Nov. 12, 2009 - Christmas Planning

I was in the store this week and the stores are all decorated for Christmas!  Of course they are, Thanksgiving is only two weeks away and they have to be prepared for the rush!  One exciting event near us is that the Christmas Tree Shop is opening!  We love this store and visit it every time we go to Rhode Island so we’re excited about doing some Christmas shopping in our own store coming to Mishawaka IN.  Are you ready for Christmas?  This is about the time I start to take stock of all the gifts, foods, commitments and plans.  I’ve found if I don’t do it now I don’t have time to enjoy the season and fit in the important things.  Here are some things I’m doing and I encourage you to do to take stock before busyness takes over: ·         Revise your gift giving list.  Hopefully you’ve saved last year’s list (I keep mine for years back just for reference) and take a look.  Do you need to add or subtract?  Don’t forget things like gift exchanges, gifts for charity (toys for tots, shoebox  etc…) or gifts for your husband’s employer or employees.  Did you want to have something prepared for neighbors, teachers (like Awana, Sunday School etc…) or family friends? ·         Set some spending limits.  How much you spend isn’t as important as the thought and giving itself.   I always like to give (and receive for that matter) homemade gifts which sometimes can save you a lot.  Be careful however not to stress yourself out making things if time is short (that wisdom is from experience, trust me!)  The other thing is to look for sales.  Sometimes at this point in the year it may be too late for this year but you can plan to start in January watching sales for next year. ·         Take a look at your schedule.  What do you definitely want to do and what might you want to consider trimming.  Sometimes you find you keep doing something just because you’ve always done it but maybe it’s lost the meaning and value for your family?  I try to keep things that help us focus on the real reason for the Season! ·         The last thing I like to do ahead is make some tentative plans for foods both for regular meals, holiday cooking and giving.  It’s great to have your regular meals all set and in the freezer at this busy time of year rather than end up ordering a lot of pizza’s!  Take some time make sure you’re on top of you menu.  Next, take a look at what you need to make for the holidays both in baking and special meals.  If you figure out now how many Turkeys, Hams etc… you’ll need for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years you can shop the sales between now and then and be prepared.  Also, you may want to decide how many cookies and other goodies and which ones you want to do so you can start stocking ingredients.  Keep in mind many cookies freeze well so you can actually start baking now instead of all in one long session.  We often give foods as gifts so I need to figure that as well. From these suggestions here’re some of my ramblings: ·         Got my list made and most of my bought ahead items penciled in, need to check with Chris on things he has hidden away, especially for our kids. ·         Got the wish lists from kids, now Chris and I need to discuss and decide how much and what and split lists to give grandparents ideas or check if they want us to pick up (some do this since we’re long distance.) ·         We for sure want to do our Jesus stockings again so I need to remind the kids to be thinking of about their letters.  Also, need to check with the kids if they want to do a Jesus birthday party again?  Need to get the date for Caroling with our homeschool group to the nursing home.  Don’t think Chris has any parties for work or anything but he usually has a potluck I need to send something for so I need that information as well as how many work gifts he needs this year.  Don’t know if we’ll do a Christmas Eve service this year, we may want to do that night at home as a family? ·         Food wise I do still need a Turkey for Thanksgiving.  We’ll probably do something special for Christmas Eve just us.  Have to ask Chris what he’d like.  Had thought about making Blueberry Muffin mixes for our “teacher” type gifts, I dried extra blueberries this summer with that thought.  Also, need to do the usual Russian teacakes for Grandpa Flick and Turtles for my Dad.  I found Cardamom for the Christmas bread; we’ll probably make a few of those as gifts.  As far as cookies this year we need to revise some recipes to fit with Chris’s new restrictions so he’ll have something he can have at get togethers (better start experimenting, saw a vegan truffle recipe somewhere…) Well those are just some thoughts.  Hope you already have your season all planned but if not maybe there were some good reminders here for you!

• Post A Comment!

<- Last Page • Next Page ->