Holiday Plan 2015: Week 2

Week of September 6th:
- Start to buy extra baking ingredients like sugar, butter, flour, etc; this way, you have the necessary ingredients when it is time to start baking AND you do not have to buy it all at once making your wallet hurt a little
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date; I don't know about all of you, but things get really hectic in the Fall and it is great to have a supply of frozen crock pot meals handy. This week, I am hoping to put together a make ahead Greek chicken recipe!
- Divide some of the gift responsibilities with Christopher; our first year we were married we did not communicate this well and ended up buying triplicate gifts for some people. We love being generous, but we also have to be conscious of our budget
- Discuss with Christopher our holiday traditions and expectations for this year; we use this time to re-cap last years holidays - what went well, what could be improved, etc. We also start talking where we will celebrate each holiday
- Deep cleaning area this week: Living/Family room - after entering our freshly cleaned porch, I want to wow guests with a shiny living room (at least that is the hope!)

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2015: Week 1

It is the kick off week to my holiday planning and super checklist. What I tried to do is break down each task into manageable pieces in order to prepare for Halloween (we don't really celebrate, but I do decorate and hand out candy!), Thanksgiving (we host) and Christmas.

I am sharing with you my personal to-do list (or checklist). I created this around our values, schedules and our preferences for each of the holidays. If you want to follow along, please adapt for your families needs. And let me know what you add/subtract from the list - I am always looking for ways to do things more efficiently!

Week of August 30th:
- create and put together my Christmas notebook; nothing to really put in it yet, but I usually designate an old binder for this task
- Draft a gift list with budget; I create a list of everyone who we give gifts to and jot down ideas on what we should give. I also create a budget specifically related to gift giving and try to stick to that as much as possible
- Review my Christmas card list; I have a pre-made Christmas Card address book and organizer (I know - old fashioned) that I review and see if I need to reach out to people who moved, add new friends, etc.
- Start drafting menus for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Create a gifts to make list; I love crafting, so I usually will try to make 2-3 Christmas gifts each year
- After creating a potential menu, jot down long-term grocery shopping items. Most of my menu items are not unique and can be easily found. Some exceptions are ingredients or decorations for my Christmas cookies. It is always good to keep these items in the back of your head when the holiday items start getting put out
- Create a Christmas Cookie list & ingredients; I also throw in any desserts for Halloween and Thanksgiving too
- Order/replace any gift wrap, tape, bags, etc; I make sure I have everything I need on hand before I start wrapping (my least favorite Christmas task)
- Deep clean one area of our house; I think this week I will start with our front porch and entry. I love putting out mums, pumpkins, etc on our steps, so I think this makes the most sense to do first

And there you have it! Week 1 isn't so bad, right? Let me know if you are following along!

Our Thanksgiving Celebration

Our Thanksgiving celebration was absolutely wonderful! Everything went very smoothly and all of the food was delicious. We could not have done it without the help of our wonderful mothers and the delicious desserts from Uncle Jeff.

To start, we had some delicious light appetizers of fruit, cheese, crackers and delicious veggies.

Of course our Thanksgiving dinner would not be complete without my Mom's amazing French Onion Soup. There was barely any leftover - much to everyone's disappointment.

For the main course we served: Turkey, gravy, apple-sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, corn, carrots, jello, cranberry sauce, applesauce and rolls. Yummy.

And since we left room for dessert (or just over ate like everyone else lol) - for dessert we served, 3 pies - apple, pumpkin and cherry, chocolate cake (Wegman's Ultimate - thanks Uncle Jeff!) and a pumpkin roll.

But our favorite part of Thanksgiving was spending time with each other. It was so great to see my cousin Brandon and meet his girlfriend Crystal. And J was able to come home for the holiday too!

Marv and Jameson also received lots of snuggles from their grandparents. We served them a special dinner too - Turducken dog food. It actually looked like a real "human" stew. Not that we were able to try it lol.

All in all it was a great holiday. I love spending time with my family!

Holiday Plan 2014 - Week 14

Week of November 30th:
- Set up the rest of the Christmas decorations
- Put boxes from decorating away
- Decorate our front yard for Christmas
- Plan all family/friend holiday gatherings
- Start the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" tradition; Christopher recites this each night starting on December 1st after we do our Advent prayer

- Prepare all packages for mailing
- Order any foods necessary for Christmas
- Finish up the Christmas cards
- Pick up Christmas stamps for the cards
- Stamp all of the Cards

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 13 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Week of November 23rd:
- Stock the bathrooms with necessities for the holidays (ever been a guest at someones house and they run out of TP...it is the pits)
- Get everything out for Thanksgiving
- Make any food ahead of time for the dinner (typically done on Monday night)
- Thanksgiving day prep
- Use one or two of the crock pot meals this week
- Celebrate Thanksgiving!
- Black Friday Shopping (any last minute gifts needed?)
- Remove Thanksgiving decorations

- Set up Christmas Trees (we have three!)

- Set up Advent Wreath and Creche area

- Deep cleaning area this week: Dining Room. I usually leave this one for the week of Thanksgiving (crazy, right) but since everyone will be congregating in this room, I want it to sparkle!

From our house to yours we hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

Holiday Plan 2014 - Week 12

Week of November 16th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts
- Continue to work on Christmas cards
- Make place cards for Thanksgiving
- Review serving pieces needed to serve Thanksgiving and label
- Buy any extra disposable dishware needed
- Clean & press table linens
- Work on Thanksgiving Centerpiece
- Deep cleaning area this week: Basement. Probably will not do much, but will survey and see what areas need to be organized

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 11

Week of November 9th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts
- Continue to work on Christmas cards
- Clear out the foyer closet for guest coats
- Rent/reserve/buy/borrow any items needed for Thanksgiving and Christmas

- Plan the table setting for Thanksgiving
- Review & revise the menu for Thanksgiving
- Plan table centerpiece for Thanksgiving
- Plan what we are wearing for Thanksgiving dinner (then clean & press)
- Deep cleaning area this week: Garage - the one room I do not have to worry about cleaning. This one is all Christopher :)

Good luck to those following along!

Fall Drive

A couple of weeks ago, Christopher and I took a little day trip to drive down South to see the foliage change. It was a perfect day for a drive.

We had fun stopping at various antique stores and found a couple of treasures, but nothing we decided to purchase.

We capped off our trip by stopping at Mayer Brothers Cider Mill and loaded up on apple cider and doughnuts. Yummy!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 10

Week of November 2nd:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts

- Order or buy the Thanksgiving Turkey
- Take down Halloween and put up Thanksgiving; I cheat a little - I decorate for "Fall" and then put little Halloween stuff here and there. Then when Halloween is over, it is an easy swap out the Halloween for Thanksgiving
- Continue to work on Christmas cards
- Check smoke detectors and change furnace filter (Happy Daylight Savings!)
- Start polishing any silver pieces I will use for Thanksgiving
- Deep cleaning area this week: Living Room/Family Room. As this is one of the heaviest used rooms in the house, it needs to be deep cleaned twice!

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 9 (HALF WAY!)

We are halfway to the holidays; or at least to the end of 18 weeks of planning & prep!

Week of October 26th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts
- Celebrate Halloween!!! Happy Halloween everyone!
- Purchase any extra batteries needed for gifts, decorations, etc

- Make a list of things needed for Thanksgiving
- Formally invite family over for Thanksgiving
- Start addressing our Christmas Cards (note: I picked up my Christmas cards last year during post-Christmas sales - score! Therefore, did not have to order any)
- Deep cleaning area this week: Pantry. I should have specified this last week, so if you were superhuman and cleaned both your kitchen AND pantry you get a gold star. For me - it is two separate tasks.

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 8

Week of October 19th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts
- Figure out Halloween costumes (if we need them or are going to wear any)

- Buy our pumpkins
- Deep cleaning area this week: Kitchen - woo hoo!

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 7

Week of October 12th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts

- Decorate for Fall :) And put out some Halloween items
- Purchase Halloween Candy
- Take a Family picture to be included in Christmas cards; we have not done this since we got married and I figured it was about time to include all 4 of us in a picture!
- Deep cleaning area this week: Office; not an essential room in our house but it some how becomes the room we drop all our crap in. Time to organize it!

Good luck to those following along!

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

With Fall in full gear, I am ready for soup weather. At least soups that I like to make and are willing to eat. I recently got into soups and decided they were not too bad (I know Mom - who am I??). I googled tomato basil soup, as this is one of my favorites to get at restaurants, and found an easy and delicious sounding recipe from the Food Network's Ina Garten.

I made it and it turned out great! Even Christopher liked it and he really isn't into tomato based soups. I think he was hoping I would make a beer cheese soup, or something along those lines.

Here are the easy directions. Plus - your kitchen will smell fantastic while it is stewing :) Perfect for football Sundays.

3 lbs plum tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 yellow onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 crushed red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can of plum tomatoes
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed (you read that right - 4 CUPS)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 quart (4 cups) chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.  While the tomatoes are roasted, cut and mince all other ingredients. In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the juice and extra liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Ina Garten uses a food mill to puree the soup. I do not have a food mill, so I used our food processor and the puree option. Note - this will get really messy, but it is totally worth it! We served the soup hot and with a little sprinkle of cheddar cheese on top!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 6

Week of October 5th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts
- Make up a guest basket for the guest bedroom; I put spare or travel sized soaps, extra towels, etc in the event we have a guest spend the night.
- Deep cleaning area this week: Guest Bedroom

Good luck to those following along!

Roasted Butternut Squash Chicken Salad

Can you believe I have never had butternut squash? Actually - most of you probably can because I have never been a fan of vegetables until recently. On our anniversary, we went out to dinner to Russell Salvatore's restaurant and Christopher ordered a side of butternut squash risotto and I thought I would try it. Well...it was delicious! So this weekend when I did the grocery shopping, I had to pick one up to try something, anything with it. I mean - how often do I find a vegetable I can tolerate???

So...I found this recipe for a butternut squash salad and decided to adapt it for our families likes and ingredients that I already had on hand.

I used:
- 1/2 butternut squash
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- romaine lettuce
- shredded coconut
- 1 green apple
- honey (my Uncle Jack's honey - it is the best!)
- chia seeds
- precooked, grilled chicken (about 1 breast)
- 4 oz plain goat cheese

This made two nice sized salads for Christopher and I!

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees. Dice up the butternut squash and spread on a baking sheet into a single layer. Drizzle with a little olive oil, nutmeg & cinnamon. Roast for 20 minutes and flip and bake an additional 20 minutes. While the squash was baking, I sliced the apples thin and plated them. Once plated I added the lettuce, sprinkled the coconut and chia seeds on the salad. Since the chicken was pre-cooked, I just microwaved it to warm it up and diced it into bite sized pieces. Then tossed on the salad along with the roasted butternut squash. Then I added about 2 oz of goat cheese to each plate and lightly drizzled Uncle Jack's honey over the salad. And voila!

The salad was delicious and sweet. Even Christopher liked it! We will definitely be making this again soon :)

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 5

Week of September 28th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Purchase some non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes
- Purchase some gifts
- Wrap the purchased gifts
- Work on homemade gifts

- Compile a donation box/bag; I realized after cleaning the mast bedroom, we accumulated some donations. This is a great time of year to re-evaluate items you need and items that can be donated. Our goal is to drop off this bag before Thanksgiving
- Deep cleaning area this week: Main Bathroom; although this room gets cleaned all the time, it is good to really scrub areas that may not get the attention during weekly cleanings

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 4

Week of September 21st:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Start purchasing non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes; I usually buy a couple extra of each in case I have to double a recipe and/or have extra goods on hand for donations
- Start purchasing gifts; I am going to try to divide up so I am spreading the cost of the gifts over 6 to 8 weeks, instead of splurge buying in December. This way, I can also review the weekly ads in order to get the best prices on certain items!
- Wrap the purchased gifts; ugh this is my least favorite part, but I will be so glad it is done in December
- Start working on homemade gifts; my goal is to work a couple of hours each week on a craft in order to finish in time for Christmas
- Deep cleaning area this week: Master Bedroom; I know what you are all thinking - nobody sees the Master Bedroom. Unfortunately mine is driving me nuts! It is getting cleaned this week.

Good luck to those following along!

I wish my gifts looked this cute!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 3

Week of September 14th:
- Make one batch of freezable cookies; So it is probably too early to start for Christmas, so this week I am going to make a Halloween themed dessert
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date
- Start purchasing non-perishable goods used in the planned recipes; I usually buy a couple extra of each in case I have to double a recipe and/or have extra goods on hand for donations

- Buy all supplies need to make the homemade gifts; I also see what supplies I have on hand and can be substituted to save on cost
- Check the memory cards in our cameras; start watching for discounts in the weekly paper in case we need to purchase an additional one (probably with our December Disney trip coming up too!)
- Deep cleaning area this week: Little Entry area; I realized after cleaning the Porch and Living Room I skipped over this area - my bad! I really need to scrub the tile badly in this room.

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 2

Week of September 7th:
- Start to buy extra baking ingredients like sugar, butter, flour, etc; this way, you have the necessary ingredients when it is time to start baking AND you do not have to buy it all at once making your wallet hurt a little
- Make two crock pot meals - one to eat this week and one to freeze for a later date; I don't know about all of you, but things get really hectic in the Fall and it is great to have a supply of frozen crock pot meals handy
- Divide some of the gift responsibilities with Christopher; our first year we were married we did not communicate this well and ended up buying triplicate gifts for some people. We love being generous, but we also have to be conscious of our budget
- Discuss with Christopher our holiday traditions and expectations for this year; we use this time to re-cap last years holidays - what went well, what could be improved, etc. We also start talking where we will celebrate each holiday
- Deep cleaning area this week: Living/Family room - after entering our freshly cleaned porch, I want to wow guests with a shiny living room (at least that is the hope!)

Good luck to those following along!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 1

It is the kick off week to my holiday planning and super checklist. What I tried to do is break down each task into manageable pieces in order to prepare for Halloween (we don't really celebrate, but I do decorate and hand out candy!), Thanksgiving (we host) and Christmas.

I am sharing with you my personal to-do list (or checklist). I created this around our values, schedules and our preferences for each of the holidays. If you want to follow along, please adapt for your families needs. And let me know what you add/subtract from the list - I am always looking for ways to do things more efficiently!

Week of August 31st:
- create and put together my Christmas notebook; nothing to really put in it yet, but I usually designate an old binder for this task
- Draft a gift list with budget; I create a list of everyone who we give gifts to and jot down ideas on what we should give. I also create a budget specifically related to gift giving and try to stick to that as much as possible
- Review my Christmas card list; I have a pre-made Christmas Card address book and organizer (I know - old fashioned) that I review and see if I need to reach out to people who moved, add new friends, etc.
- Start drafting menus for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Create a gifts to make list; I love crafting, so I usually will try to make 2-3 Christmas gifts each year
- After creating a potential menu, jot down long-term grocery shopping items. Most of my menu items are not unique and can be easily found. Some exceptions are ingredients or decorations for my Christmas cookies. It is always good to keep these items in the back of your head when the holiday items start getting put out
- Create a Christmas Cookie list & ingredients; I also throw in any desserts for Halloween and Thanksgiving too
- Order/replace any gift wrap, tape, bags, etc; I make sure I have everything I need on hand before I start wrapping (my least favorite Christmas task)
- Deep clean one area of our house; I think this week I will start with our front porch and entry. I love putting out mums, pumpkins, etc on our steps, so I think this makes the most sense to do first

And there you have it! Week 1 isn't so bad, right? Let me know if you are following along!