by kathilipp | Nov 30, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
You have a tab in your Holiday Binder for your family favorite recipes. Now is the time to fill up that tab with the traditional recipes your family love.
Each of our kids has a favorite food that they confirm in advance will be prepared by me or my hubby. Here is just a partial list of what is on the must list:
- cranberry no-bake cheesecake
- pumpkin no-bake cheesecake
- artichoke dip
- bruchetta
- broccoli casserole
- ratatouille
- drunken turkey (turkey brined in white wine and spices)
In year’s past I’ve spent a lot of time and energy going through various cookbooks, computer searches and junk drawer layers looking for all these recipes – but no more! This year they were all sitting in the Holiday Binder just where they were supposed to be.
The other wonderful thing about having all your recipes together is that when your kids start to want to bring your family recipes to their future in-law’s homes, you can copy everything at once.
OK -now it’s your turn. Tell me what is the one recipe your family would boycott Christmas without. (I love to hear other people’s favorite foods, especially if they’re weird.)
by kathilipp | Nov 29, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
Hey girls – can you believe that you are ten days in? If no one else is saying it, I’m really, really proud of you. I love that so many of you are posting the benefits that you are already enjoying:
- Feeling ahead for this year
- Feeling ahead for next year
- Knowing what you are going to get each person on your list
- A feeling of accomplishment
Here are just a few of the comments that I’m hearing:
“Thanks for helping me keep it simple, Kathi. Doing photo Christmas cards for the first time ever and they are done and ready to go. I am smiling and ready to start sending…:)” Catha
“It’s so fun to get out of bed this week and see what I get to do today to get ready for Christmas!” Renee
Y’all have made my season – I love that you are encouraging me, as I try to encourage you. I am way ahead this year and a LOT of it is due to you.
OK – enough of the love in. Time to get to today’s project. Simple: Gather your stuff.
Originally this project was going to be “Buy your stuff”, but I know that all of us probably have enough gift wrap, tags and ribbon to supply Santa’s workshop. Problem is, most of us find it December 26th.
So dig through your basement, garage, spare closet or under the bed and gather together:
- wrapping paper
- ribbon
- tissue paper
- tags, etc.
- Scotch tape
- scissors
Get all this stuff in one place so that when you have to go into elf mode you’re not running all over the house.
This would be the time to also purchase anything that you are short on (I end up buying tape every single year.)
I would love to see what you do to make your wrapping special or how you save money on wrapping for Christmas. Send me a picture of your how you make your packages special, and if I feature your pic on the blog, I will send you one of my books as a thank you! Send the pics to info@kathilipp.com
by kathilipp | Nov 28, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
My life was so simple. Then I married Roger.
You see, my whole family lives within a two hour drive of my home. We get together for holidays and exchange gifts like the Norman Rockwell painting says we are supposed to do.
Then I had to marry a southern boy.
When Roger was looking for his first grown-up job, as a senior at Purdue University, he told God his requirements. “God, I will go anywhere except California.” Yeah. That’s a good idea. Tell God what you won’t do.
So twenty-five years ago Roger got a job in Cupertino with HP and he has been a California boy ever since.
The only problem is that he left a whole family who all live in Georgia, and who all celebrate Christmas. And somehow, each year I forget that their gifts require an extra step or two.
So today, your project is to get your plan together for any out of town gifts. There are three approaches you can take:
- Order all your gifts online and have them shipped from the company.
- Buy gifts and ship them out from home.
- Make sure you’ve married a local boy or stop talking to out of state relatives and friends.
Let me know what approach you subscribe to, as well as any tips you have for gift giving for out of towners. I would love some fresh thoughts about what to do for my mother-in-law.
And here is a great suggestion from reader Kim Ward: “Kathi, with our family far away we use Wishlist.com to help organize our giving. The girls were asking each set of Grandparents for the Thing Most Wanted and that resulted in duplicate items that needed to be exchanged and sore feelings for Grandparents not getting the crazy reaction they were hoping for. Wishlist.com allows you to post ideas from any website easily or create your own manually. Then family can select what they like, ‘reserve’ it and link to the item to buy it immediately if you want. It will also send you an e-mail reminder of what you’ve reserved.”
Later in the projects, my husband Roger – the shipping guru (if you’ve ever ordered something from our store, he’s probably the one who sen it,) will be sharing all of his mailing tips for getting those gifts to Grandmother’s house.
by kathilipp | Nov 27, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
Today is a day to get caught up on a Project you haven’t had time to complete or get started on something that needs to be done. So if you need to finish up ordering Christmas cards, creating your binder, or some other previous Project, here is your guilt-free chance to get it done. If you are all caught up, here are a few ways to spend your time:
- Pull out your gift wrap from last Christmas
- Address Christmas cards
- Wrap gifts
- Clear your space for your tree and decorations
- Decorate
You can do it. I’m so proud of you!
by kathilipp | Nov 26, 2012 | Uncategorized |
Yes- the reality of the holidays. It’s a big holiday and for most of us, a huge part of our fall budget. So I want you to spend a little time budgeting what you are going to spend. Here are some areas that you may want to consider:
- Food
- Gifts
- Donations
- Decorations
- Clothes
- Cards
- Shipping
So many ways for us to spend money. So here is what I want you to do: Help me write this post. Tell me one of your best tips on how you save money this season. One of you brilliant commenters will randomly win a $10 Amazon Gift Card to help with your Christmas shopping.
So tell me your secret strategies for stretching a dollar this season!
Oh and we have a winner from last week – Angela Buckland – contact us at info@kathilipp.com with your email address. You are our winner!
by kathilipp | Nov 26, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
by kathilipp | Nov 25, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
Yes – we sprinkle these “Ketchup” Days throughout The Christmas Project sot that you can get to those things that either took more time to complete, or maybe, you had other things going on that day. It happens. The is a project for real people.
Oh – and a bonus, on the tabs of my Facebook Page there are a ton of free downloads, including today’s goody: 21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids Indoors
(You’ll be happy to have that list the first time your kids – or grandkids – say “I’m bored…”)
If you’ve missed any of the Projects, here are the links to all of them so far:
Project #1 Create Your Holiday Mission Statement
Project #2 Put Your Christmas Binder Together
Project #3 Pick Your Photo for Your Holiday Cards
Project #4 Get Your Christmas Card List Together
Project #5 Make Your Plans for the Next Few Weeks
Project #6 Get Your Christmas Gift List Together
by kathilipp | Nov 24, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
I love hearing your feedback about how the Project is helping you make this holiday (and next). Look at how Renee is using the binder to prepare for next year (and BTW – we will be doing the Project again next year, so get a head start now!):
“I’m already thanking you, Kathi! I love the Christmas notebook idea. I even wrote out everything I needed for Thanksgiving dinner, including my grocery list, location of all the relevant recipes, and time schedule to get everything in and out of my single oven by dinner time. Last night after all the guests went home and the dishes were in the dishwasher, I made notes on what recipes need to be doubled next year, which tweaks to the recipes should stay and which can go, (and, okay, I’ll make fewer sweet potatoes, but you can’t make me skip them altogether!). I printed off a copy and added it to the front of my notebook and I’ll know right where to find it next year!” Renee
And now for Today’s Project: Write out all your gift ideas/what you’ve already bought for your gifts. You can print out lists to keep in your holiday binder over at my author page. (See link below.)
Wouldn’t it be great if the gift giving part of Christmas was the least stressful? Here are a couple ideas to help you take the stress off:
- Limit the List For several years, we limited the number of gifts we bought for each kid: One spiritual gift, one box of clothes, and one fun gift. You may think that it sounds very Little House on the Prarie-ish, but with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends, the kids weren’t hurting for gifts. Trust me.
- Extended Family Swap We’re doing this with my family this year. Every time I start to panic about not having a gift for my brother, I stop, take a deep breath, and remember – “He’s not on my list.” Huzzah. If this is something you want to try, talk about it with your family now, not the week of Christmas.
- Ask Ask people what they would like. I know it’s fun to surprise people with something perfect, but really, why stress yourself out?
- Keep Your Ears Open – Print out the Christmas List over at my Author Page and start to take notes for each person you’re buying for. Maybe your son mentioned a book he’s interested in, or your husband received a renewal notice for his favorite magazine, make a quick note to get it (or jot it down for next year.)
by kathilipp | Nov 23, 2012 | Christmas, Home, The Get Organized Project |
OK – now that you are recovering from all things turkey, it’s now time to kick the Christmas plans into high gear. Spend 15 minutes scheduling out all your commitments for the next few weeks on a blank calendar.
It’s so easy to have great ideas (“Let’s go look at Christmas lights!” “Let’s curl up and watch Elf one night this week!”) and with the craziness of the season, let them all slip through your fingers because of your schedule. So along with all the chores of the season, let’s schedule in some fun!
Head on over to my Facebook Author page and download printable blank calendars for November and December to fill out. Put it up on your fridge so everyone knows the holiday plans.
Here are some things you may want to consider with your schedule.
- Kid’s school calendar
- Work events
- Church events
- Parties and other fun
Once you have filled in all the scheduled activities, set aside some pockets of time to work prepping for Christmas. Here are some things you may want to schedule some time for:
- get tree
- cookie baking
- decorating
- project nights (for wrapping, card addressing, ordering gifts online)
- a night to go look at Christmas lights
- a night to watch It’s a Wonderful Life
I’m not saying you should do all of those things (in fact, I don’t think you should…) but if you want to do any of these or any other family/friend activities, put them on your calendar so you can plan the rest of your month. (And make sure the rest of your family and friends can see the schedule as well.)
When you’re snuggled up on the couch with you family eating fresh baked cookies while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, you’ll thank me.
by kathilipp | Nov 22, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
The Christmas Project #4 Get Your Christmas Card List Together
Let me be the first to say that I don’t think that sending a Christmas card is a requirement for being a good mom, wife, daughter or friend.
I have several people in my life who I’ve never received a card from and I don’t think any less of them and know that I’m loved.
That being said, I do love receiving those cards and pictures. If you are one of my friends who does send them, thanks.
I don’t always send them. The year I had a book due, my mom had cancer, and I had pneumonia all in the same two week span? No cards went out. If you are having that kind of holiday season, you get a Christmas card pass. If you would like, I can even write you a note.
However, if you are going to send them out, there are a few steps you need to take:
- Pick your Christmas cards
- Gather up mailing addresses
- Organize addresses
- Printing addresses
- Get Stamps
- Return Address
No wonder so many of us quit in the middle.
So today, all I want you to do is gather up your addresses that you plan on sending cards to, figure out your Christmas cards, and order (or pick up) your stamps.
For addresses, get any envelopes and lists from last year, your address book, and your online address book. Create an Excel spreadsheet with all the info you will need.
Create your list (this may take a couple of sessions, but no fear, I’ve put a couple of work sessions into your 30 days!) Once you get your list together, you will be able to either hand address, or create a Mail Merge from your Excel list. Here is a great tutorial on How to Create a Mail Merge (It will take a time or two to learn, but it’s a great skill to have. And if you want to make labels, and Mail Merge scares you, ask a friend for help and then bake some cookies for her.)
As far as cards, all you have to do is make your decision: Custom cards, or store bought? Yes, custom are cute. Store bought are great for those who are just now getting started. Just saying…
If you are one of those women who said she wanted a simpler Christmas, may I politely suggest an adorable, standard-sized, store-bought card. (And if you’re making your cards from scratch, I can’t even talk to you…)
For adorable custom cards (that really aren’t a huge hassle…) check out shutterfly.com
Finally, get one item checked completely off your list by getting your stamps. Yes, you could wait in line at the Post Office, or for the service fee of exactly one dollar, you can order the adorable holiday stamps from USPS.com and have them delivered to your door. (Look at the cute stamps I ordered from the site.)
You can do this! So in the comments below, tell me the date that you plan to have your cards sent out , or tell us the that you’re NOT going to send out cards. Either way, I will send one lucky commenter who posts before next Wednesday, a pack of 20 of the FAB ornament stamps.
