This packet of ideas is all about helping your family to get control of the pre-Christmas season and to use it to actually prepare for the Savior’s birth.  I like this analogy by Kendra from the Catholic All Year blog:

I think of it like I was planning a big wedding. It would be on my mind months ahead of time. I’d get a few major projects done well in advance so I wouldn’t have to worry about them as the big day approached. Then in the weeks before the wedding, I would focus on having everything I needed available and organized and cleaned. I would bake the cake and prepare the food. I would scrub down and decorate the church and the reception hall in the days just before the wedding. I would be prepared to celebrate. We’d have the rehearsal dinner the night before.

But what I wouldn’t do is throw a reception or two a couple of weeks before the wedding and eat the cake and the wedding bell cookies and drink all the champagne before the happy couple is even married, before they’re in town even. That would be crazy.  But that’s kind of what I was doing with Christmas.

• Look it over ahead of time and prayerfully consider what will work with your family.
• You are almost certainly not going to do everything in the packet.  It’s a bundle of ideas for you to choose from.
• The packet is intended to be used throughout the season but take a look early so you’re prepared.