It is December 1st. Am I the only one that looked at a calendar today and while smiling on the outside, felt a familiar shutter go through my spine. “I can't believe its already December 1st” repeated over and over in my head. There is so much to do at work before ’09 begins. I need to finish out Q4 initiatives, calculate the year’s successes and failures, prepare for Q1, set up timelines, put together benchmarks, and so on and so on. NOT to mention the insanity outside of work—shopping, meeting with old friends, seeing family, cleaning, cooking, Christmas cards, cocktailing, dinner parties, and an occasional hour or two of sleep. Wow. I'm exhausted just typing that paragraph.

After reflecting on all of this over a delicious peppermint mocha coffee this morning it seemed obvious that today’s post needed to cover tips and tools for staying on track both professionally and personally this holiday season. I’ve put together a list of free, efficient, accessible tools for you all to look through. I’ve tried to find a good balance of sites to help you organize your workspace, ways to manage your schedule, and some innovative ways to keep you smiling and motivated during this marathon month.

Organize your Workspace:
Before you can put together your to-do list (s) it's important to get your current space under control. Even if you normally keep a very clean workspace there are ways to “Decemberize” your desk to best support yourself for a sane and successful month.

• Start by cleaning out your desk. Over the course of the year you have probably been piling papers into a few different places—clean them out. If you aren’t going to use it in Stock your desk with healthy snacks. As December rolls by there will be plenty of tempting treats around the office, so stock up on dried fruit, almonds, and granola bars. Go for energy packed snacks to keep you fueled up for the next few weeks.
• Decorate the area a bit. I’m not suggesting you cover your cubicle with gold ornaments and red bows, but a few seasonal touches is a great way to remind yourself what time of year it is. Similarly it's always nice to invite some personal pictures in of family and friends to make your work area feel less sterile and more welcoming.
• Lastly—replenish your supplies. Rather than wait to fill up on staples, folders, pens, etc. as you need them, take 30 minutes and replenish all the supplies you breezed through over the last year. Trust us—you will be thankful you did after the new year when everyone else thinks of this and you cant find a manila folder anywhere. Plus it’s a great time of year to take advantage of year-end sales at your favorite office supplier.

Manage your Schedule
There are so many tools and sites our there to help you organize the upcoming month. You have no excuses as to why you “completely forgot to pick up your dry-cleaning” or “double booked yourself on Christmas.” It may take some compromising on your part, but adapting a new calendar, approach or attitude may be just what you need to stay on schedule this Holiday Season.

• Calendar Re-vamp. These days most of us use a phone app calendar or we sync up to our outlook as our guidance for the day’s daily tasks. Just for this month I would suggest shifting to a more “in your face” calendar option. Either by pinning up one at work or employing an online option. Both Google and Icomplete have free calendars available. Fill the calendar with both work and non-work events so you have the full picture when making engagement decisions.
•  Learn to say no with a smile. Sometimes it’s important to see just how busy you are before you start nicely saying no to an invite. Keep in mind that this time of year deadlines at work are more intense than ever and you really want to put your best foot forward. Year-end reviews are happening and budget reallocations are being decided, you don’t want to be exhausted and barely hanging in there. Everyone hates saying no, but at some point—enough is enough. December is only 31 days long people!
• Schedule in your favorites. Christmas time is known for its selfless nature. We bake for others, clean for others, give gifts to others, sing songs for other, and hopefully fit in some charity work if possible. It’s all about showing people how much you care for them and how thankful you are that they are in your life. Well…don’t forget to show yourself how much you care. Be sure to schedule in some downtime. We are loving the new site Schedit, which acts as an online personal assistant. For free you can keep all of your engagements and personal time in order. Make sure you favorite activities (be it yoga, napping, watching football, etc.) make it onto your calendar. Just because its “Christmas time” doesn’t mean it has to be about Christmas all the time.

Keep Smiling
I know what you are thinking. “How will smiling keep me on schedule this season? How will it help me be more efficient and stay on track with so much going on?” Trust me. We all know that we get more done when our minds are clear, and when we are “in the groove.” During the holidays its important to keep perspective—you are only one person. You can only do so much. Make sure you will your time with the right stuff. Below is a fun list of things we found that keep us smiling through the Holidays, hopefully signing on to some of these can warm your day as well.

• DailyGood: Bookmark this site and visit daily, to read motivational quotations and short stories on friendship, life, and love.  It also has a daily goal for you to try and adhere to. For example today’s goal: “Be The Change: Develop a close friendship at work, school, or wherever else you spend your time."
• In case you haven’t done this—be sure to ElfYourself this holiday season. It’s great for a seasonal laugh. Brought to you by OfficeMax, the site allows you to put your face (or the faces of co-workers) on the bodies of dancing and singing elves. With the to-do list constantly growing, its important to stay playful
• Fa la la la la, keep the Christmas music streaming on WebRadio. If you are going to weed through all that work, might as well do it the backdrop of bells a ringing and kids a singing. Trust us, its virtually impossible to be stressed out with Christmas carols playing.

These are all just a few ways to stay sane this Holiday Season. What do you guys do to make sure you pull through the Holiday Season in once piece?