Ten Holiday Survival Tips!

Well its that time of year again.. 

Are you ready yet?

 Thankfully in the days of technology its pretty simple to make sure that you don't miss anyone on that list.

My biggest problems is that my family lives so far away, so while I try to stay local, its much easier for me to go online to ship gifts to be sure they make it there safe and on time.

But now that Annabella is here I want to be able to send out more personalized gifts, even some that I made myself.  So I have been trying to get it all done throughout the year, so that most are done. 

1. Start Your List for next year this year: Did your mother-in-law get you some socks while you spent time crafting her a quilt that took you months? Did your neighbor make you a basket of homemade goodies? Its good to know what kind of gifts that people give this way you aren't left feeling like you didn't do enough. Its also handy for shopping all year round.
2. Pick A Craft Theme: Pillows for everyone, or blankets. If you make similar gifts that are handmade, it will get quicker and quicker as you go along. And soon enough it will be like a factory in your house! You'll be whipping them out in no time
3. Start a Spider plant in December: Get a big pot and plant a spider plant in it. All year long cut the babies off and keep re-potting them so that they can make more babies. Also save your baby jars for your Christmas party next year, get red Water beads  and put your babies (you'll have enough to fill quite a few by now) and put them all over your house for your guests to take home, then they can start their own spider plant collection!
4. Send your cards online: Since these days there is nothing wrong with sending generic cards with photos of your adorable family and children, Take advantage of it, dress your kids up in last year's duds or even some nice black or white clothes. Then go online and make them look great. Tinyprints even prints the names on the cards, adds postage and sends them out for you (for a fee but how great is that?) I am now one of those people who sends cards
5. make some dough: most roll out cookie dough can be made ahead and frozen for later use. I also do this with pie dough, its very nice to have it in the freezer when you know you are going to have company over you can just pull it out, roll it, bake it, make some chocolate pudding and whip some cream.  Viola, instant chocolate cream pie!
6. Wrap: Wrap your gifts as you buy them this is good for a few reasons; your kids can't see what they are getting if they search, it saves you time from wrapping them all at once, you don't have to worry about forgetting to tag packages and then forgetting who they are for!
7. Keep some extra: Get some neutral holiday paper, or gift baskets, keep them on hand for any unexpected guests that may arrive. I always have a couple kids coloring sets around, and some bottles of wine, good beers, chocolates, and bath and body goods for the adults
8. Pizza; we eat it a lot here, and during the busy holidays we eat it even more, make the dough after the kids get home from school and by the time dinner comes around you are ready for pizza. All you need is a jar of sauce, some cheese, herbs, garlic salt, pepperoni or some Italian sausage. Of course there are lots more things you can put on. Let the kids have some fun with dinner and you can relax!
9. Get a real tree: I know, I know, the mess! you're saying. The pine needles everywhere! Watering it! Well what about when you turn off all the lights, and the only light in the house is the twinkle of lights creating an evergreen glow over your living room, while you smell that piney smell. It really helps to get back to what the meaning of the holidays are and helps you to feel good inside!
10. Go to the post office two weeks before Christmas, and send your stuff out then. Its just not worth waiting in the lines to send all that stuff. Do yourself a favor get those done now, its okay if they are early. Nobody will mind.  This way if you do have anything that you have to mail last minute it can just be for a quick thing rather then mailing out tons of other stuff! Also the CVS near me ships UPS, so that can be convent

Well that being said, Happy Holidays! And don't forget to have fun! Personally I'm just planning on spending most of this Christmas playing with Annabella, it will be our second Christmas but the first one that she'll really get to experience. Since its just us now, I'm looking forward to starting some new traditions together that we can share for years to come

Personalize your own Tiny Prints Christmas Cards

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Tiny Prints blogging program, making me eligible to get a $75 Tiny Prints gift certificate! For more information on how you can participate, click here.