Christmas Guide

The Christmas Guide

The holidays are so much fun. It is also a lot of work. Here are some ways to get through them. Decorations:

Decorating is always enjoyable. Last year I made it easy. I made a Christmas corner. It had a winter scenery plate on a stand I bought from Avon. I covered the table with the Christmas cards all around the plate as they came in. That's how I decorated my home. My husband and I live in a small home, so there’s not a lot of room. That saved us money.

Food /Meals

The dinners are a lot of work. You can do appetizers, to hold people over, and out of the kitchen. Popular options veggies, or chip, and dip, and shrimp. Christmas Eve most people have Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes , sweet potatoes, squash , basically a Thanksgiving dinner. So to recap you get Bob Evens for the mashed and sweet potatoes. Some grocery stores have sides already premade. Makes cooking easier on you. If you're transporting gravy use a thermos, to keep it warm. Then Christmas Day we had ham in morning. We had a kind of brunch with scrambled eggs ,bacon, home fries and more. Then it was time to relax and eat leftovers. I usually get a fruit platter for Christmas morning.

Your desert could be pie, cheese cake, cookies, or brownies, with coffee. Some go to restaurants which can be nice and relaxing

Gifts/Presents

Some gifts are hard to find. To avoid the malls, and long lines at the checkout, you can place orders online. If you need something from a specific store, you can go to their website and have it delivered. Usborne Books and More has great children books and activities and is great for the whole family. The books are not sold in any store, and only available on Usborne website https://usborne.com/us/. For makeup and beauty, or fashion things, Avon is a great company to shop at. Then you can buy multiple items , depending on somebody's personality . Then you can make your own gift bags for somebody. Making gift bags is a better option than bending over and trying to wrap presents. Pajamas are always a great gift. They, also, sell them on Avon’s website https://www.avon.com . Then ordering from the famous amazon. You could buy two turtle doves. You keep 1 and give the other to a very special person. Turtle doves means love and friendship. I left one on my mom's grave for the holiday season. My mom was my best friend. I'm thinking of giving one to my sister.

Activities:

When you have family and friends over for a holiday gathering, you’ll want everyone to have a good time. You can see if the kids, or anyone, is interested in making a gingerbread house or a gingerbread village. You can make the activity more fun by turning it into a contest with prizes. Have kids decorate wooden ornaments with markers. Then they can hang them on the Christmas Tree. Have a selection of board games available. Another good way to get the family together is for a movie time.

We owned a pool table. My brothers held a big tournament with the family. Four of us have a Santa bowl. The Santa bowl is like a little fantasy football game they played. Two on two. My mom baked goods and wanted me to deliver them to neighbors that lived nearby. I made a craft box. My nieces and nephew loved being in my room. They loved creating arts and crafts. Their favorite was creating Duct Tape activities. I think they liked to play with my snowglobe collection. Everyone will have a good time with all entertainment supplied.

Christmas is a magical time. The holiday made me excited. I always couldn't wait till my family came home. I have a large family, but it started to expand as time went on.

By:Kelly Vedder