Organized Christmas

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Today, we share the secret for simplifying holiday baking chores: developing a "specialty". A simple strategy to streamline the holiday cook-a-thon, a baking specialty saves time and tears in the holiday kitchen. I'll share mine, too!

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Scratchy clothes, a long meal and aunties who want to kiss you: Thanksgiving Day can be tough on kids.

Keep the peace with these age-appropriate activities to keep kids entertained and happy, from RDLiving.com:

Entertaining the Kids on Turkey Day

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Holiday baking. For many of us, kitchen creations are integral to the holiday spirit. We love the feeling of family connection as we tuck pie crust into grandmother's pie dish, or when we follow a candy recipe written in a great-grandmother's spidery hand.

But when is enough enough? Under the influence of Christmas magazines and You-Know-Which Domestic Dominatrix, grandmother Mim's simple plate of pralines has exploded into six kinds of cookies, four kinds of candies and some powdered cocoa mix for good measure. Like other areas of holiday prep, expectations for holiday baking have exploded in the last generation or two--and just when we're struggling with increasing time pressure and stricter diets.

Holiday baking should be a pleasure, not a chore. Think smaller and simpler when planning holiday baking. Double up on drop cookies, and forget the tedious rolled-and-cut out creations. Opt for no-cook candies instead of hard-to-beat fudge. Replace elaborate cookie trays with mini-loaves of tea bread, or go whole hog and buy your Christmas goodies from your local baker.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Time to plan holiday meals! Today's the day we break out our printable holiday meal planner forms, and organize those big dinners and festive brunches.

Thanksgiving is a few days away; it's time to sort out holiday menu plans. On our free printable holiday menu planner or a fresh sheet of paper, list each holiday meal that will take place in your home.

Thanksgiving Day? Christmas Eve? Christmas Day? New Years? Give each at-home meal a good hunk of space on the page for menu planning.

Next, list those meals that you will take away from home. Christmas Breakfast at Grandma's? Holiday pot-luck at church? If you'll need to bring a dish, note it down. Leave a smaller space between each away-from-home meal.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

The tastes of the season: they're unforgettable! What special holiday flavors help you find the holiday spirit, even in November?

The tangy sparkle of cream of tartar and crushed candy canes in Candy Cane Cookies. Mom's cornbread dressing, redolent with sage and onion. The sheer decadence of chocolate and whipped cream in my favorite Christmas dessert, Buche de Noel.

Think of the unique flavors most strongly associated with this time of year. Cranberries and pumpkins. Turkey and savory stuffing. Gingerbread men.

Who needs motivation when we have the sense of taste? Holiday cooking chores turn to sheer sensual pleasure when you consider the flavors of the holidays!

The secret to dinner-hour organization during the holiday season? A well-stocked, organized freezer! Today's the day to clean out the freezer in anticipation of holiday goodies and freezer meals to come. Add a free printable Freezer Inventory Form, and you'll sail through holiday cooking chores.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Sure, you love the holiday season--but just not so much of it! This year, it's time to simplify your holidays and celebrate the season.

Question is, just how do you do less--and enjoy it more--during the Christmas holiday season?

If you're aiming to simplify Christmas, take time to ponder ways to cut stress, save money and tame over-the-top traditions. Setting simplicity strategies in place now will keep you from being swept up in next month's holiday madness.

Get armed! Try these ten simple strategies to calm holiday chaos and rein in the seasonal overkill this year:

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Thanksgiving Day is on the way ... will you be ready?

Find a pretty bit of planning help with this free printable Thanksgiving planner from Web site Whaddya Lookin' At?

With menu planner and shopping lists, recipe cards and seating chart, these printable pages would be a nice addition to the Christmas planner or household notebook.

Editing to add: Well, kids, it looks like these folks got too popular and ran out of bandwidth. At this writing (November 19, 2009), this printable is unavailable.

And that cover! Oh, so pretty! In .PDF format:

Free Thanksgiving Planner

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Brace yourselves! Holiday cooking season is upon us. From now until January, busy kitchens are the norm, like it or not. What better time for a quick refrigerator declutter?

Right now, today, and absolutely before you shop for the holiday, tackle the refrigerator, top to bottom. Starting on the top shelf, remove all leftovers, past-the-shelf-date foods, shriveled fruits and drooping vegetables.

Take a hard look at what's left. A jar of pickle spears holding one leaning pickle? A bottle of barbeque sauce with one scanty inch in the bottom? A down-to-the-last scrape mayonnaise jar? Lay down the law: eat them today, or toss them NOW.

Goal: make room for holiday cooking. Just like our waistbands, our refrigerators overflow during this time of year. Get a step ahead and declutter that refrigerator before you shop!

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

"Frugal" holiday meals? Something of a conundrum, isn't it? The very nature of holiday meals is to express the value of abundance.

Finances, on the other hand, have definite limits--and never so much as during the Christmas holidays. Consider these tips to serve up a holiday meal without breaking the bank:

Know your portions

There's nothing like a giant, gleaming turkey at the head of that Thanksgiving table to warm holiday hearts. The economic downside to that big bird? Waste! Most of us know the shame of tossing several pounds of dried-out drumsticks and crumbled white meat a week after the feast is over.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

With Thanksgiving Day coming soon in the USA, there's no better time to organize holiday meals, menus and baking. Welcome to Get Cooking week!

It's all things food at the Countdown this week. Tighten your corsets! We're going to Get Cooking ... for the most delicious holiday season ever!

This week in the Christmas Countdown, we'll explore frugal strategies for holiday meals, plan family dinners, clean out our freezers and get the goods on those sneaky Grocery Guys.

Get Cooking Week Assignments

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America celebrates Thanksgiving next Thursday, gathering family and friends around the dining table. This week in the Houseworks Holiday Plan, we'll see to it that the celebration takes place in a clean and organized dining area.

Holiday prep chores observe the holiday, together with the traditional Black Friday sales. We'll prepare for the holiday meal, celebrate Thanksgiving, then shop! Finally, this is the week we plan holiday entertaining, so put on a festive mood as we follow the Houseworks Holiday Plan.

Dining Space Week Assignments

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Cooler weather makes it easy to check and organize the attic and storage areas during Week Twelve, Attic Week. We continue to move toward Thanksgiving in holiday prep. Are you working on holiday gifts?

Ready? Let's get organized with Attic Week in the Holiday Grand Plan!

Attic / Storage Week at the Holiday Grand Plan

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Have you shared your blessings with a Blessings Mix?

Small bags of snack mix with a seasonal theme, each ingredient in Blessings Mix reminds us of our blessings.

Inexpensive and easy to make, holiday Blessings Mix gifts have graced dinner tables, classrooms and offices the world around.

Use them as table favors, workplace gifts or party treats at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or to celebrate American holidays such as Independence Day or Veterans Day--and bring home the values that underlie each occasion.

Follow our tutorial to make this easy craft gift:

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Ready to set a pretty Thanksgiving table ... on the cheap? You'll need to have a fairly recent copy of Microsoft Word, but if you do, check out this bonanza of free Thanksgiving printables from Microsoft!

From greeting cards to party invitations, dinner menus to recipe cards, you'll find a bonanza of quick templates to spark your holiday celebration.

Thankgiving Printables for Microsoft Word

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Is giving only about "stuff"--or is it a reflection of the heart? Plan to make a gift of yourself this holiday season.

This week in the Christmas Countdown, we've focused on gifts and giving--and 99% of the time, we've seen this effort in terms of "things." Stuff. Boxes and parcels and bags. Stocking stuffers. But have we considered making a true gift: a gift of ourselves?

In the days to come, we'll begin planning the American Thanksgiving holiday. Will we also begin to ponder those things for which we are thankful? Out of gratitude comes grace, and from abundance comes true giving.

Challenge yourself and your family to make a difference, this holiday season and beyond--to make a true gift of yourselves. Teach someone a new skill. Tackle a service project as a family. Visit an assisted living center, or take part in a church ministry.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Set a pretty holiday table, or share with friends with these small Thanksgiving favors!

Easy to make and fun to eat, Thankgiving Blessing Mix is a simple snack mix favor to remind us of our nation's blessings.

Bagged in favor-sized gift bags and decorated with a harvest poem, Thankstiving Blessings Mix brings a festive touch to your Thanksgiving table.

We make it easy to create Thanksgiving Blessing Mix with free printable gift tags or bag toppers.

Ingredients:

2 cups Bugles brand corn snacks
2 cups small pretzels
1 cup candy corn
1 cup dried fruit bits or raisins
1 cup peanuts or sunflower seeds
1 cup M&Ms-brand chocolate candy
16 Hershey's-brand chocolate kisses
free printable blessing mix gift tags or bag toppers.

Directions:

In a large bowl, gently mix all ingredients except Hershey's Kisses.

Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup Thanksgiving Blessing Mix in small cellophane treat bags. Add one Hershey's Kiss to each bag. Close bag with chenille stem or twist-tie.

Print 4 copies of the Thanksgiving Blessings Mix printable gift tag or or bag toppers, or hand-write your own tags with the wording below.

Cut out tags, and attach one to each bag.

Makes 16 Blessing Mix gift bags.

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Nearly half-way there: time to do a little status check on the progress of the Christmas Countdown. I hope that most of us feel a bit more prepared, a bit better organized. We've met together for three weeks, and we've covered a lot of ground.

Still, it's natural to feel a bit of panic today. From here on out, time will fly with a vengeance. Rehearsals, parties, holiday activities will rain down upon us.

During the next three weeks, the Countdown slows the pace to match the season. Because we're doing more in other areas of our life, the Countdown will lighten the load.

Ahead lies Get Cooking Week, appropriately so as we begin to prepare for Thanksgiving. Beyond that, we Decorate, then prepare to Celebrate.

Get ready to settle into a slower rhythm! Because ready or not, the holidays are nearly here. This year, though, we are riding high and in control ... organized for the best holiday season ever!

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No doubt about it: a freezer can create a Christmas kitchen magician in the twinkling of a snowflake. Stockpiled side dishes, baked goods, kitchen gifts and holiday meals buy precious time in the holiday kitchen ... if you know what you have!

Keep track of freezer contents to stay on-track for happy holidays. A simple freezer inventory form means you'll know at a glance what's hidden in Moby's cold innards. Print one today, to organize your frozen assets:

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By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Ask any wife and mother what she needs most during the holiday season, and she'll tell you, "More time!"

Yet this same busy lady will fill her Christmas gift list with elaborate hand-crafted gifts, requiring substantial outlays of cash, time and skill.

Result? She careens into mid-December either (1) working nightly until 1 a.m. to finish the lot or (2) substituting hurry-up last minute purchases for the unfinished gifts.

How to take charge of out-of-control crafting? Apply the Rule of Four!

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Looking to keep the jingle in the holiday season this year, but still celebrate with style? Try these tips from ParentDish.com to prune holiday expenses while keeping the joy.

We love this one:

Discover holiday magic. Think of low-cost ways to celebrate. Let your children sleep under the Christmas tree. On a snowy evening, fill a thermos with hot cocoa, bundle up and take a walk to look at decorations around the neighborhood. If it's too cold to head outside, make a CD of your family's favorite holiday music or find a low-cost arts-and-crafts project that will keep your kids busy for hours.

Sound familiar? That's because our own Organized Christmas editor, Cynthia Ewer, was among the experts interviewed for the story. Check it out:

Trim the Tree, Trim Your Budget

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