Friday, 29 December 2017

Boxing Day Christmas Clearance

             This is the post where I actually suggest going out to boxing day sales, if you haven’t already. Everyone knows that boxing day, now lasts a week. For me this is the point where I go out to the stores, and perhaps get a little sad at the bare Christmas sections. However, I cheer up pretty quick because all the Christmas stuff that is left is rock bottom prices. This is when I pick up stuff for next year. Like lights, Christmas storage totes (that’s actually for a lot sooner than next year), and different decorations I might like to add. Not to mention, you can keep your eyes open for gifts for people for next year…yeah, I said it. I usually enjoy these trips, there are a couple things to add to the fun, and it’s usually the quietest I’ve seen any store for a while.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy, Cale and Alice

Wednesday, 27 December 2017

Boxing Day Sales

               
Well today is boxing day, for sales. Much like Black Friday, Boxing day is a busy, and can me insane sales day. Your mentality may be to stay away. If this is the case, sit back, and enjoy. If you have flyers scoped out and know what deals you want to get, here are my tips:

                Get out early. Boxing day always have door crashers, but most are while quantities last. They don’t tend to last long. Not to mention, the earlier you wrap up your shopping, the sooner you’re going to be out of the mayham

                Hydrate. Seems obvious, but these stores can be crowded, and hot. While I like to think here in Canada, I like to think you wouldn’t get trampled to death if you collapsed in the crowds… I think we’d like to avoid the collapsing all together.

                Take a deep breath. Yes, get out early, but take your time. Some times there will be a wait. People can go into these crowds and say they should have more people working. The reality is stores can only have so many employees working. All you can really do is wait your turn, and all the employees can do is their best.

                Get your rest/ Caffeinate. The caffeine sounds like a weird one to come from a pregnant lady, but there it is. Going into one of these mad houses, being tired is not a good call. Right off the bat how good of a mood will you be in with out energy? Not to mention, you’re going in for a deal that day right? You want to know all your options, and absorb what is being explained to you. 

                These are some of my tips
K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy, Cale and Alice

Sunday, 24 December 2017

Christmas Eve

                It’s Christmas Eve! It doesn’t seem that long ago I started posting this series for the second time, and people were rolling their eyes at me for starting so early lol.
               
                My Grandma always told us, on Christmas eve at 5:00, if it’s not done, it’s not getting done. Like I mentioned in one of my very first posts, this series is not about the perfect Christmas special holiday. It was about making things easier on you, so you can take the time to enjoy the season and not see it as a huge stresser. Which for me, kind of makes it the perfect Christmas, every time. SO Grandma’s words really are words to live by.
              
                As soon as I’m off work tonight, my Holiday starts, and family will be at my house, just waiting for me. My Uncle has pasties for us for supper (google them, because I can count how many people in my life know what they are), I’ll put on my hot chocolate in the slow cooker (for my friends who tried my burnt hot chocolate years ago, I perfected it now), and we’ll head to the lights display to walk around, before heading back to our house and enjoying hot chocolate, and a Christmas special. And the only lights in the room will be the tree and the candles we light every Christmas.

                Unfortunately this year, life has gotten in the way. With a combination of my Father in-law having a terrible cold, and my being pregnant, my in-laws won't be joining us this year. I hope they realize we have to make it extra special next year.

                I’m pretty excited for MY Christmas eve, and I hope you enjoy yours.
K, Luv ya, Bye

Nancy, Cale and Alice

PS, my post tomorrow will likely be much later, because no offense, my blog won’t be my top priority

Friday, 22 December 2017

Tying up Loose Ends

I can’t believe it, this is our last Christmas PREP post. There will be more posts, but this is the last one we do to help you get ready. This is basically just doing some tidying for the guests and so you don’t have to worry about it in a few days. The other part is wrap up those things on your list that are personal to you. Turkey thaw has already begun in our house, so I’m kind of just looking around wondering what I may have missed.
                 I also need to point out, if you miss one little thing, it REALLY shouldn’t ruin your whole Christmas. Things aren’t what makes this holiday. While yes, I’ve been doing a blog about getting ready, and it DOES make things easier, it’s not about this stuff.
                Honestly some of the things we’ve messed up over the years, is some of the best memories. The year the roasting pan didn’t fit in the oven, or the year I overflowed the sink trying to thaw the turkey.
                Time to just tie up loose ends.
                K, Luv ya, Bye

                Nancy, Cale and Alice 

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

The Perishables

                 Only 5 days left! I don’t know about you, but I am getting seriously AMPED. We’ve had one task we’ve been looking at for a VERY long time, it’s time to wrap it up. I’m talking about that grocery list. Back in October, we started on the non perishables. November we added the frozen foods. Now we get anything off those two lists we missed, and the fresh stuff.
                If you remember in earlier posts, I mentioned using points as a way to save money with the groceries. Where we’re tying up all the loose ends, this is the trip I use them for.
                My advice going into this task, take a deep breath, and take your time. You can let everyone around you be exceptionally stressed out, but you are on top of all of this, there is no reason to go crazy. If you are not able to get one or two of those items on your list, remember 5 days left, there is always another chance and another potential location.
                Relax and smile. If you have been following this blog, you are not rushed, you’ve accomplished so much, and you’re seeing now how much it’s paid off.

K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy, Cale and Alice

                 PS, Turkey Thaw 2017 has begun in our house. If yours hasn't yet, you might want to look into when you need to get it started, or if you're going to need to thaw quicker in your sink this year. Assuming you plan on having a turkey. 

Monday, 18 December 2017

Christmas Light Drive

              You may have scratched your head at me with past posts. When I’ve said how much I enjoy some aspects of planning, it isn’t always something everyone likes…this one, point blank, if you don’t enjoy it, you probably shouldn’t be following this blog series. We’re talking about going out to see the lights. So this is a family thing we like to do after dinner Christmas eve, then we come home for Hot Chocolate, watch a movie and go to bed. Some years we have so much family visiting we go to a lights display we can walk through, and that’s how we can enjoy the lights together.
                However, before Christmas, we like to have a night, where we drive around, Cale, Alice and I, and take them in that way. We already had our post about taking a night to enjoy and just do a movie night. Here is another chill night for your to enjoy with the family, and yes there is hot chocolate for this one too. Take a night, enjoy the lights with the family. This time of year can go so quick, you need to take some time to slow down.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy, Cale and Alice 

Friday, 15 December 2017

Christmas Sanity Basket

               We’re ten days away, can you believe it?! So 10 days from right now, you could be all done with the gifts, and getting your Christmas dinner ready.
                To help your Christmas morning going smoothly, you might want to make a list of supplies you might need. Things like scissors, garbage bags, batteries, etc. Things you might need to get into the gifts, and make them work. Now as you go through this you might think of thing that a personal to you, perfect, unfortunately these supply lists are NOT one size fits all. I’m sharing a link I found years ago for a “sanity basket”. It is a list of supplies that you may or may not have thought of. Batteries are usually a well remembered item, but here is one I ALWAYS mention, a manual can opener. You may be scratching your head for this one, but here is the score. The WORST packaging on the face of the planet to open is clamshell packaging. You generally injure yourself trying to open this crap. The can opener, will be the answer to your prayers.
                So get the supplies together now, to make a smoother morning on the 10th.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy, Cale and Alice 

Wednesday, 13 December 2017

Checking it Twice

             This might seem like a random one at this point, but it’s time to have a look at that master grocery list again. So we started knocking stuff off this grocery list 2 months ago, with non-perishables. Then we brought in the freezer items, and we’ve been chipping away at them for a month. It’s not QUIET time to look at the fresh part of the list yet (they wouldn’t be fresh when we got to Christmas).
                What I want you to do is have a list of those two lists and see what you can knock off so you don’t have to worry about them on your next big trip. Fortunately my list has gotten very small, and I can easily knock an item or two off the list as I spot them. This is just going to make your last shopping trip before Christmas far less stressful, because you only need to worry about those few items. That’s kind of what this entire blog series has been about, making things easier for Christmas so you can enjoy it more.

K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy, Cale and Alice

Monday, 11 December 2017

Christmas Movie Night

                 After our not so fun last post, happy to say this one is not about productivity, but about enjoying the season. 2 weeks from today is Christmas! We do so much preparing for this season, sometimes we don’t take the time to actually slow down and enjoy, and that’s what this post is about.

                Take a look at your schedule this week, and make for a movie night. We pick a couple Christmas movies, maybe grab some snacks and egg nog, and watch movies where the only light in the room is the tree. Just slow down and have an enjoyable, relaxing night. 

Friday, 8 December 2017

Deep Cleaning

                December luckily doesn’t actually have a lot of not fun assignments, but this is probably the least fun. This is the super, deep clean. Start at one end of the house and go through, dusting, cleaning windows and mirrors freshening up mattresses. You know the drill as far as cleaning your house goes. Time to do a MAJOR clean.

                This post doesn’t take long because this is a big chore, and as much as we like to put it off, this is something we need to dive into and get over with. 

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Wrapping

             This one is a special one for me. For some this will be a chore. We’re talking about wrapping gifts. Here is the history of it for me. When I was a kid, I was raised by my single father. So when it came time for me to go Christmas shopping for my dad, my uncle took me out. It was always a fun night. We’d have supper, go and get his gift, pop into a few other stores, and then go back to his place for wrapping. My uncle would turn on the Christmas music and we would wrap all the gifts, and I just loved it.
                He always put on Anne Murry (who is his favorite), and Boney M (which grew to become my favorite). So now as an adult, my Christmas wrapping is an evening I love. I pop on Boney M (my mother in-law knew I loved their Christmas album and got it for me), get down on the floor and just belt out the songs). I end up texting my uncle a LOT too. I guess it’s the memories it brings that makes me LOVE wrapping my gifts. For some people this becomes a mad scramble, but I get it done now, and enjoy the wrapping and the look of the gifts under the tree.

K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy, Cale and Alice 

Monday, 4 December 2017

Christmas Cards

              About a month ago, we started to gather addresses for things like cards and gifts. Now is when we actually use them.  I like to get my Christmas cards done and mailed as early as possible. It’s just nice for people to get them done early.
                In our house, we just kind of make two lists of names, and each take on half of the cards each. We take an evening, and turn on a Christmas movie to enjoy while we fill out our cards. We do something little a special for the evening.
                So that’s one earlier post flashback, here is another, those gifts we got started on early. If you’re not done already, hopefully you ARE done those gifts that need to be mailed. Last Christmas we didn’t realize how long a gift can actually take to send to the other side of the country. I know it makes sense, but when this time of year rolls around and you get a large to do list, time can get away from you. We got lucky and the gift got there in time.
                Here is another flashback, the budget. Now is when you need to take into account that money you budgeted and get things like boxes, paper, cards, envelopes, and of course postage.

                This assignment tends to be a big one on our lists we hold off on for far too long, and weighs on you. We don’t have a lot of days left, get it done now, and that’s a big task, handled.  

Friday, 1 December 2017

Time to bake

               We’re in THE month! This is December, and look at all that has been done. There are still things that need to be done, but how much is completed compared to previous years?
                90% of the posts in the last bit are fun ones, and for me, this one falls into that category. Today is about Baking. Thanks to a previous post, we already planned our baking, this included getting ingredients and stuff together as well ( the ones we could buy in advance anyway). Now is when we get on baking.

                One thing I always do too is have tins set that I freeze. Most cookies freeze pretty well, so I freeze some so we have some through the entire month. It’s baking time, enjoy.