Routines, routines, routines

So Christmas is upon us, there are Christmas parties, school activities, plays, shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping presents, and well you get the point. And along with all those extra activities there is still being a mom, wife, and all the other responsibilities you have. If I didn't have routine in my life I know for a fact chaos would reign in my household. By routines I mean things either written down or on my mental checklist that get done every single day no matter what. Routines give a sense of security, comfort, and stability in our homes and are necessary to help reduce the mounting stress of the holidays.
Below are routines I do on a daily basis that keep my house running on a daily basis. They keep me sane on even my most busiest days (like tomorrow). I shall start with the my night time routines because if they are not completed my morning does not go nearly as smooth as it could.

Night time:
-I clean up the kitchen, I rinse all dishes even if the dishes don't all fit in the dishwasher. Just make a neat pile of dishes on the counter so they are easy to load in the morning.
-I pre-make our coffee so all we have to do is switch on the coffee pot when we get up
-I switch my laundry from the wash to the dryer and run it
-I pack any lunches for the next day
-check my calendar for tomorrow
-make sure all pack-backs and diaper bags are ready for the next day
-pick-up the living room
-and lastly before bed I turn the dishwasher on so the dishes are clean for in the morning

Morning time:
-Make bed
-get dressed and ready for day
-get girls up, ready, fed and to school
-empty dishwasher
-clean up breakfast and load any dishes left from night before
-start a load of laundry
-put away last nights load in dryer
-a five minute house pick-up (go through house picking up miss placed items and re home them)

Morning or Afternoon time:
-do housework assigned for the day (about 15 to 30 minutes) Note: I don't always get this routine done but as long as the others are taken care of this can be done when time is more friendly

As you can see none of the above routines take long to do, just a couple of minutes each, except for the housework one which is pretty flexible in itself. But keeping those simple things done on a daily basis makes mine and my family's life go so much smoother. I challenge you give a go at setting your own routine up. Just start with a few if you are afraid of being overwhelmed with it.
A website to check out that is Flylady.net. The Flylady created for me the foundation to the see the need for routine. I don't follow her exact suggestions any longer, but she is the best mentor I could have asked for when it came to learning how to organize my time and my home. By the way, her website and services are completely free. She is an angel from above. Check her out!