My Word for 2013

On this first day of the new year, I have made no resolutions. That can be fun to do, but I’ve foregone that activity for the last ten years or so. This year, I decided to claim a word for the year. I got the idea from Melanie at http://www.onlyabreath.com, who not only chooses a word for herself each year but this year offered to make free one-word blog buttons for others. [NOTE: as of 2015 she is not doing this, and I haven’t found a one-word generator yet. This may have to be a DIY project for the technologically astute.]

My word for 2013 is JOY. It seems appropriate for a Christmas blog, does it not? Beyond that, so many circumstances and events can occur to steal my joy throughout the year. So, I have determined to do my best to remember that the joy of the Lord is my strength. I may need reminding now and then, but I’ll do my best not to allow anyone or any thing to steal my joy this year.

What word would you like to claim for the New Year?

Christmas Family Photo Tips

Empty box, but so pretty!

Take family photos early in the day when everyone is fresh and alert.

Shots at a festival of trees -  pose with the beautiful (and empty) packages on display. :-)

Sweatshirts are comfy, but they look bulky and sloppy in photos. The fewer who wear them for photos, the better.


Don’t make everyone pose in matching outfits—though coordinating colors is nice—and keep prints to a minimum. A photo where you see polka dots, stripes, flowers, and plaid is a photo that causes eye strain. ;-)

Coordinating or matching pajamas make a fun shot. One of my favorite family photos has my husband in a red bathrobe (over pajamas) sitting in front of the tree, while our daughter and I wore red plaid flannel gowns and our son wore plaid pajamas and settled in around him.

Do not hide behind the camera. I don't care how much you fret about your weight, hair, or aging face. You are more than your outsides. Your family loves you for who you are inside, and depriving them of family photos because of your dissatisfaction with your reflection in the mirror is selfish. That’s right, I said it! Our families, for the most part, see us through eyes of love; they don't see all the flaws that make us cringe. Look. Someday, you’ll be gone. Those photos will be a comfort to your loved ones only if you are IN them.

You can't threaten someone into looking relaxed and happy. If someone is taking a photo of kids, try jingling a bell to get their attention. If you use a timer, decide where you would like the group to look, and place a wrapped gift there. Tell the kids that once you get some good pictures, you will open the gift. Ask them if they think Frosty the Snowman's magic hat is in the box. Fill the box with something that everyone can share, like candy, snack mix, or little party trinkets.

Think about taking silly pictures first. People are often more relaxed and natural after that, so you may get a better normal shot. Of course, if you have a child who would be wound up and unable to stop being silly, save the silly pics for last, letting the child know that after you get a "good" group shot, you will take a silly shot.

Distract children who don't want their picture taken by giving them a small toy. They may not look at the camera, but they also won't pout or cry and ruin the shot.

That’s all for now! Christmas breakfast is calling my name. May you all have a warm and wonderful family Christmas.

Dealing with Difficult Relatives

I have been fortunate that, in my extended family, there are no “problem people” to make the holidays difficult. However, there was a couple in my distant past with whom I couldn’t spend a weekend without getting a sick headache that was followed by “tossing my cookies.” Fortunately, I don’t have to deal with that kind of stress anymore, but I can sympathize with those who still do. That’s why I want to share this blog post I found: 8 tips for dealing with difficult relatives during the holiday season.

My coping advice is to smile, nod, and say nothing when someone brings up a controversial topic. My nodding has less to do with agreeing than the fact that yes, I hear where you are coming from.

How do you handle difficult people during the holidays?

Easy Centerpiece Idea

I love table centerpieces, and I have an assortment to suit the changing seasons. When there are just two or three of us at the table, none of those centerpieces obstruct our view of each other, but with a large gathering, a big centerpiece can make conversation across the table difficult.  I remember one year when I hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and my brother-in-law suddenly hoisted my big autumn flower arrangement (a gift from my father’s funeral) in the air and sat it on the floor behind him! He had no interest in craning his neck to see family members around the table!

Has that ever happened to you? It’s funny now, but I was flustered and embarrassed then. You want your table to be festive, but at the same time, you want your dinner guests to feel comfortable at the table. As I was glancing through some old Christmas snow photos this morning, I realized I was looking at a creative centerpiece idea that will solve both problems for your December entertaining.

You lay a wreath in the middle of your table and pile ornaments in the center. Ta-dah! You now have a low-lying centerpiece that won’t block anyone’s view around the table. (If you still want a bit of height, add a candlestick to the center and pile the ornaments around it.)

I have a collection of wreaths in traditional greenery, grapevine, and shimmering tinsel. You can choose whatever suits your decor or personal style. Your ornaments may be elegant or fun, one color or a kaleidoscope of colors, plastic or glass. For a dinner party, you might invite guests to choose an ornament from the centerpiece to take home!

Centerpieces don’t have to be towering monuments to the Christmas spirit, and they don’t have to break your budget. Play with what you already have, visit a thrift or consignment store if you must, and enjoy an easy holiday centerpiece at every meal served at your table.

Preparation for Company, or Gift Idea -- Books on Organization

Preparation for Company, or Gift Idea? You decide!

I’m very familiar with the following three books and wrote about them on another blog. For my Christmas blog, I am proposing that you might consider one of these as either a way to help you prepare for Christmas (just 3 weeks away) or as a gift for a practical friend or family member who has talked about needing help/motivation to get organized. (This would not be the gift to give to someone looking for something romantic under the tree! Also, I don’t advise you to use a tool like one of these books as a hint that someone’s organizational skills don’t meet your expectations. That plan could backfire in a horrible way!)

Organizing from the Heart: Change Your Mindset, Conquer Your Challenges by Baker, Beutler, and Whisnant

Total Home Makeover: Renewing Your Space & Spirit by Renee Metzler

Declutter Now! Uncovering the Hidden Joy and Freedom in Your Life by Lindon and Sherry Gareis 

Each book has a different way of presenting the material, so readers can choose from among them which style best suits them. (If you believe that reading about organization will prevent you from starting, choose a book with worksheets or charts and daily goals. Those might provide the motivation you lack.)

Organizing from the Heart is the shortest book at 119 pages. (It can be purchased for download if you are in a hurry to use it yourself!) It offers a fun organizing personality quiz; short chapters that include a small amount of story in addition to introducing a concept linked to Scripture and a reflection, action, and inspiration; space for journaling, and a leader’s guide in the appendix for use in small groups if desired (with 12 chapters, the book lends itself to use in a quarterly study). The authors suggest that getting organized can be an act of worship—an intriguing idea. If you like variety, you will enjoy this book. You can check it out at their blog: http://www.organizinghope.blogspot.com.

Total Home Makeover is 222 pages long and offers a 20-day planner with a short daily devotional and space for journaling, followed by coaching sessions, to-do’s, anecdotes, worksheets, and ideas for rewarding ourselves each week for following the plan. The purpose of this book is to transform you, your family, and your home. If you like charts and worksheets, this book is for you! You can check it out at http://totalhomemakeover.com.

At 248 pages, Declutter Now! is the longest and perhaps most intensive book. The authors are certified Christian life coaches. Not only do they discuss decluttering your home but also your heart, mind, body, and soul. There are no charts or worksheets; if you prefer to read without the pressure of journaling or filling out worksheets and charts, you’ll want to get this book. You can check it out at http://actionplanministries.com/declutter-now.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am an editor at Ambassador International, the company that published two of these three books. Of those two, I was the editor for one. The third book, I edited freelance. No one asked me to review these books. I only recommend books that I have personally read and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

5 Steps to Declutter Christmas! | Action Plan Minstries

Yours Truly as a Fairy Godmother
(many years ago)

5 Steps to Declutter Christmas! | Action Plan Minstries

I want to share the above blog with you (click on the green title); it offers  excellent advice to help you get ready for the fast-approaching holidays! (Especially if you don’t have a fairy godmother or your own magic wand ...)

Success, Again! The Christmas Pinterest Challenge

Before I move on to other Christmas topics in the coming days and weeks, I want to take a moment to crow about my latest success. *grins*

I had a recipe for Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Biscuit Muffins pinned to my Pinterest board. My daughter and I made these for breakfast yesterday and fell in love! They are so easy and so good! We substituted vanilla soymilk for the milk, and they turned out fine. I didn't notice a difference at all!

We're going to freeze what we didn’t eat so that we can have them one busy December morning. We want to make more, as well. That recipe is definitely a keeper! It’s easier than the brunch casserole I make once a year and the ingredients are similar. If you do a search for the recipe, you’ll find  a lot of happy homemakers who have copied it. I don’t know who came up with it originally.

This week, plans are to bake and freeze some cookies. I may try a new cookie or candy recipe. I pinned a recipe for microwave divinity that looked intriguing ...

How are you coming on the Christmas Pinterest Challenge? December will be here before we know it! Don’t let it sneak up on you!

The Christmas Pinterest Challenge Results ... with Photos

Success! 

The second recipe I chose for my challenge, Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes, has to be the best thing I ever baked! And I will most definitely be baking and freezing more, which I will thaw, finish, and serve during the Christmas holidays.

Having favored quick mixes over scratch baking for years, I had forgotten how scrumptious cakes made from scratch can be. These chocolate with cola cupcakes came out of the oven with rounded tops that stayed rounded. I ate one plain and was delighted with the texture and flavor.

A day or so later, I removed the centers and added cherry pie filling, followed by a powdered sugar-and-cola glaze. Then, of course, I ate one. Wow, so very good!

The next day, I beat heavy cream and powdered sugar together and then piped it onto the cupcakes. I have never in my life made frosting like that, and I was a little bit scared that it would be a flop. I usually just get my frosting in a can. Oh my, it was so good! I added a maraschino cherry on top of two cupcakes. My daughter and I each ate a cupcake and were very excited. Then I put the rest of the frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator to see how long the frosting would stay good.

I thought perhaps the frosting would “melt” down the sides after sitting for a while, but five days later, when we polished off the last of the cupcakes, it still looked and tasted fresh! So now I know that I can prepared these cupcakes in advance of a party and not worry about something going wrong. And that’s the purpose of experimenting year round—or at least a couple of months early.

The most time-consuming part of this dessert is mixing and baking it. So that is what I will do again soon and then freeze. Then, a few days before the party I’m planning, I will thaw them out, fill them with cherries, glaze, and frost them.

Now, as for the other part of the challenge. I didn’t quite make it. This time, my plan to do a craft with my daughter was run off course by a fender-bender that she had with my car. Instead of a fun evening, I had to calm her down, talk her through what she was supposed to do (which meant I had to look it up), call my insurance company, find a ride to the scene of the accident, and so forth. The process still isn’t over.

Life happens, every day. Plans get thwarted. That’s another reason for preparing early! Christmas is less than two months away. Even though I haven’t been able to make the decorations as planned, I still have time. I still have time to make and freeze cupcakes and cookies. I have time to experiment with a few more recipes. I am in the middle of planning a Christmas mystery party. I will be prepared for December before it arrives. And then, if an illness or accident or something else unforeseen happens, it won’t throw me into a tailspin. I will be ready, not rushed.  All because I planned ahead!

How are your plans coming?

Update on the Christmas Pinterest Challenge

Have you taken the challenge? Care to share the results?

As for me, my weekend plans ended up keeping me away from home and the challenge, for the most part. I went to the store and got the ingredients I didn’t already have so that I could bake the cherry coke float cupcakes but ran out of time to make them, so I switched plans and went for a crockpot recipe of potatoes with bacon and cheese. It seemed like a no-fail recipe since I love potatoes AND bacon AND cheese, but in the end, I was not impressed with the results. My daughter liked it well enough, so we’ll eat the leftovers, and I may try it again sometime and see if I can do better, but not for Christmas.

My daughter has the next two days off work, so we are going to devote some time to the Pinterest challenge, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

As for my weekend busyness, here’s what happened: Friday, I had to take my car to the shop because it was skipping badly. While it was being worked on, my daughter and I walked downtown and had lunch, wandered around and took pictures, stopped for dessert, and walked some more. We ended up walking more than two miles!

Saturday we both worked. Then I made a batch of chili and took it to a friend’s house for a chili cookoff. I had never entered a cookoff before. I tied for 3rd place and was awarded with a small chili-shaped dish. That was fun! The best fun was tasting all the different chilis. I loves me some chili!

Sunday after church and lunch, we traveled to a popular cornfield maze and enjoyed wandering lost among the corn stalks, talking about growing our own maze out of sunflowers. Wouldn’t that be pretty? Anyway, when we got home, I had to get some paywork done.

So, this week I plan to continue the challenge and do better. I can’t wait to try a cherry coke float cupcake! That recipe had better not let me down! I’ll post a photo of it and of the craft I end up making. (I have a bag of pinecones begging to be made into a window decoration...)

If you haven’t tried the challenge yet, it’s not too late! Simply pick a recipe and a craft or activity that you pinned to your Pinterest boards and do it! You have a week. What are you waiting for?

You really should check this out!

While not exactly related to Christmas, this link will take you to a blog interview about me: Brenda's Interview. So, it’s about the person who blogs about Christmas All Year Long. :-)  My new friend Toi Thomas is responsible for the fun, so check it out! Get to know some fun facts about me and why I blog about preparing for Christmas! Consider it my early Christmas gift to you. ;-)  Teehee