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!

Holiday Planning 3.0

So last year I posted just about weekly on holiday plan to get everything done. This worked out so well, especially since we were hosting Thanksgiving and had planned a trip to WDW right before Christmas. I have to say we had very little holiday stress because we prepped and prepared for all of the holidays over 18 weeks.

This year I am going to try and re-share what we are doing in order to prepare for the holidays again. This year we are still hosting Thanksgiving, but we do not have a Disney trip in the works (that could always change...) so we will have more time to get the stuff done!

Follow along with us as we get ready for the 2015 holiday season!

Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014 is in the books. Our little Shelties dressed up for the event too. Marv dressed up as Super Dog, complete with a cap and Jameson dressed up as Winnie the Pooh. My favorite part of his costume is a little bee sewn near his butt.

At the office, we celebrated Halloween with a trick or treat parade around our floor. Our pod did a theme this year of Christmas morning, so we pulled out the Christmas tree, wreaths and we all dressed in our xmas pajamas.

Employees are able to bring in their children to trick or treat office to office.

I love seeing all of the kids. We hear so much about them at work, it is so great to meet them and play for a couple hours.

On actual Halloween I tried to wear all the black and orange I own, black I own a lot, orange not so much. But I think I did pretty well.

At home, we got probably 125-140 trick or treaters this year. The weather was pretty crappy out; kudos to the kids who trick or treated in the cold and rain. Our house was giving out several pieces to each kid and glow bracelets. My mom came over again this year to help hand out the candy. She also made dinner - aren't moms the best? She made Bubble Pizza and you can find her recipe here.

And this here is my special video of Little Molly in her cupcake costume. Isn't she the sweetest???