This advice applies to any seasonal items, including Valentines, Easter, Spring, Patriotic, Halloween, Fall, Harvest, Christmas, Birthday, and any other holiday or season you celebrate. Have you ever experienced something like this? At the start of a holiday, you pull out your seasonal decorations. You examine them and you are happy to see some favorites […]
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2018 Holiday Checklist & Calendar
Another holiday season is upon us. Am I the only one who feels like I JUST put away last year’s Christmas decorations? Maybe because we just moved and I did just put Christmas Decorations in the attic?? We are going to try for a simpler Christmas this year. But even a simple Christmas will go […]
Christmas Storage: Putting Away Christmas Decor
There is one thing I store in my attic at my new house: all my Christmas Stuff. Since we only use it once a year, I like it all tucked away out of sight the rest of the year. I’m keeping our decorations out longer than usual this year since we didn’t even finish decorating […]
Practical Stocking Stuffers (that I want!)
Growing up, I always had some fruit at the bottom of my stocking, nuts you had to crack open with a nutcracker, then things like a toothbrush, deodorant, hair brush … or any hygiene item I needed, some candy, gum, socks, underwear, gloves or a scarf, and then a small special present. And I thought […]
Aunt Julie’s Homemade Caramel
My seasonal love affair with homemade caramel started not-so-innocently. The Christmas my twins were infants (read: I was seriously sleep deprived), Matt’s Aunt Julie sent us an awesome Christmas package in the mail. The package came during the day while Matt was at work and I was home with the babies (read: struggling to figure […]
Keeping Clutter out of Christmas (A State of Mind)
Clutter is the unnecessary extra stuff, the things that don’t have a place to go, and the stuff that doesn’t fit in our home. Peace and joy abound at Christmas time, but so does clutter. Clutter can suffocate our Christmas spirit, but we can stop it! Here are a few of my tips to keeping […]
14 Homemade Gift Ideas
I’ve been in such a crafting mood lately! Creating something, especially useful or beautiful things, has been so good for my sanity. I was searching blog-land for homemade Christmas Gift Ideas and found so many good ones that I had to share with you. I know I won’t have time to make them all, but […]
How To Hang Stockings The Easy Way
My house is a bit torn-up right now as we are still dealing with the repairs from the damage the ice storm caused. The restoration crews are in and out of here, which is keeping things interesting. 🙂 But, the good news is I can still show you my fireplace mantel and a little trick […]
5 Travel Tips for the Holidays
1. Bring Hostess Gifts. Nothing says “forgive my beautiful children for adding their fingerprints to every surface in your home” quite like a nice gift. This is not the gift that is your Christmas gift, this is a separate gift. Something to take the burden off of your host and hostess or to pamper them. 2. Let […]
Holiday Budget Worksheet
It may not be as fun as spending willy-nilly throughout November and December, then fainting at the credit card bill in January … but you might consider budgeting the extra expenses of November and December instead. Here is the budget format I use. I try to remember all of the things that end up costing […]