Early December is a “sneaky” awkward time.

Thanksgiving just ended, while work and school are back in session. We’re about a weekend or two away from holiday parties, and in many climates it’s not quite cold enough for those who like a white Christmas.

From a retail therapy perspective, most of the good sales are already over, which means you’ve likely already purchased the majority of your Christmas gifts; plus it’s too early for “last minute” in-store gift shopping, and it’s too close to Christmas for you to buy too much for yourself.

The feast and family time of Turkey Day has worn off, leaving us with a bit of a yuletide lull — a slight letdown from the early November anticipation. So what do you do with this week of dead space before the holiday momentum picks back up?

Here’s a few suggestions:

1. Spark joy, today!
   
   Find a reason to make today special. Go give yourself an afternoon coffee break — get your favorite drink, pastry, and take a minute to just sit and take a deep breath. This season moves quickly, sometimes intentionally sitting still gives you the space you need to enter the fray with proper perspective!
   
   If you’re an extrovert, then tonight it’s time to round up your family (or friends), get them in the car, grab a cup of hot chocolate. and go look at neighborhood Christmas lights! Thanks to Next Door, Facebook Groups, and neighborhood blogs, a lot of people share the best Christmas light setups in your area in a way that’s easily accessible. It’s an easy and free way to re-focus yourself and your core people on the best parts of this time of year (being with them)!
   
   Lastly, this week is a great time to call on friends or distant family members you don’t get to speak to as often as you’d like. Taking time to call them now — before the flood of outreach begins — gives you the chance to make them feel extra special and put some wind in your sales for the days ahead.
   
   
2. Plan your New Years projects.
   
   January is a slow time of year for many people, and we’ve definitely found that to be true for us. so we typically use that time to get things done we don’t usually have time for. Taking some time during this momentary suspension of merriment to do some logistics is never a bad idea — especially if you expect the next 2-3 weeks to demand a lot of your attention.
   
   We personally have a lot of tertiary home projects we want to focus on in January, so now is a great time for us to start looking at decor, light fixtures, and other potential changes we want to make once the calendar turns.
   
   
3. Decorate!
   
   This may be obvious, but if you haven’t started decorating for Christmas yet, or if you haven’t finished decorating yet, then there’s no time like the present!
   
   We like to be fairly generous with our decorations, because you only get a few weeks with this stuff, and in a lot of ways, it makes your home feel like it’s dressed to the nines. We’ve also discovered that decorating our house for Christmas unexpectedly gives us inspiration for year-round changes. Something feels “lower stakes” about seasonal decor that gives us the freedom to put things places we might’ve never considered before — and thus discover there should be something there all the time.

Whatever you decide to do this week, we’re happy you’re spending some time being part of this community! A favorite partner of ours — Wayfair — is celebrating “Cyber Week” right now with up to 70% off select items and fast shipping from now until 12/8! We’ve rounded up our favorites from last minute gifts and holiday decor to pieces that are perfect for New Years’ projects!

*This post is sponsored by Wayfair.