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!

Easy Super Bowl Treats

My two favorite things about Super Bowl Sunday - 1) Indulging on lots of food that is so good (but so bad for your hips and 2) All the entertainment and hoopla before, during and after the game. I am so excited to see Katy Perry perform at half time - I think she will put on a great show. I LOVED Bruno Mars last year - he was so good. Plus who doesn't get into the TV commercials??

Back to my first favorite thing about Super Bowl Sunday - THE FOOD. We are going to make homemade baked chicken wings. Now I know what you are all thinking - that sounds so lame, why not get take out wings that are delicious and fried up? Trust me - our homemade wings are just as tasty (if not BETTER) and we char-grill them at the end for that extra little char flavor. MMM - I am hungry just thinking about them.

Then my in-laws are ordering pizza and we are still thinking of other appetizer ideas. So I turned to my friend Pinterest to find some simple app recipes. Pictures are included below - I hope to be inspired soon!

Football Strawberries. I did something similar three years ago for a friends party. Chocolate covered strawberries are always a hit. 

Have your grill handy? (You will need it for our chicken wings!) How simple and tasty are these kabobs - slices of ham with pineapple

Baked Mozzarella and basil bites - a little bit healthier approach to traditional mozzarella sticks. Fresh mozzarella and basil leaf enclosed in a wonton wrapper and baked. 

Pepperoni bites with fresh mozzarella in the middle. A nice carb-free option instead of pizza

Included below is the recipe for our AWESOME baked chicken wings. Here is also a link to one of my other favorite and easy appetizers - Firecracker Chicken Roll-ups.

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
4 lbs chicken wings (I usually get Free Bird Party wings - they are already halved at the joints)
2 Tbsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp salt
Whatever sauce you like (We like Rufus Teague)

Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat to 250 degrees. Set wire rack in aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and spray the rack with a non-stick spray. Pat wings dry and transfer to a gallon size plastic zip lock bag. Combine the baking powder and salt and add to the bag with the wings. Close the bag and shake to coat as evenly as possible.

Arrange the wings skin side up in a single layer on the sprayed rack. Bake wings on the lower-middle oven rack for 30 minutes. Move wings to the upper-middle rack, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and roast until wings are golden brown and crisp - about 40 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Remove the sheet from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. While the wings are resting, fire up the grill to medium-high heat. Transfer the cooked wings to a bowl and cover those bad boys with your sauce of choice. Toss to coat. Bring the bowl to the grill and char the wings on each side for about 1 minute per side. Enjoy them while they are hot!

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 18 The Finish Line

Week of December 28th:
- Take down decorations
- Take down trees (so sad)
- Make New Year's Resolutions
- Celebrate New Years Eve
- Celebrate New Years Day
- Stock up on all occasions cards (birthdays, anniversary, get well, etc)
- Assess the holiday season

I hope you have all enjoyed our 18 weeks of holiday planning. Looking forward to taking a breather and relaxing!

Holiday Plan 2014: Week 17 Merry Christmas!

The week of Christmas is upon us! Hopefully if you have been following along you will be just as prepared for this holiday! I know we are glad we followed the schedule. It made our holidays much less stressful!

Enjoy this week with your friends and family! Joy to the World!

Week of December 21st:
- Start Christmas food prep
- Use a freezer meal or two
- Celebrate Christmas Eve
- Celebrate Christmas Day
- Write thank yous
- Shop post-Christmas sales!
- Pick up next year's Christmas Cards
- Lightly remove some decorations

Holiday Plan 2014 - Week 16

Week of December 14th:
- Return from Walt Disney World :(
- Use some freezer meals!
- Make any New Year's plans
- Bonus time - spot clean areas
- Make any last minute cookies

Christmas is almost HERE!!!!

Holiday Plan 2014 - Week 15

Week of December 7th:
- Mail Christmas Cards
- Make last minute to do lists
- Pack for Disney!
- Confirm all Disney reservations
- Hold mail and newspaper orders
- Enjoy Walt Disney World!

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!

Holiday Planning - Update

So a holiday planning update! Over halfway there until Christmas!!! So far I am 3 for 5 with homemade gifts. My favorite is probably the wine cork christmas trees - didn't they turn out cute? I finished the 12 days of Christmas project for three of my nieces and nephew and I complete my homemade Disney heart ornaments. Phew. What do I have left? Santa Candy Jars and Mickey & Minnie ornaments. 

I caught up on all of wrapping. Yes - all gifts purchased thus far are wrapped!!! Yee-Ha! The next round of gifts should be getting delivered to my door this week and will hopefully be wrapped soon there after.

I have three batches of cookies done and frozen, so I am a little behind in that regard, but still feeling pretty good that I can get most of it done before we leave for Disney.

This past week I started addressing Christmas cards! Woo Hoo!! Although we didn't get a family picture this year, I am thinking about including a picture of the four of us in the house. We shall see!

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!

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!

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!

Marv's 3rd Birthday & Jameson at 12 Weeks

Last night we had my family over for dinner to celebrate Marv's 3rd birthday. The adults had pizza and wings and the pups had some Blue Buffalo "Boo" Stew. The pizza, wings and stew went over very well.

Marv and Jameson were very cuddling with everyone. Earlier in the day, they received their next round of shots and booster shots. Needless to say, they wanted to be loved and hugged, which the grandparents had no problem doing.

How funny is the picture below? On our way home from the vet, this is how Jameson layed in the car - on top of Marv! Big brother Marv did not seem to mind at all. Marv is really starting to get into being "big" brother. He is becoming very protective of little Jameson.

Look how big Jameson is getting! 12 weeks old already! The vet said both look very good and healthy! Woo hoo! Jameson will receive his next round of shots in 3 weeks and Marv is not due back until December for his annual physical and tests.