Holiday Preparations

I love this time of year.  Normally, I’m seeing beautiful trees painted in glorious colors.  As the air gets cooler, we know it’s time to head to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.

This year is a little different.  We’re not watching the fall colors.  We’re not picking pumpkins or apples.  Instead, we’re watching citrus fruit being harvested.  In fact, D brought me home a huge bag of grapefruit just this week.  It’s all a little odd for someone from the East Coast that is use to regular seasons.

Even though things are different than years past, we are still having fun getting ready for the holidays.  In October, we put up our fall decorations.  I look for decorations after Halloween to add to our decoration stash.  Sometimes, we’ll use them right after I purchase them, but other times I’ll set them aside for the next year.

Places like JoAnns and Michaels will clearance out the fall decorations at 70% off right after Halloween (sometimes before).  They are getting ready for Christmas, so you can get some really great deals.  Target and Walmart will start their clearances after Halloween, but not all fall items will be on sale.  You just have to keep an eye on things.  This is also a great time to stock up on paper plates, napkins, and paper towels as long as you don’t mind various patterns.

When November hits, we pull out the Thanksgiving decorations to add to our fall theme decorations.  Turkeys join our pumpkins, leaves, and scarecrows.  I also start to plan what I want to do for Thanksgiving dinner.  I try to prepare as much food as possible ahead of time in order to make Thanksgiving day more relaxing.  I make things like pie, sweet potato muffins, and mashed potatoes throughout the month and freeze them until I need them.  I also like to take advantage of Thanksgiving sales to stock up on various foods.  When possible, I try to purchase an extra turkey or two to put in the freezer for use later.

By the end of November, I try to have pretty much all of my Christmas shopping done.  If we’re shipping gifts out of town, I try to have them all sent out before December.  This year, my Christmas gifts are already nicely wrapped and placed in large boxes away from prying eyes.  In the past, when I knew that I would have difficulty remembering what I had purchased, I kept a notebook with names and gifts.  If the gifts were already wrapped, I would place a small number on the gift and make note of that number next to the person’s name.

After Thanksgiving, we begin decorating for Christmas.  It’s fun to pull out the boxes as there are always some new items that I picked up on clearance after Christmas last year.  We generally begin our holiday baking early and place items in the freezer.  This allows us to have a more relaxing holiday.  Plus, we are able to just grab goodies from the freezer if we need them for different events or to use as gifts.

For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, we try to do various crafts and activities to help us keep our focus on the real meaning of these holidays — Giving Thanks and the Ultimate Gift, Jesus.

Doing food preparation ahead of time, purchasing and wrapping gifts early, scoring deals on clearance decorations, and homemade crafts and activities work for us.