm doing right now, what I'm already thinking through, so you can borrow the whole system for yourself!
Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.
This post is written in partnership with Balsam Hill: they provided the tree and decorations you'll see below, and everything I share about it is my honest experience. #BalsamHillPartner
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Here's my whole system: the calendar, the tree, and the gifts underneath it!
Why I Start Planning in September
I've done some version of this for years, it just shifts as life changes. This year my daughter is turning one right around Christmas, so it feels extra exciting! Part of it is that I genuinely love planning ahead.
The bigger part is that it makes the whole season go so much smoother: less stress, less money spent last minute, and I actually get to do the things I wanted to do instead of waking up in late November realizing I'm behind on everything.
School Calendars and Blocking Off Time
First thing I do: go through the school calendar and log every closing, so nothing sneaks up on me. Here's a hack you need to try if you haven't already: screenshot the school calendar, upload it into Claude or ChatGPT, and ask it to build out a calendar for each of your kids' school schedules. Then import that straight into your own calendar. It saves SO much time!
Put everything school-related on the calendar, and go ahead and request time off now while you can. If you work for yourself like me, block the time off instead, so you (and your team, if you have one) know ahead of time you won't be working. If you don't actually block it off, you'll just keep working, or something will creep into the time you meant to have off; then you're disappointed it happened. Ask me how I know...
Events, Travel, and Family Plans
For me, the holidays are really about the gatherings, all the get-togethers with people I love. You won't know every single event this far out, but whatever you DO know goes straight on the calendar now. I already texted my girlfriends about a Friendsgiving, which felt a little early for September, but between little kids, jobs, and everyone's travel schedules, it's just easier to pick a date now. We can always move it later!
I've also already talked to my mom about how we're handling the holidays this year, since my daughter's birthday falls so close to Christmas: when everyone's coming, when we'll celebrate her birthday, when we'll celebrate Christmas, and any travel we need to figure out.
If you're traveling to see family, look into what's happening there too! My dad lives in Atlanta, and there's so much to do around the holidays there; we love walking through the lights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. I'm already thinking ahead: if we go, we'll want an earlier time slot so we're not out way past bedtime, and those tickets go fast, so I know we'll grab ours early.
Christmas Cards and Photos
If you're using a photographer, book them now, too! My daughter is nine months right now and will be twelve months in December, and I honestly haven't decided how far ahead I want to take her photo since she changes SO much every single day. But whatever you decide, get that date on the calendar now.
If you're not doing a full session, start thinking about outfits now anyway. If everyone happens to look put together next time you're all together, or you spot a nice background, just take the photo! Then when the Christmas card sales roll around, you're ready to go instead of scrambling. This is the piece that's never quite fallen into place for me in past years, I ended up skipping cards altogether, and I really wish I hadn't.
This post is written in partnership with Balsam Hill: they provided the tree and decorations mentioned in this post, and everything I share about it is my honest experience. #BalsamHillPartner
The Tree
Now let's talk about the tree! This beautiful the is from Balsam Hill, and I've been eyeing their trees forever, I really do think they make the best artificial Christmas trees out there. This is their Fraser Fir, one of my favorite shapes, with clear incandescent lights instead of LEDs, since LEDs are a fast track to a migraine for me.
What I loved about shopping on their site is that you can click through every single variation of a tree until you land on exactly the one you want. My ceilings are 9 feet in this room, so I chose a 7.5 ft tree; that leaves room for a topper as well.
I wanted an artificial tree for a few reasons: it's stunning, it'll last for years, and I don't have to worry about needles everywhere with a baby and a Labrador who get into everything they shouldn't! Setup was so easy, I put the whole thing together by myself. All the lights run through the trunk, so there's zero tangle of wires, and it's so thoughtfully lit. The branches look genuinely realistic too; the ones toward the back are more bendable, so you can fluff them out and get that really full look.
(Definitely watch the embedded YouTube video to see how realistic it is!)
It even comes with fluffing gloves, so you don't have to worry about ruining a fresh manicure or getting poked, though it's barely pokey to begin with anyway. If you're shopping for your own tree, give yourself about 1.5 to 2 feet of clearance from your ceiling.
I went with the full silhouette because I wanted that classic, traditional look, but they also have slimmer trees for smaller spaces and some really whimsical options too. The whole buying experience was so easy and actually fun. It comes with its own storage bag, plus extra bulbs and two pairs of fluffing gloves, so you can rope in a family member to help you decorate!
Use code KATE50HOLIDAY for $50 off orders $250 and up, good through the end of the year.
Want to go all in? Balsam Hill also has a matching Fraser Fir garland, a 32" Fraser Fir wreath, a gold wreath bow, and some really pretty textured metal tree collars to round it all out, all linked below if you want to take a look.
Gifts for Under the Tree
I keep a running note in my phone for gift ideas all year long, so I'm never scrambling last minute or buying whatever ad just popped up in my feed (guilty.) It also keeps me on an actual budget instead of just buying things as I see them with no real plan!
My daughter's still too young to have opinions on gifts (one less thing to stress about!), but I also don't want to go overboard buying for her myself. So this year I'm looping in both sets of grandparents early: letting them know the next size up she'll be in clothing, so they don't buy something that will be too small.
In my family we're big on giving people the ONE thing they actually want instead of a pile of little random things, it just feels better. I'd rather tell them the thing she'd really love than have them guess at five smaller ones. Less clutter, more good gifts!
Same rule applies to gifts for yourself, by the way: keep a list of what YOU actually want too, so you're not so busy shopping for everyone else that you forget yourself. I'm guilty of that every single year, but that's part of the fun, too.
That's basically my whole plan for the easiest holiday season yet! Nothing's ever perfect, but getting even a few of these pieces in place early makes such a difference.
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xo, Kate
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