by kathilipp | Dec 29, 2014 | Christmas, The Get Organized Project, tips and ideas |
Welcome to the Five-Day Christmas UN-Project — Putting it away well…so there will be less drama next year!
Hi Friends – I hope you had an amazing Christmas with Christ at the center of it all. Now that you’ve had a day to recuperate and clean up some wrapping paper, I want to give you an opportunity to pack up, clean up and put up the trimmings well so that next year, it will be drama free.
We will have a five day un-project. Starting on Wednesday morning, I will give you five days of instructions so that next year, you will have a head start on everything Christmas!
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Blessings on you this week friends!
Kathi
by kathilipp | Dec 23, 2014 | Christmas, The Husband Project, tips and ideas |
Have I got some Red Gift ideas for you? Make Christmas fun for your man by buying him a few of these items!
1. Lingerie (for him to open, but you to wear)
2. A box of Red Hots with your husband’s picture on it.
3. Matching boxers
4. Warming lotion (use a coffee warmer to keep it warm)
5. PJs (You wear the top, he wears the bottoms)
6. A card with 10 reasons why you are grateful for everything he does
7. 21 Post it notes around your room of reasons you love him
8. Mistletoe on the headboard of your bed
9. A box of chocolates (with instructions for the two of you to share them in bed.)
Don’t forget to listen to this week’s podcast – Naughty…and nice holiday gifts for your man — RED GIFTS!
Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos. (http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Christmas_g54-Santa_Woman__Holding_A_Gift_Box_p123859.html)
by kathilipp | Dec 8, 2014 | Christmas |
Christmas gifts for the person who is having a hard time making ends meet…
Let’s face it. This is a rough economy. There are a lot of people without jobs or who are behind on their bills. Movie tickets are fun or a gift certificate for a manicure is nice, but sometimes, practical gifts are more appreciated and necessary. What good are movie tickets if you have no gas to get to the theater? That manicure might actually stay nice for a long time when there’s no food to prepare, but well, you get the point.
Consider giving gift cards for grocery stores or all-purpose stores like Wal-Mart. How about gasoline gift cards? Or restaurant gift cards for a special Holiday meal out of the house? This enables your gift recipient to choose just what they want, which might be simply what they need.
You meet a practical need by providing food or gas or even grocery money, but you are meeting that “you-are-awesome-here’s-a-really-cool-gift” target as well.
Consider a Safeway, Publix, Kroger or Ingles Gift Card
for groceries.
Another idea is one of my favorite sites, featured on my blog before.
Grass fed beef. Yum. Practical, nutritious, delicious. You meet a practical need by providing some food, but you are meeting that “you-are-awesome-here’s-a-really-cool-gift” target as well. My favorite place to buy? Open Space Meats.
How about you? Do you have any enjoyable gifts that can also meet a need?
by kathilipp | Nov 19, 2014 | Christmas, The "What's for dinner?" Project, tips and ideas, Uncategorized |
Yikes! It’s almost time to cook the holiday turkey!
Do you have turkey-phobia?
It can seem like a daunting task to make the perfect turkey, but I promise you, it isn’t. Try my turkey recipe and follow my instructions, and you’ll have a table full of guests licking their fingers and begging for more. But beware, this turkey is so good, there may not be any leftovers for turkey sandwiches.
Kathi's Brined Turkey
-
1
gallon
water - cold
-
1
cup
sea salt
-
1
tablespoon
crushed dried rosemary
-
1
tablespoon
dried sage
-
1
tablespoon
dried thyme
-
1
bottle dry white wine
-
3
oranges
cut in half
-
In a large garbage bag, combine the all the ingredients.
-
Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled. Place the bag in a roasting pan and in the refrigerator overnight, turning once.
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Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.
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Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.
by kathilipp | Nov 5, 2014 | Christmas, Uncategorized |
Is it possible to avoid conflict during the Holidays? I think so!
But the time to start thinking about it is now – not when you start threatening your husband with a spontaneous trip to your moms house because you just can’t stand his mom anymore.
All of these strategies, (bathed in prayer and a whole lot of grace and some extra dark chocolate thrown in for good measure,) will help this be the most peaceful holiday season since the time you and your husband got snowed in and couldn’t travel to be with family.
Here are a few tips:
Have the conflict early. Most of the conflict that families experience is because we are trying to avoid conflict early on. We hope that things will “Just work out.” And that everyone will, “Just be cool.” If there is a hard conversation that needs to be had about how your father-in-law talks to your kids, or how much your adult daughter drinks at the family gathering, the time to have those hard conversations is November 5th – not November 27th.
Take the “Plans” approach. My stepdaughter, Amanda, just got engaged this week. We could not be more thrilled and it’s kind of hard to contain our excitement about planning. So when she called me to talk wedding plans, I said, “Hey, if you don’t want to get together and talk weddings, I totally understand. You’ve got a lot of people you’re trying to please.” Then she told me something that made my burst with pride. She said, “Actually, I’m doing the same thing you and dad do. I’m saying, ‘Here are the plans I’ve made. If you’re able to join us for ________, that’s great. If not, we totally understand.’ She said that it’s taken so much of the pressure off of trying to make everyone happy, and giving people a choice.
I love it. She is behaving in a totally healthy way, not giving her control over to other people, and not feeling like she needs to control others either.
Know the Rule of Three. In engineering, there is an old saying; “You can have it better, cheaper, and faster. Pick two out of three.” And it’s true. How could you have a product delivered with better quality, made cheaper, and ahead of schedule? It might be possible, but you’ll kill the engineer in the process.
Roger and I have adopted a similar motto for family celebrations; “You can celebrate on the right day, you can have the whole family together, or you can have people be happy about it. Pick two out of three.”
With blended families and in-law relationships (heck, even if your son is dating a girl!), holidays not only put stress on you and husband, but on your kids as well. They are charged with keeping loyalties, keeping the peace, and keeping things from blowing up.
We realized early on in our marriage that there were two things that were important: Having everyone together, and everyone being as happy (as possible) about it. The date? That really didn’t matter to either of us. Often, we celebrate on a different date. We are having Thanksgiving on the actual day this year, but we are celebrating Christmas on the 26th when all the kids can be here. On the 25th? Church and then jammies all day.
Budget. If money is one of the biggest stressors, then the weeks leading up to Christmas are the Hot Zone times on the calendar for conflict. Come up with your budget now so that everyone’s expectations will line up.
Ask. Ask your family what traditions are important, and which ones have run their course. All the kids love the Starbucks and Christmas light night, but are over the matching pajamas on Christmas morning? Kill the PJs and keep the lights.
