Changes for Christmas, 2013
- Thread starter AnnieClaus
- Start date
There is a GFS in the next major town...where the Cracker Barrel is. Hmmmm might have to check it out.
I have a few things bought. I am trying not to get too hyped up, because the last few Christmases have NOT been that good. I get tired of always having to accommodate every one else. I have lots of wrapping paper & bows & tags. I need to get busy sewing here soon.
I do hope to do more decorating, tho.
I have a few things bought. I am trying not to get too hyped up, because the last few Christmases have NOT been that good. I get tired of always having to accommodate every one else. I have lots of wrapping paper & bows & tags. I need to get busy sewing here soon.
I do hope to do more decorating, tho.
AuntJamelle - I always copy my Holiday documents (Excel spreadsheets & Word) and have all the same information for the new year. This includes my "Sister Weekend" and Thanksgiving. Once you find a format that works, it is great to be able to just copy and revise/build upon for the next year. And definitely put your special recipes in a binder, along with the master grocery list, menu, etc. I posted a thread in Thanksgiving notebooks about what I do for that holiday. Such a timesaver! I hope your holidays will be much better this year! Can't imagine what you are going through.
I also agree with getting things done in case of illness, or in my case, injury! Last year I quite possibly cracked my left index finger a week before Christmas and all the wrapping, ribbons etc. that I still needed to do was quite difficult. Even 7 months later, I have to be careful not to bang my finger on a hard surface or it swells and starts to hurt. My bones do not mend well!
It really is helpful to review these things now, with plenty of time before the holidays!
I also agree with getting things done in case of illness, or in my case, injury! Last year I quite possibly cracked my left index finger a week before Christmas and all the wrapping, ribbons etc. that I still needed to do was quite difficult. Even 7 months later, I have to be careful not to bang my finger on a hard surface or it swells and starts to hurt. My bones do not mend well!
It really is helpful to review these things now, with plenty of time before the holidays!
I am not doing too badly. We have my sons GF living with us now so it is a challenge to come up with gift ideas for her. Stocking fillers are coming along nicely. Am working on hand crafted item, am doing appliqué on tea towels and pot holders. Need to also work on homemade oils, and I want to make a pomander for my mum.
So a lot still to do but also quite a lot don
So a lot still to do but also quite a lot don
Ha! I went digging for this thread and see it has already been bumped by Miss Jane! High Five!
Just read through it all (along with the Houseworks threads from last year before it gets removed for the season) so I would be all up to snuff on what I need to be thinking about. Just plugged a whole bunch of reminders into my calendar.
Saw a lot of common thoughts:
Spend now to spare our pocketbooks at Christmas,
Bake starting in Mid-Oct so we don't get caught at the end,
Don't let ourselves get overbooked,
Prepare for the unexpected crisis,
Aunt Jamelle - Good reminder about those Excel sheets. I keep all my lists on those and last year put my recipes on them too for that exact idea of printing the grocery list. Totally forgot I had done that so am going to go looking for those.
I also put a reminder about cleaning our Flue so we don't run into the clogged flue like we did last Christmas. We don't want a repeat of the arctic tundra in our living room on Christmas morning. And a worse situation in yours. Fingers crossed all comes together for you in time for the holidays.
Just read through it all (along with the Houseworks threads from last year before it gets removed for the season) so I would be all up to snuff on what I need to be thinking about. Just plugged a whole bunch of reminders into my calendar.
Saw a lot of common thoughts:
Spend now to spare our pocketbooks at Christmas,
Bake starting in Mid-Oct so we don't get caught at the end,
Don't let ourselves get overbooked,
Prepare for the unexpected crisis,
Aunt Jamelle - Good reminder about those Excel sheets. I keep all my lists on those and last year put my recipes on them too for that exact idea of printing the grocery list. Totally forgot I had done that so am going to go looking for those.
I also put a reminder about cleaning our Flue so we don't run into the clogged flue like we did last Christmas. We don't want a repeat of the arctic tundra in our living room on Christmas morning. And a worse situation in yours. Fingers crossed all comes together for you in time for the holidays.
Cindylouwho, it does look like our great minds are thinking alike alright here!!
Don't forget that now, while back to school sales and end of summer sales are on, can be a good time to get nice stationary items, outdoors items (for camping, fishing etc that they'll want to clear out soon) and so on. As well as the final knockdowns on summer things - outdoor toys, summer clothes for kids next summer.....
A reminder for cleaning the flue/chimney is a great one, especially before we need to light any fires or furnaces. (We are getting the open fireplace replaced with an enclosed stove in the next couple of weeks, we hope, but that will still need flue cleaned beforehand and the rest of the fireplace cleaned out).
I don't have master grocery lists, but I do have a master excel spreadsheet for gifts, which is not only great to easily set and track the buying, and the budgeting, in any one year. But it is also great to make sure I am not giving someone the same thing I gave them a couple of years ago (like the 2 years running I gave 1 DSis a very similar style pendant as a gift - not the exact same and slightly different colours, but too close for comfort really). And also knowing exactly how long ago I gave DMom a set of Chanel No.5 goodies so I could do that again this year (5 years ago now) - she loves it and DDad gets her the perfume, but no one else ever gets her the bath oil or talc or body lotion etc as it's so pricy and DDad very rarely thinks of those. (But I bought her lovely seashell shaped plates I saw that will be perfect for her this year - I have the chanel as a birthday backup if needed).
I am slowly putting my plans in place in my head. I won't know what the au pair plans until she's here, but that's ok, I can work around that (but may need to explain to both sets of parents that they need to feed an extra mouth if necessary).
I am watching the website for the Santa train tickets - not on sale yet, but expected soon. I don't plan on booking anything else this year - we'll have the party in my office for kids, DD's sports club have a party (and it's her "Graduation" from the Academy this year, so a BIG deal - new jerseys etc, and moving into the "under Ages" group of the proper club struture). And DH plans on getting home a couple of weeks earlier in December this year!! Yay!!
I am working on my own "Operation Transformation", to lose 2.5 stone in total and regain my fitness. So I won't think about clothes for Christmas day until much later in the autumn when I see how well that is going - but I have plenty of nice things for casual all that week. (And so far I have lost 12 lbs, so I am hoping to be saying 11st something by Christmas).
And as this week should be quiet at work, I am working on getting the HGP sheets for this year printed, and my plans set up to get cracking on that soon. Although, as DD is visiting her Granny for the week, I am getting ahead and clearing out a whole load of things already (we kept a lot of her important stuff, but I put it into storage, and threw out a load of duplicate pictures she'd done etc, and I also did a good cull of both my and DH's wardrobes, DD's will be later this week) - I hope to get through the toys this week as well.
I have a box of things I find useful when we go somewhere self-catering (like a small proper chopping board and decent sharp knife, a wooden spoon to cook with and the bottle opener for wine and beer! - things that are not always in SC accoms). I need to check that is still intact, and also bear in mind things that we might need in winter and Christmas (I usually have matches and a couple of nightlights for romance, but a torch and extra couple of candles would be useful as it's quite remote, for example, or extra fuses/bulbs for tree lights, and tape, ribbons and paper for last minute presents we might pick up).
THe other thing I need to remember while I am preparing for Christmas this year, is that "putting on my defensive shield" of makeup actually WORKED earlier this year at a couple of different occasions - it may have been psychological, but I made sure that I put on my makeup every morning before my DMum saw me and told myself that any nasty comments from her would just bounce right off it. I did hear a few, but I was far less worried about them, and I know DH said later that a couple of things that normally get me upset were still said but that I ignored them (I don't remember hearing them - I was telling myself not to worry or listen for them so I didn't hear them) - I was still hurt, but far less than usual and I know my Mum had far less response from me than usual too so that may have made her back down a little. So I need to remember to have that on every morning (before I leave the house or open the door to visitors or answer the phone).
Don't forget that now, while back to school sales and end of summer sales are on, can be a good time to get nice stationary items, outdoors items (for camping, fishing etc that they'll want to clear out soon) and so on. As well as the final knockdowns on summer things - outdoor toys, summer clothes for kids next summer.....
A reminder for cleaning the flue/chimney is a great one, especially before we need to light any fires or furnaces. (We are getting the open fireplace replaced with an enclosed stove in the next couple of weeks, we hope, but that will still need flue cleaned beforehand and the rest of the fireplace cleaned out).
I don't have master grocery lists, but I do have a master excel spreadsheet for gifts, which is not only great to easily set and track the buying, and the budgeting, in any one year. But it is also great to make sure I am not giving someone the same thing I gave them a couple of years ago (like the 2 years running I gave 1 DSis a very similar style pendant as a gift - not the exact same and slightly different colours, but too close for comfort really). And also knowing exactly how long ago I gave DMom a set of Chanel No.5 goodies so I could do that again this year (5 years ago now) - she loves it and DDad gets her the perfume, but no one else ever gets her the bath oil or talc or body lotion etc as it's so pricy and DDad very rarely thinks of those. (But I bought her lovely seashell shaped plates I saw that will be perfect for her this year - I have the chanel as a birthday backup if needed).
I am slowly putting my plans in place in my head. I won't know what the au pair plans until she's here, but that's ok, I can work around that (but may need to explain to both sets of parents that they need to feed an extra mouth if necessary).
I am watching the website for the Santa train tickets - not on sale yet, but expected soon. I don't plan on booking anything else this year - we'll have the party in my office for kids, DD's sports club have a party (and it's her "Graduation" from the Academy this year, so a BIG deal - new jerseys etc, and moving into the "under Ages" group of the proper club struture). And DH plans on getting home a couple of weeks earlier in December this year!! Yay!!
I am working on my own "Operation Transformation", to lose 2.5 stone in total and regain my fitness. So I won't think about clothes for Christmas day until much later in the autumn when I see how well that is going - but I have plenty of nice things for casual all that week. (And so far I have lost 12 lbs, so I am hoping to be saying 11st something by Christmas).
And as this week should be quiet at work, I am working on getting the HGP sheets for this year printed, and my plans set up to get cracking on that soon. Although, as DD is visiting her Granny for the week, I am getting ahead and clearing out a whole load of things already (we kept a lot of her important stuff, but I put it into storage, and threw out a load of duplicate pictures she'd done etc, and I also did a good cull of both my and DH's wardrobes, DD's will be later this week) - I hope to get through the toys this week as well.
I have a box of things I find useful when we go somewhere self-catering (like a small proper chopping board and decent sharp knife, a wooden spoon to cook with and the bottle opener for wine and beer! - things that are not always in SC accoms). I need to check that is still intact, and also bear in mind things that we might need in winter and Christmas (I usually have matches and a couple of nightlights for romance, but a torch and extra couple of candles would be useful as it's quite remote, for example, or extra fuses/bulbs for tree lights, and tape, ribbons and paper for last minute presents we might pick up).
THe other thing I need to remember while I am preparing for Christmas this year, is that "putting on my defensive shield" of makeup actually WORKED earlier this year at a couple of different occasions - it may have been psychological, but I made sure that I put on my makeup every morning before my DMum saw me and told myself that any nasty comments from her would just bounce right off it. I did hear a few, but I was far less worried about them, and I know DH said later that a couple of things that normally get me upset were still said but that I ignored them (I don't remember hearing them - I was telling myself not to worry or listen for them so I didn't hear them) - I was still hurt, but far less than usual and I know my Mum had far less response from me than usual too so that may have made her back down a little. So I need to remember to have that on every morning (before I leave the house or open the door to visitors or answer the phone).
Wings, keep the thoughts coming!!! That's what this thread is all about! To think out loud with it written down so we don't forget anything. Also, others' ideas and thoughts trigger the rest of us to think of things we may have forgotten! Like putting on our "face shield" against snide remarks from relatives....
I'm enjoying reading the posts too!
I do the same thing with wearing make-up. I call it "putting on my war paint" lol. It really does lift the self-confidence.
I love using the Excel sheets for all my lists. I pretty much make the same baked goods every year and I have a "Master Ingredient" list. I have all the ingredients written down and then I total how many eggs, how many cups of sugar, flour, sticks of butter, etc. I need. I can easily add or subtract additional recipes. I know it sounds extreme but it is very helpful so I don't have extra bags of flour/sugar (not good in FL) or not enough eggs.
It really helpful to read back to try and avoid issues in the future!
I do the same thing with wearing make-up. I call it "putting on my war paint" lol. It really does lift the self-confidence.
I love using the Excel sheets for all my lists. I pretty much make the same baked goods every year and I have a "Master Ingredient" list. I have all the ingredients written down and then I total how many eggs, how many cups of sugar, flour, sticks of butter, etc. I need. I can easily add or subtract additional recipes. I know it sounds extreme but it is very helpful so I don't have extra bags of flour/sugar (not good in FL) or not enough eggs.
It really helpful to read back to try and avoid issues in the future!
