HGP Week 13: November 24-30, 2013

[HouseElf]

Dining Room Week
By Cynthia Ewer, Author of Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Organized

Deadline week! Week Thirteen, Dining Room Week, sees us move into the holiday season, and it's time for a reality check.

Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday for our American friends and ushers in the holiday season, so this week's cleaning and organizing focus is the dining room.

Holiday prep chores center on Thanksgiving and turn to planning the celebration ahead.

Ready? Let's get organized with Dining Room Week in the Holiday Grand Plan!

Deep Cleaning/Organizing Area:

Dining Room
Dining Room checklist

Holiday Prep:

• Deadline Week: If homemade gifts are not done, put them away. After Thanksgiving weekend and go buy something. This is not a contest, this is life.
• Get everything out for Thanksgiving Dinner and prepare everything that can be done ahead of time. Make sure enough dishes are available.
• Stock bathrooms and first aid kit.
• Wednesday: Use one of the Freezer Meals, buy a salad at the store...
• Friday or Saturday: Have children make/set up Advent Calendar.
• Set up the Creche area and add figures each day as we read from an Advent book. Continue until Jan. 6 when the wise men come.
• Let kids get out and inspect Christmas decorations; test tree and other lights, replace bulbs.

 

[HouseElf]

Well it is FEELING like Christmas is coming here! All the stores have decor, trees are starting to find their way onto lots and wreaths adorn doors.
Yes we are getting so close!
Our local radio station has began their Christmas music, and will play 24/7 till the end of Boxing Day.

As I did the attic last week, I dragged my needed items closer to the stairs for next weekend. Will put up the Crèche Saturday and set up our Advent candles - First Day of Advent ~ December 1 this year! I LOVE Advent.

We will put up our tree in the diningroom on Sunday, hang our wreaths and greens. Our diningroom is the most decorated room - as we hang our stockings here on the fireplace, have a tree in the corner, celebrate Advent as a family, and it is the place where everyone sits and plays games or we entertain.

All my cards are done and ready for the post office on Saturday morning.

Tuesdays will be our freezer meals (crockpot), Thursdays will be a Rotisserie chicken - these are my late days for work and enormously help as I often walk in the door at the dinner hour.

It is the most wonderful time of the year!

 

[luludou]

Finished decorating! boxes are back in the basement for now. A few things I'd like to change - Monday will be doing errands if I find I'll change otherwise it stays as is. Also errands hoping to find the last gifts and maybe something to wear to a christmas party, otherwise I'll use what I have.

Upcoming weekend I want to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce. Made a list of 'Christmas things' still to do... not so bad! Will address my Christmas cards next weekend too and maybe start wrapping a bit.
Elves will arrive dec 1st with advent calendar so have to take care of that too.

 

[Winged One]

This week promises to be hectic at work, and also reasonably so at home. DH is away overnight in Thursday (so I won't be cooking turkey), and then heads off again early next week on his last big trip before Christmas - he gets back just in time for the massive weekend of family events and the last week of work and school. So I need to tie down a few things with him this week so I can finalise things while he's away.

I got some cleaning done yesterday but I hope to get a few more small jobs sorted this week. I did the food shopping on the net last week so that arrives tonight, and we bought a few things at the farmers' market at the weekend (so fresh pasta with lovely organic sausages in a tomato and veggies sauce for tonight's dinner). I will use some stock from the freezer for 2 different dinners (chicken for a mushroom risotto, and turkey stock, along with a bag of shredded ham, for a stilton gratin on Saturday), perhaps a chilli, and maybe some breadcrumbs on Sunday for liver and bacon on stuffing (á la MIL!!), so making progress there too.

Other plans for this week include finding all the bits for the Advent calendar (the newly bought cardboard one with nativity pictures and story, the chocolates to put in the re-usable one DM made, and the activity ideas and colouring sheets for that one too). Doing a wrapping night on Thursday, while DH is away. Getting started on the cards. Ordering the last few internet shopping things (clothes for BIL's kids mainly).

And catching up on sleep, and good food - to recover from the last few weeks of burning the candle at both ends, and to prepare ourselves for the mania of December. (While I have access to good food, I run out of time and energy to use it - while DH has almost no opportunity while he is away and lives on meat and fries - so lots of fresh fruit, veggies in dinners, and home cooked foods to build up our strength and immune systems again this week). And I probably should give my liver a break as well (between Dad's parties, formal work events and missing DH a lot on his trips this autumn - I don't think I've OVERdone it, but I have had more alcohol than normal - but I've also had far more coffee than is probably good for me so I am cutting back on that too).

 

[HouseElf]

Winged one, Great idea about good food focus! Our bodies can handle so much more when we are well nourished and rested!

Our world was turned overnight into a winter wonderland! Looks lovely! Really enjoyed my 5 am time this morning outside, stillness is a special kind of beauty. I appreciate the silence of winter storms here!

Lucie, you are well on your way enjoy!