Christmas BuJo

Christmas BuJo - a fantastic tool for Christmas

Christmas BuJo is a book that you create yourself, where you fill in everything that is important to you at Christmas. For me, it is a mobile brain and I don't have to think about reinventing the wheel year after year. My children would save my Christmas BuJo if the house were to catch fire. Not because it is beautiful but because it contains all the favorites, memories and lots and lots of traditions that have grown over 7 years.

There are 5 fundamental pillars that you can aim for:

• The recipes
• Planning
• Traditions
• Memories
• Inspiration

The recipes

Simply enter all your favorite recipes. If you try a recipe that turns out great, make sure to enter it in the book. Christmas meatballs, jansson, Christmas candy, etc. But only enter the recipes for real favorites that you don't want to lose. Write comments about what made it extra good. Was it bad one year? Write a comment about what probably flopped.

I also have a spread with On the Christmas table, with cold dishes/hot dishes)

Planning Christmas

Planning is about not having to think and reducing stress. Christmas should be fun and enjoyable! You get a clear schedule of what you (or someone else) should do when.

A spread with To Do - When?

Example from our traditional Christmas celebration - date-controlled during December (though not written in stone - it's about a memory of when). It's 1-24 so it can be filled up.

1) Get out the Advent candlesticks 

2) Looking for Christmas gifts? Have a spread in the book where you have captured good ideas during the year for specific wishes. Or ideas for gifts for the Christmas gift game. Include other people's good ideas from previous years. Throw in ideas throughout the year instead of standing with an empty head when it comes time.

3) Keep an eye on the shopping list? This is about keeping a close eye on everything. I have a lot of lists on this theme. An inventory list of things in the pantry/spice shelf that is filled with the things that are in the previously mentioned recipes. Then I have 2 different Shopping Lists with things that are bought every year, these appear on the 9th and 20th.

9) Shop for everything you can. Shopping list 1 with everything that is dry goods, for Christmas baking etc., butter, flatbread, crisps, mustard, eggs (older eggs are easier to peel for the Christmas table. Let them ripen for 1-2 weeks in the fridge). Freeze the salmon.

12) Bake saffron buns and gingerbread cookies

13) Lucia

15) Buy a Christmas tree

19) Take salmon out of the freezer.

20) Shopping Shopping List 2. Dill, ham, minced meat, cream, etc.

21) Grava salmon. Christmas baking.

22) Christmas Meatballs. Any crockery that needs washing? (Dinner - Meatball Sandwiches)

23) Ham, Christmas porridge, Jansson, Dress the tree and decorate. (Dinner - Ham sandwiches for babysitting evening.)

24) Enjoy and relax!

This schedule is not about me doing everything myself. More of a plan with a timeline, that the most important things happen at the appropriate time. Shopping lists are just a photocopy and someone can make quick purchases. With us, it's the children who dress the Christmas tree and decorate, I help out in the kitchen. Christmas Eve-Boxing day is a total relaxing days with cozying up, movies, games and enjoying.

Traditions and memories

Really fun to keep track of previous years. Write a few things about who you celebrated with. For families with children, it can be really fun to try to preserve a picture with the Christmas tree of the year, the gingerbread house of the year. But a spread about the mulled wine of the year - with comments about what you thought. The Christmas gift of the year (HUI Research).

Remember until next year

Having a remember list for next year is probably one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. That if Advent candles start to break, the Christmas tree lights are loose, something was more or less untouched on the Christmas table. Write remember about exactly those things. Avoid getting caught up in the mess of things and have time to fix them in good time. Don't end up in the situation where you have an expectation of fixing Christmas baking, but get a mental breakdown from a messed up oven thermometer.

Above all, clearing out things that don't actually add a bit of value. Not having to cook things that no one wants to eat or buying the wrong brand over and over again.

A Christmas BuJo is your future self thanking your present self.

Get started

You don't need a perfect book the first year. The important thing is to get started. You can start by printing out lists and keeping them in a binder, but you'll quickly miss the magic of memory. Don't underestimate the charm of comments, smudges, and a living book. Full of ditch runs and fun memories.

Remember not to suffer from the performance princess syndrome. Your book is your mobile brain, not an Instagram post. At the same time, it becomes a wonderful memory bank. The book will take a beating from grease stains, but every little stain, splash, everything just shows that it is used. It adds charm.

We recommend using a slightly larger book in this context. Writing recipes (or pasting in clippings/tapping in with washi tape), writing comments can take up space. Lists of all kinds can get lost. So think through solutions, how you want it to be organized. Basic with a driving schedule in a notebook that you have at home? Or a nicer book with lots of decorations in it? Because that's something that really adds value. Writing on a spread can be boring at Christmas. But if you pull out some strips of decorative tape or stick in some stickers, the book becomes super fun to browse through!

Use the filter below, where you can filter by category. Under notebooks we have included some that we recommend in this context. There are both lined, dotted, squared and unlined. Washi tape and stickers are fun for decoration, but washi tape can also have a practical purpose for taping things in. Finally, some pens.

Hope this helped for inspiration, good luck now!