Author by : Rebekah Slatkin

I’ve divided my to-dos between the acronym CHAG (hebrew for holiday). That’s because when something is so overwhelming, sometimes it is hard to even begin thinking about where in the world to start. It’s my hope that thinking about the word CHAG (the Halacha, Aesthetics, and Guests that are essential to any holiday) will jumpstart your efforts. Good Yom Tov!

Cuisine

* Plan your holiday meals through Simchas Torah

* Cook meals to last you now through Simchas Torah and double/triple the recipes to freeze for the holidays.

* Grocery shop

* Buy perishables

* buy simanim for rosh Hashanah

* order fish head

* plan new fruit

* order meat/chicken/fish

* Make many batches of round challah and freeze

* Add honey to shopping list

* make Kreplach for Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabbah

* Check your custom about having sour foods and nuts during Tishrei (many do not eat these)

* How many meals do you want to eat out?

* Last days-does your shul have hakafos Shmini Atzeres night? Think about when you’ll come home to eat. When will you eat Simchas Torah day? Is there a shul luncheon?

Halacha (minhagim)

* Plan what you want to learn for elul and to prepare for Rosh Hashanah, special classes: times and locations.

* Make sure you have your Selichos, Machzorim for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos, Hoshanos card

* Confirm Holiday seats, confirm childcare, coordinate when everyone will hear shofar including women, childrens’ food allergies

* Buy lulav and esrog

* Buy Hoshanos for Hoshana Rabbah

* Extra aravos towards end of Yomtiff (due to spoilage)

* Think about how you will store the aravos and haddassim for freshness

* Make sure lulav is bound

* Check to see if any trees need to be cut before Sukkos

* Put up sukkah frame

* Put up schach

* Selichos-davening earlier, waking earlier, 1st nite of selichos is at midnight

* Inventory sukkah decorations

* buy hadasim and aravos

Aesthetics (home and body)

* Schedule appointment to wash and set shaitel

* Steam hat

* Shine shoes

* Buy new clothes for the holidays, hats

* Find non leather shoes for YK

* Drycleaning, kittel, tallis

* Order flowers

* Schedule carpet cleaning

* Haircuts

* Makeup

* Centerpieces, table settings, paper plates, china, décor.

* Have a plan for rain (plastic tablecovers)

* Bee and mosquito prevention

* Snacks for Sukkah guests

* Setup for learning and sleeping in the sukkah (# tables, beds)?

Guests

* Think about how much room you have in your sukkah (enough for men over bar mitzvah to fit under?)

* What meals do you want to have guests for? For example, the 2nd night you may not want to have guests because the meal starts later and you’ll want to be up early for davening.

* Invite the guests you want to have before Rosh Hashanah, and start thinking about who you want to have over the holidays, and invite them.

* When you think about who you want to invite, perhaps invite those who daven at your shul due to timing of services on Rosh Hashanah for lunches.

Of course you can see that some of these things need to be done closer to Rosh Hashanah, and some need to be done much more in advance.

How do you do it all without feeling overwhelmed but while knowing that each task will get taken care of?

Easy. A countdown.

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The Countdown or Tickler System

I think you’ve gotten the hang of how to use each category in the word CHAG to help remind you about what needs to get done before Yom Tov.

Now, we need to look at the list we came up with and actually schedule when you will do the task.

The BEST way to get it all done for the holidays and throughout the entire year is with a tickler system.

A tickler is just that. It “tickles” your brain and reminds you of something you need to get done. The task is written on a post-it note which goes on your calendar on a specific date. I like use a calendar that has a full page for each day and stick the post it notes on the date that it makes most sense to get done.

You can also paper clip little papers you’ve received from the dentist or invitations to RSVP to an actual date in your calendar. In this month, or in 6 months from now. See how the tickler keeps track of all of the little papers lying around? And gets stuff off your brain? Like the air filter you need to change in 3 months. Write it on a post it note and stick it 3 months from now on your calendar!

You can even make a separate calendar for the Holidays. I once did this for a woman who was planning her son’s bar mitzvah one month before. We took 31 pieces of computer paper, stapled them together, put the date on the bottom of each paper, and made a “countdown” where she could actually rip off each day as it came.

We came up with a master list of everything she needed to do for the bar mitzvah that month, wrote all of the chores on post it notes, and then decided when it made the most sense for each chore to get done, distributing the post it notes throughout the pack of white paper. She loved throwing away the post it note when it was finished, and liked the freedom of being able to move a task to the next day if she couldn’t get around to it. She is very visual and also has ADD. This exercise really helped her.

Make yourself a countdown or you can use my countdown found in Tishrei Perfectly Organized. (I didn’t provide it here because my countdown actually started in the beginning of August)

[tags]high holidays, rosh hashanah, fall jewish holidays[/tags]

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