The very first thing I’d like to stress is that BLOGMAS is supposed to be FUN and stress free! By doing this “schedule” prompt list ahead of time it allows ALL of us to write posts as we have the time to do it. I often sit and do many of these posts ahead of time while watching TV with hubby in the evenings.
Participating in BLOGMAS helps get me in and keeps me in the Christmas spirit. I’m not even doing a linky this year. We’ll just know to visit from the link left in a comment. It’s a lot of fun to read about each other’s traditions and family recipes and pictures.
These days our holiday schedule is much more lax than in years past and revolve around the USPS final day to ship or mail schedule. My shopping is done on weekdays in the middle of the day and well before the actual day. This requires quite a bit of thought process to make my lists and not forget any items, but I’ve found over the years that I REALLY enjoy the holiday so much more when I stick to this type of schedule and avoid crowds all together.
Being in a small town helps quite a bit to maintain this type schedule. I even went out on BLACK Friday, but not until after 10AM purely by “accident and necessity” after having to cancel our Thanksgiving trip. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised by how kind and orderly people were as well how much shopping I accomplished with the sales. I also did my part on Saturday by shopping at my local gift shop run by the sweetest little old ladies for SHOP SMALL SHOP LOCAL SATURDAY. 😀
THIS is the question we ask ourselves EVERY year, How many lights do we need for the tree? This year we decided to investigate this weary question and buy ALL new LED lights.
Incandescent lights have been the household standard for years. They’re inexpensive and come in a variety of styles and colors.
LED (light-emitting diode) lights give off brilliant white light and feature bulb covers in various shapes and colors. LED string lights cost more than incandescent string lights, but they’re 85% more energy-efficient and can last up to 40 holiday seasons. Plus, they don’t produce heat like incandescent bulbs, so they remain cool to the touch.
White lights draw attention to the ornaments on your tree and provide a classic, elegant look to your tree.
Colored lights create a festive look and conjure memories of childhood. Try colored lights for a throwback look.
How many strands of lights do I need? We found some great ones that offer the ability to switch between white, colored, solid and flashing lights. We will see after the tree is up, but I have HIGH hopes in these new lights.
A good rule of thumb is to use 100 lights for every foot-and-a-half of tree. BUT, if you love lights, you may want to double or even triple that amount. Use the chart below for the recommended number of lights for fresh-cut trees.
BLOGMAS 2019 is coming around the bend 😀 Won’t you join me? This is all for fun and NOT meant to create ANY added stress. I do many of the posts ahead of time and have them scheduled to post as appropriate.
Christmas is right around the corner so I thought I’d share one of my favorite holiday recipes. My great aunt who I only got to see a couple times a year used to make these every year special for me and I would wait out on the front steps for her arrive just to see them and know they were there. She always made them soooooooooo pretty and perfect! They are delicious and they are a quick, easy, no bake treat and they’re so pretty to add to the cookie & candy tray selections. CORN FLAKE HOLLY WREATHS
(these are better when they are made a few days ahead)
30 large marshmallows (or 3 cups mini marshmallows or 1 jar marshmallow cream)
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon green food color
3 1/2-4 cups cornflakes
Red Hots or sprinkles for decorating
Combine marshmallows, butter, vanilla and food color in top of double boiler.
Heat and stir frequently until well blended.
Gradually stir in cornflakes until well blended.
Drop onto wax paper and arrange into wreath shapes. I plop them onto the wax paper and then push out from the center to form the wreaths.
Decorate with red hots.
Let cool.
If your house is warm – chill in refrigerator until set.
Just a little trivia: From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote the 12 days of Christmas carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
Seven swans a-swimming represented the seven fold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone – and, remember, the Twelve Days of Christmas are the 12 days following December 25th. The Christmas Season runs until Epiphany, January 6.
THE HOLIDAY SEASON… Usually the holiday season is an endless list of tasks and errands. Christmas Eve was usually at our house and then Christmas Day many times too. The last several years though the holiday season has been quiet, many times too quiet.
Personally, I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I’m a list writer and as a Virgo usually have my presents bought early and the Christmas cards ready to mail by Thanksgiving, many times they are even hand made. Having all this done and ready usually made it possible for me to go to the malls, get a nice cup of coffee and just watch other people hustle and bustle. Then I would go home and cook and bake and then bake some more!
I learned much of this from my folks. My folks would have the majority of their shopping done before Thanksgiving and then because of their hectic schedules dad would sit me down with all the gifts, a card table, wrapping paper, tape, bows and tags on the day after Thanksgiving and that was where I would spend the Thanksgiving weekend watching football and Christmas movies, eating leftover turkey sandwiches and wrapping gifts. When the gifts were done, I would start on the Christmas cards. Now this wasn’t an abuse of any child labor laws, it was how I earned a chunk of money for my own Christmas shopping. And dad was a generous employer.
Christmas Eve was spent at our house with the immediate extended family – grams and gramps, aunts, uncles and cousins and many times neighbors too. We would do a big buffet and then open all our gifts to each other and have a party.
We’d go to sleep happy and sated while waiting for Santa and then start Christmas day with stockings and brunch. By afternoon the turkey and ham were smelling great and we were ready to start all over. Oh it was the same bunch of people, but we would add a great aunt and uncle. Remember me telling you about Looney Louise? 😀 LOL we didn’t call her looney to her face, but it is what made her such fun mainly because she made us her cornflake wreaths with red hots and fudge! All of us cousins would sit on the front porch waiting for her and Uncle Herb to arrive and for our wreaths of course! It wouldn’t have been Christmas without them!
Looney Louise MANY MANY years before she made us our wreaths!
As always I’m looking forward to the next holiday season just after this one ends, but knowing that the next one will be spent around family makes it already more special.
It’s Christmas Eve and Santa Claus is coming to town tonight. If you have kids, or are just a big kid at heart, you can track Santa’s progress as he travels around the world on NORAD.
Merry Christmas everyone!
May Christmas bring you joy, happiness and everything else you deserve!
Before I start this post, let me just say THESE TREES ARE JUST WRONG!!
And I love how a neighboring town always does their tree right in the middle of main street. Carlie and Cady thought it was pretty neat.
Now on to our trees and decorations.How I decorate each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, etc… so it will never be the same twice!
We PREFER real trees, but last year we decided with the remodel and my surgery that we would break down and buy an artificial tree. SHHH don’t tell hubby, but I really love this tree.
This year we have a real tree again and while it smells real I’m missing the artificial tree. We’ve reached a compromise for next year – artificial tree with real wreaths and garlands. 😀
This is my Snowman Family arranged from 2 different years. We made candle yule logs for Advent craft night at church one year and they were a HUGE success and soooooooo easy to do. The decorations below are a few of my newer favorites. My cousin that passed away in 2014 made this ornament for me. From now it will always be hung by my shooting stars in her honor even though I’m still mad at her for leaving the mess called A HOUSE FROM HELL for me to deal with. And our handmade ornament by Design Chick Creations.
This category has changed a lot over the years for me as I got older.
My family traditions as a kid were of a BIG Christmas eve open and that carried on through college, but as we (cousins) all got older and began getting married with families of our own, our grandparents passed on, blended families (with their own traditions) were formed, etc… getting together for both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day became harder and harder to do.
Eventually Christmas eve became a much smaller event for immediate family for a small dinner and to open our gifts to each other. Christmas morning was for being at our respective home with kids opening presents and then the larger family get together much later on Christmas day for dinner at just one place, usually my mom and dad’s house which became our house after my dad passed away.
When does your family open their presents?