by kathilipp | Dec 5, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
Stockings or no stockings? That’s the question.
People are deeply rooted in traditon – do they have stockings, what do you put in them, and when do you open them.
We usually have a few standard goodies in each stocking:
- Chocolate Gold Coins
- Gummy Bears
- Tooth Brushes
- Playing Cards
- Thank-you Notes
Yes. Thank you notes. These are suppose to inspire the kids to actually write the notes (it happens about 50% of the time…)
Here is how I get ready for the stockings:
I have a Ziploc bag with each person’s name on it. As I gather up little treats for them, I wrap them and keep them in their own Ziploc. When it comes time to fill the individual stockings, all I do is dump the content of each bag into the appropriate stocking.
You’re Own Stocking
After the first couple of years of marriage Roger noticed that I didn’t have anything in my stocking (it really didn’t bother me, promise…) So our third Christmas he went to Bath and Body and loaded up (I got a dozen hand sanitizers. No, I wasn’t offended…) But I still buy myself a little treat to put in my own stocking. Nothing extravagant, but just a little something I wouldn’t normally buy for myself.
At the last event I spoke at, I had a rush of women come up to my booktable and get the My Husband is a Hottie Shirt. I normally sell quite a few of the shirts, but this was unusual…. I finally asked one of the ladies what was up and she explained that her whole table decided to purchase the shirts to put in their own stockings – a gift for her, a gift for him. Genius.
If you tell me in the comments what the best part of the Christmas Project has been for you, I will put you in a drawing for your own T-shirt to stuff your stocking with.
The winner will be randomly chosen.
by kathilipp | Dec 4, 2012 | Christmas, Relationships, Uncategorized |
Hey Friends – this is Kathi. My friend, Jill Davis, was a valuable contributor to my latest book 21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids. Jill offered great advice as the single mom of several kids in that book, and I’ve asked her to talk about the special challenges of single parenting and the holidays.
Even if you’re not a single parent, I think we have a real opportunity to reach out to a single mom this season and offer support in the ways that we can. Look at this list and see how you can support.
What I Wish I Knew My First Christmas as a Single Mom. Guest Post by:Jill Davis
“Don’t let busyness replace deep human connection.” I heard these words recently from a close friend and it took me back to my early single mom days. I spent so much time trying to create the magazine picture perfect Christmas experience, I missed out on what my children truly needed; to be connected as a family. Six years later, I have made lots of mistakes and learned lots of lessons.
What I wish I had known my first Christmas as a single mom.
1. Don’t try to do everything you’ve done in past years.
2. Ask your children what they most want to do this year. Then choose just one or two of them, not all 127 of them. Make sure to include one of your favorite traditions as well.
3. Remember Christmas is busy enough just through regular activities. It is in building relationships with our children that true joy happens.
4. Don’t unwrap your family ornaments with the children around. Take the time to sort them out first. It can be extremely painful the first few years. Sort through what you want to keep for yourself and the kids. Pack the rest away in a box marked “look at in two years”. A lot can happen in two years and it will be easier to look at those old memories then.
5. Let others help you. It’s really ok. You don’t have to be super single mom. Let them take the kids to do special things. You really don’t have to do it all.
6. If you are alone over Christmas choose how you want to spend the time. If you are invited somewhere and you really want to be around people GO! Or if you really want to be alone, say no. It’s ok to enjoy the time by yourself.
7. Remember some years are just going to be difficult, whether you are single or not.
8. A hot bath, a good book and a full night’s sleep will heal most exhaustion. Participate in extreme self care this time of year.
9. Don’t over spend or over eat, it will make January much harder and no one will be any happier.
10. Most of all, take the time to listen. Listen to your children, to yourself, to friends, and to the joy of the season. Let go of the busyness and relish the joy of being with your family.
For over 20 years, Jill Davis has helped others identify and fulfill their dreams. By using her own life challenges as the mother of four, a military wife, an abusive in marriage, a divorce survivor and building a successful career, she is able to create belief in others. She understands the difficulties others encounter both in the world and within themselves. Her energy and determination are an inspiration and a highly developed intuition provides her with the ability to touch a nerve in everyone she encounters. Her goal is to help others find inside themselves their own personal path to joy.
Trained in Personality Principles and Coaching Strategies, Jill continues to make her own dreams come true by harnessing her unique skills and reaching out to the women she encounters to encourage, inspire, and guide them toward their own fulfillment. Jill’s website is Ask Jill Davis
by kathilipp | Dec 3, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
Today’s Project is to spend a little more time in the kitchen. Here are some things that you might want to get ahead on:
- Creating your meal plan for the rest of the month
- Planning out your Christmas Dinner and your shopping list
- Shopping for your non-perishables
- Making the list of what you need to buy at the last minute so it’s fresh
- Pulling out your serving platters, roasting pans, cake stands, etc. or anything else that you need
- Pulling together your baking list
Let me know in the comments what you are doing for this Project and I’ll be giving away another copy of THE WHAT’S FOR DINNER SOLUTION. Tell me by Friday what you did to get ahead kitchen-wise, and you could be a winner!
by kathilipp | Dec 2, 2012 | Christmas, Home |
For some reason Project #12 did not go out. It was a ketchup day, so you’re ahead of the game!
Thanks for all your feedback about how the Project is going!
“Loving this challenge, it has made such a difference! I feel like things are under control and I am way ahead of the game this year. Thanks so much Kathi!” Kyla
I have to tell you that selfishly I have loved this entire project. I’m ahead of the game on shopping, I just got my Christmas cards in the mail, and I don’t feel nearly as scattered as I do when I don’t have a plan.
Today’s Project: Get some of your decorating done.
Here are some of the things you may want to consider working on:
Get and decorating your tree
Put away some of your everyday “stuff” so you’ll have room for your Christmas decor
Swap out your dishes for your Christmas dishes
Decorate outside
I have to admit that the majority of the decorating around our house is done by Roger (there is a reason that he is a lighting designer. He likes bright shiny things…)
But the hanging of the Christmas cards in up to me. So every year I take a plain door in our house (this year it’s the plain looking door that houses our furnace,) and wrap it like a big presents. Then, as Christmas card come into the house, they go directly up onto the door.
One of the other big helps for Christmas decor is to get rid of anything that you are no longer decorating with – those pink snowmen your bought during your Miami Vice Christmas phase, or that stack of Christmas cards from people you no longer talk with (and maybe, don’t really like). The less you have to sort through, the easier the decorating process will be.
Happy decorating friends!
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 |
Stockings or no stockings? That’s the question.
