No, I’m not working today and if your family celebrates Christmas I hope you aren’t either! I even wrote this post a few days ago!

If you’re looking for some end of the year cleanup work to do, take a look around! Come up with your own ideas and share them in the comments.

This time of year can be quite challenging for keeping focused on your work. There may be school events to deal with, parties you’re invited to, family and friends wanting to visit, gifts to be bought and in general fun to be had. It’s not entirely conducive to being productive in your business.

Depending on what you do, that may not be an entirely bad thing. If your business drops this time of year you may feel justified in taking a break along with it.

And you certainly want to take the time to appreciate your family and friends. Life would be pretty boring without them. But how far should you take it?

I look at things a couple of ways. The first is to consider that time has to be made in life for enjoyment. The second is that even if business is slow there’s no time like the present to plan for the future.

That second part is what keeps me working hard whenever I can manage it at this time of year. I can see a difference in my traffic, but that’s just the kind of visitors I get being fairly busy at this time of year. Doesn’t mean I should slack off too much.

I’m spending a lot of time planning out what I want to get done next year. It’s a great time of year for setting goals. I’m planning blog posts and trying to figure out the best ways to increase my income.

And of course have fun. I’ll be making cookies with the kids, all the usual stuff.

There’s always the temptation to slack off more than a little, but that’s not a luxury I’m allowing myself just now. Too much to do and I still enjoy my work most days. Quite a bit in fact. I’ll just ignore the part about having a certain sweet young baby’s current fascination with my keyboard. Nap time and bed time can feel like a blessing some days. Her nap and bed times, that is.

This time of year figuring out that work-life balance can be even more difficult than usual for work at home parents, but it’s no less important to get it right. Most people can’t afford to vanish from one for the sake of the other. But a little shift to really enjoy the season isn’t a bad thing at all.

Hard to believe the holiday season is upon us already. Whether or not you personally celebrate Christmas or any other holiday at this time of year, you probably need to get ready for those who do if you sell anything that might be given as a gift.

This time of year is great for making sales. Even when people are cutting back, there are still many chances for your business to do well.

Time to decide if you can increase your advertising to gain the attention of those who are spending money. Time to make your products stand out as great gifts. Time to be certain that you can fulfill customer needs promptly.

If you’re selling physical products, that’s a lot of work. Your workload has probably long since increased just in terms of preparation. November’s pretty late to be getting ready, after all.

It’s not too late, of course, even if life has been hectic enough for you that you aren’t as ready as you would like. Just means you have to push a little harder to get things done.

You don’t want to run out of stock. You don’t want to run behind on shipping. You don’t want to ignore customer needs even if you’re swamped with other things.

Even if you’re an affiliate you should be geared up or gearing up by now. Take advantage of the season and the extra shoppers! Be willing to answer questions that will help you to make sales.

I’ll admit I’m running behind on much of this myself this year. It has been crazy, but I know that I need to get it done.

Figure out what your business needs and do likewise. There’s no time to waste.

Electric toothbrushes.

No, really. In the things my husband and I gave them, the electric toothbrushes were the biggest hit. Just simple ones, a blue and a pink Crayola electric toothbrush.

It was hilarious how delighted they were.

But the toothbrushes did finally get beaten out by a gift from my mother on Saturday. She gave my daughter an EyeClops BioniCam, and it was a hit all around. Even their 13 year old cousin wants one now.

They’re under $20 right now on Amazon, so a really good deal. How long that will last is up to Amazon, of course.

The kids of course wanted to use it at 400x magnification right away. Well, that’s really, REALLY hard to focus. I mean really.

My daughter was just crushed to find out that her initial images were terrible. You see, she had decided that she was going to make tons of money selling her images. Mommy’s little entrepreneur!

So I switched her on down to 100x magnification, and she’s just delighted with the results. Finding the focus there isn’t too hard, and it holds it pretty well. She still thinks she can sell the images, but that’s the kind of thing you think when you are 6 years old. She figures she can solve all our money problems by doing this. It’s really sweet.

My mother also got one for one of my other nieces who is about my daughter’s age. It was a good thing that I looked at the packaging while we were all there. These come with a 32 Meg USB key for pictures to be saved on. My brother-in-law didn’t notice it at first, stuck in the front of the box, and was grumbling about how the kids couldn’t save the pictures. I had looked at them online, and knew there was something, so I checked our box which hadn’t been opened yet, and told him where to find it.

Somehow he had mistaken it for one of the images on the box, not an actual USB key. Good thing the box hadn’t been thrown out yet.

All the kids were wanting turns. It didn’t matter that all except the 13 year old are under the 8 years of age recommended on the packaging. Once the focus is done, it’s pretty easy to show a child how to save an image. And unlike the original Eyeclops, you aren’t stuck to the television!

We haven’t even tried the movie function yet, although you can take a few seconds of movie to save on the card. Right now the kids are plenty happy just to be able to take interesting pictures.

A fun one was where my niece took a 100x image of her thumb, then washed her hands and repeated. I got to tease her about the two specks of dirt she missed in washing up. A great little lesson in how much dirt there can be on hands that looked reasonably clean.

My daughter is having to share this one with her younger brother, who is also pretty good at taking pictures with it. That’s fine with her, as he has to share his remote controlled car. Fair is fair, after all. They came to an agreement about taking turns every 10th picture taken, which has worked out so far… except for my daughter trying to insist that only 30 pictures be taken a day, and she would take the first turn. Sneaky, sneaky, but oh so cute! We’ve corrected that one, but as my son gets older he’s going to have to learn to watch out for her. She’s good at making deals like that.

Congratulations. You are now past the worst of the holiday season. Take a break with your family. Enjoy yourselves. Sleep in if you can. Play games and enjoy the beauties of the season as they appear in your area.

And yes, I’m taking my own advice. I wrote this post on 12/21 and scheduled it for today!

Twas a few days before Christmas, and all through the house
The children were running, their usual carouse.
The furniture and floors had been cleaned up with care;
In hopes that somehow no messes they’d bear.

Ornaments were nestled into the tree and spread
In hopes that the children carefully would tread.
The weather to us was a little cold snap
Meaning rain on the window barely did tap.

Then in the living room there arose so much chatter
I left my computer to see what was the matter.
Much as the children might want me to dash
I knew it was just another childhood clash.

The lights on the tree quickly did show
The contested toy that someone did throw.
The mess no surprise that it should appear;
Though my hope for otherwise had been so sincere.

Holiday tempers can flare so very quick
The tension between them soon grew quite thick.
More rapid than usual, the quarrels they came;
With tugging and shouting and calling a name.

“That’s my toy!” “She hit me!” “Well I had it first!”
“No, I did!” “I’m telling!” They stopped with my outburst:
“Out to the back yard, and go have a ball;
Now go and play, go and play, go and play all!”

One look at the rain and outside they did fly;
Thinking of puddles and making mud pie.
So out of the door the children they flew
Barely heeding my insistence on the wearing of shoes.

It would take but a moment, I knew without proof;
That such a decision some would call a goof.
As I opened the window to listen for sound;
They raced all around the cold, muddy ground.

In mud they’d soon be covered from their heads to their foot;
The only question was how long they’d stay put.
The play in the mud was right on its track;
But all too soon they came in, wanting a snack.

Their wishes for food were oh so contrary;
Frozen treats or hot chocolate, and all they could carry.
Their sweet little eyes from play were aglow,
But they insisted their tummies more food they did owe.

Quickly I noted the chattering teeth,
As well as the mud on their shoes just beneath.
A quick decision, the mud or the belly?
Hoping the mud wasn’t sticky as jelly.

So I said, “Come in and clean up yourself”
While I looked for quick snacks up on the shelf.
Muddy feet on clean floors quickly did tread;
But now it was time to get the kids fed.

Not long in their bedrooms the children did lurk;
Eager to see the result of Mom’s work.
Pleased they did seem with the food that I chose;
With snack time they wanted to watch favorite shows.

Playtime wasn’t long enough; they quickly did bristle;
It’s amazing what foods can be used like a missile.
But I heard them exclaim, right before the next fight,
“Mommy, I’m sure ready for Christmas tonight!”

Somehow I don’t anticipate spending much time online this week. It’s Christmastime and time to relax with the family.

Are you taking a break too?

I got a lot done yesterday, but there’s still more to be done. No doubt most important to my kids on that list is making Christmas cookies. They like to make chocolate chip cookies with frosting on them for Santa. They don’t much care for sugar cookies, which is why we end up frosting chocolate chip ones. Who am I to complain?

Yesterday was just plain hectic trying to get things done. I made a bargain with the kids right at the start: 15 minutes of decorating the tree (at last!) for 15 minutes of house cleaning. That worked really well with my daughter, not so well with my son. But what can you really expect from a 3 year old who isn’t in his most helpful mood?

But the tree got done. House still needs help but it’s getting there. They’ve been warned that we don’t want Santa to trip.

Then shoe shopping and other shopping with my daughter when my husband got home from work. It just hit me the other day that we still didn’t have appropriate shoes to go with her pretty holiday dress. She wore it for Thanksgiving anyhow, but pretty shoes would be a nice touch. This late in the game, the selection was pretty poor, though!

Plus just a touch of other shopping to do. I’m not a fan of Christmas shopping crowds, but I did what I had to!

Overall, this is a great time to take time for your family, and remember the important things. If you can do it, I highly recommend it. But even if you can’t take time off, find some way to make some special times for your family. It doesn’t have to cost money, just be together.

Nope, not one of those families that gets all the Christmas/holiday decorations up right after Thanksgiving. I know a lot of people do, but that’s never quite worked for my family.

Deciding when can be a bit tricky when you have kids in the house. This year we’re pretty free about when to put the tree and other decorations up. Both of the kids are old enough to know and mostly follow the rules.

Next year we’ll have a baby somewhere in the vicinity of 10 months old. That changes things a lot. Anyone who has ever dealt with a mobile baby knows just how enticing bright lights and shiny things are.

Space is another consideration. Our living room is small. A Christmas tree is a big commitment of space for us.

It’s an interesting decision, and so much relates to how your family operates. I suspect we won’t get the tree up until maybe 2 weeks before Christmas. It’s a nice amount of time. We get to enjoy it but not suffer too long for all the crowding and loss of play space for the kids.

So I’m curious… how do you decide when decorations go up?

‘Tis the season… to go a little crazy. With all the family events, how do you balance having fun for the holidays with working at home?

Some things are pretty obvious. I mean, unless you have a work at home job that won’t give you the holiday off for some reason, you can just choose not to work during family celebrations. But if things are picking up, what then?

Prioritizing with a Home Business

If your home business picks up right when you want more family time, you can have some tough decisions to make. If you want to succeed, you do often have to sacrifice some time.

But there are options.

I mentioned virtual assistants the other day. This can be a great time of year to hire one to handle all the basics that really don’t need your personal touch. If you haven’t been sure about hiring a bit of help, this is probably a good time to try it out.

This may also be the time to just plain lose some sleep. If you can work a bit later into the night you can keep business things going while losing less family time.

When a Work at Home Job isn’t Cooperating

Most work at home jobs are pretty flexible. In a lot of cases you say when you are willing to work. But sometimes your employer will have a schedule they need you to keep… even on holidays.

Sure, you could call in sick, but you know how realistic that will sound.

Asking for the time you will need early on is key, but it doesn’t always work. If you get stuck working at a time you’d rather be enjoying your family, try rescheduling events a little. Hard as it may be to alter your usual holiday routine, it’s worse if you lose income your family needs.

I grew up flexible around holidays so that may be easy for me to say. Christmas took several days just because of the time it took to see both of my parents and my grandparents. It wasn’t uncommon to not see some people until New Year’s.

Know what? It didn’t make the celebrations any less special. It was about seeing family, not just the food and/or gifts.

Of course, your religious observances may be another story. But in many cases you have a few options for when to attend services. If not, that’s something you will have to deal with and discuss with your employer.

Remember the Reason for the Season

Much as we celebrate holidays on a particular day, they really aren’t about that day so much as they are about the events they celebrate. Keep that in mind as you decide what is most important to you.