Mommy Blog, Tips & Ideas
Christmas
Take the Stress out of Cooking a Christmas Day Meal
Nov 30th
The holidays always come quicker than we anticipated. Family members roll into town and the festivities begin. If you are the one cooking the meal on Christmas Day, you probably felt the stress level rise as everyone walked in your door. Here are some tips to help you plan and enjoy Christmas.
Cooking probably falls to you on any normal day, but the holidays are anything but normal. You’ll need help and that requires that some things are in place before you can do that. Keep reading to find help for your harried soul.
1. Get Organized – This is a toughie for most people because they don’t know where to begin. The preparation for a holiday meal actually begins weeks before. Right after Thanksgiving, begin making your list of holiday dishes you will prepare for Christmas Day dinner. Go through your cabinets to see what you need. Recipes that call for lesser used items are tops on the list, so you can begin finding those things.
2. Start Shopping – Most family meals require the same types of foods each year. Keeping your kitchen stocked with commonly used staples means not having to run to the store at the last minute. Buy these items for a start: all-purpose flour, sugar, milk, eggs, pasta noodles, baking soda, baking powder, salt. You can even buy meats and freeze them several weeks ahead of time. Around Thanksgiving, sweet potatoes, white potatoes and onions generally go on sale. These can be bought for a low price and they will keep until Christmas.
3. Cook some dishes ahead of time. If you get your Christmas shopping out of the way early, that leaves you with a lot of time leading up to Christmas Day. Use that time to prepare desserts and side dishes. Cakes can be made, cooled and frozen. Do as much of the prep work for cooking as you can in the two or three days before the meal. If you are making a casserole, cook the rice and refrigerate it until you are ready to put it all together.
4. Buy fresh vegetables a week ahead of time. The store will be pandemonium as you get closer to Christmas. Clean, chop them up and freeze them. Do the same with any fruits that you need to use for meals. A day or so before, let them thaw in the fridge.
5. Assign stations on Christmas Eve night. Let everyone know what they will be doing to help prepare the meal. That person is then responsible for cooking the turkey, slicing the cake, setting the table or cooking the vegetables.
There is no need to stress out over the Christmas Day meal. Get yourself going with these five tips so the work is easy to manage.
Don’t stress the holidays!
Enjoy! Kerry
Shop Online and Keep Your Sanity
Nov 29th
Christmas is right around the corner. Have you thought about holiday gift shopping yet? Whether you have a ton of people or just a few on your list, you’ll want to get that off your plate as soon as possible. This year, try shopping online.
Some are wary of shopping online. It could be because it is new to them or because they aren’t computer savvy. However, with the ease of navigation on many websites, even a child could find what they are looking for.
Shopping online is safe for those who have that issue. The important thing to remember is to be aware of what constitutes safety and not to deviate from it. Here are a few things to look for:
* Find security certificates on the site and be sure they are up-to-date
* Look for a closed lock symbol on checkout pages where you supply financial information
* Enter your personal and financial information each time instead of storing it in the browser
* Delete cookies after you finish your shopping for that day
* Implement the highest security that you have for Internet browsing
When you know what to do to keep from being taken for a ride, the Internet becomes a fun way to shop for items that you want to give at Christmas. Here are a few reasons why it is less stressful to shop in cyberspace than leaving your home.
* No traffic jams
* No long lines outside the store
* Greater product availability
* You can shop anytime you have a few spare minutes
* You can have items delivered anywhere you need to
If you have an Internet connection, you can shop for Christmas presents online. In the stores, they only carry a certain number of items. It is how they drum up demand. Online, your supplier may have a warehouse full of that same item just waiting to ship.
What do you do when you go to the store and they are sold out? Online, product availability can be checked weeks and months before Christmas. You can buy early to avoid the rush. Also, some product colors and styles are only available online so your gift will be more unique.
Have you ever stood in the line at the post office the week before Christmas? It’s worse than the retail stores. Online, you can fill in a billing address and a shipping address. They don’t have to be the same. Send your gifts automatically to family far away without ever darkening the door of the post office.
What are your plans for Christmas shopping this year? See if you can do the majority of your shopping online. Now, you can go to the mall for a stroll and an ice cream instead of scouring the stores for hard-to-find gifts.
Happy Shopping!
Kerry
How to Make Tree Decorating a Special Family Event
Nov 27th
Christmas is a time for family and friends. It is when we all come together and share the magic that is the winter holiday season. If your family puts up a Christmas tree, turn it into a family event this year.
What is it about the Christmas tree? It is the center of our celebration. When we decorate, it is usually the first item put up. If nothing else is displayed as far as holiday adornments go, there will still be a Christmas tree.
Have you thought about turning the tree decorating process into a new family tradition? Here are some tips about how to go about that.
1. Shop for the tree together. This works well for artificial and live trees. There are many varieties of artificial trees and colors as well. For a live tree, take an evening and visit the tree lots and farms in the area to find your special Christmas centerpiece.
2. Make popcorn garland. This was a favorite in centuries past when the country was young and electricity was non-existent. Pop a couple of bags of microwave popcorn. Let two people work on a string from both ends, adding pieces of popcorn. Sit together so that you can talk over holidays past and munch on the extra popcorn.
3. Sing holiday songs. To get into the spirit of the season, have soft instrumental tunes or traditional holiday songs playing in the background. Don’t be afraid to join in and croon a few bars while you decorate the tree.
4. Make a special treat. If you save the tree decorating until the evening, prepare a super sweet dessert to give everyone that burst of energy they need. The tantalizing smells wafting from the oven will motivate everyone to pitch in just so they can eat later.
5. Create home-made decorations. This works well with younger kids. Maybe they can’t hang ornaments or help with the popcorn, but you can teach them to make paper garland. Using construction paper and glue, your kids can create interlocking links to hang on the tree.
6. Have someone place the star on the tree. This is a family tradition that passes down the privilege of crowning the tree from oldest child to youngest and back again. You can use one special star that everyone has agreed they like, or let each person choose a star of their choice when it is their turn to top the tree.
Do you already have some Christmas tree decorating traditions that you observe? If not, here are six ideas to make the occasion more special for the family. Doing things together never gets old and your kids can pass it down to their children one day.
How to Make your Own Tree Branch Menorah
Nov 26th
A menorah is a symbol of the festivities of Hanukkah on the Jewish calendar. Most families probably have a traditional menorah in their home if they celebrate this holiday regularly. But, if you don’t or the kids want to contribute something to the gathering, you can help them create their own out of a tree branch.
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah is also referred to as the Festival of Lights. It commemorates a time in history almost 2,000 years ago when the Jewish people rose up against their Syrian captors who had invaded the city of Jerusalem.
The festival lasts for eight days which is the amount of time that the sacred oil burned in the temple of God after the victory by the Jews. The centerpiece of the Hanukkah celebration is the menorah.
Let your kids help with creating the menorah. To make one out of a tree branch, here is what you will need:
* Hammer
* Tree branch (long enough for eight candles spaced across)
* 8 half-inch nails
* 8 candles (seven short and one longer one for the center of the menorah)
* Sandpaper
* Saw
1. Find a suitable tree branch outside. Make sure it has a lot of twigs coming off of it. These will help stabilize the menorah.
2. Using the sandpaper, rub the bark off of the branch. You will need a smooth surface to hold the candles and bark can easily chip off.
3. Using a small hacksaw, cut the edges of the branch at enough of an angle so that the branch will sit level on the table.
4. Turn the tree branch over. Starting in the center of the branch, hammer a nail through until the pointy end sticks out the other side. Repeat this process seven more times along the branch, being careful not to split the wood. Try to get the nails as evenly spaced as possible.
5. Turn the branch right side up again. Lower the candles onto the nails so that they are firmly attached to the branch. Don’t forget to place the longer candle in the center of the tree branch. After each candle is added, test the menorah to see that it will hold the candles without tipping over.
6. Now you are ready to proudly display your new creation during Hanukkah.
Making a menorah out of a tree branch is one way to begin a new tradition in your home for the Jewish holiday. You don’t need a metal one in order to properly honor the festival. The tree branch menorah can be a treasured possession that is passed down through your family for generations to come.
How to Make Old Christmas Cards into New Ones
Nov 26th
If you like to send out Christmas cards, you probably also get a dozen or more of them in the mail each year. What do you do with them after Christmas is over? Instead of adding to the trash pile, use those cards to create new ones that you can send out.
How can you do that, you might ask? Most people sign their names or have their Christmas cards personalized each year. But, you can use those cards to create new ones to give out the next year. Here are some ideas that can keep those cards circulating.
1. Cut the front picture off of the card. Most Christmas cards have quite decorative pictures on them. Glue the pictures on the front of a piece of construction paper. Fold it in half or fourths so the card can fit in an envelope.
2. Add more glitter. Some cards already come decorated with glitter but after a season in a box in the attic, some of it will rub off. Dot the front of your card with glue and sprinkle more glitter on the picture.
3. For more grown-up cards, use card stock. You can also matte these pictures for a fancier look. Then, affix them to the front of the card stock. Now you have a one-of-a-kind creation.
4. Create a collage card. Cut out portions of several old cards and put them together on the front of a piece of card stock. Add embellishments like the ones used for scrapbooking. Choose ornaments, tiny Christmas trees, small presents and the like to finish decorating the card.
5. Use craft scissors to create decorative edges on your cards. Who says that a card has to have straight edges?
6. Create construction paper cut-outs to add to your cards. Use green, brown, red and white to draw snowflakes, reindeer, Christmas trees and beautiful ribbons. Glue the pictures to the inside and back cover of the cards.
7. Staple an extra sheet of heavy paper inside of an existing card. Glue the edges down so that you won’t see any writing underneath. This becomes the place where you can write your special greeting to a friend or family member.
8. Spray cards with fragrant perfumes or room sprays. This works better for colored cards so that any fragrance droplets don’t stain the card. Use a fragrance that exemplifies winter: woodsy, pine, cinnamon, pumpkin and the like.
9. Laminate your new creations. Laminating protects your card after you have added stickers, embellishments and things like dried leaves.
10. Add family holiday portraits to the front of old cards. You may have to cut your picture down to fit flush with the edges of the old card.
Trying to be a little frugal this Christmas? Use old Christmas cards and these ideas above to create new cards to hand out this year.
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