Oh Besties, Thanksgiving is next week and that means we are so close to the Best time of year. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I cannot wait for the holidays this year and to get you ready, Holly and I are hosting our monthly linkup. We have a host of candy cane wrapped questions for our writer friends to answer and this will help you kick off the holiday.
Grab a peppermint mocha, a soft blanket and join us for Monthly Musings Holiday Prep edition!
1. Favorite Holiday Traditions
I love buying our tree. We have purchased our tree from a church around the corner for over a decade. They have really Good trees and we usually try to get our tree when one of our friends is there.
We also adopt a nun from the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore. We purchase gifts for our nun and those are typically the only gifts she receives at Christmas. Usually their lists are very simple and really makes you think about the meaning of Christmas. We are excited that the brunch we share with them is back on in person. This is one of Running Daddy's favorite holiday events.
In the Good, Better, Best household we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. I love all of the holidays and especially the story of Hanukkah.
3. How Early Do You Shop?
I have definitely already bought a few gifts already and started my gift list for people but I would not say that I shop super early. I do try to do as much as possible the weekend after Thanksgiving. I have gifts that need to be shipped so I try to get those gifts purchased and ready to go on the early side.
4. When Do You Decorate?
We do not start decorating until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Our village may go up this weekend, but there is a reason for that which I may share later. I like to keep all of my fall decorations up for Thanksgiving and then move into Christmas. I am not against anyone putting up their tree and decorations before Thanksgiving but it's just not for me.
5. Do You Host Any Holiday Festivities?
We actually do not host anything formally. We host Easter at our house. I do think I would like to do something informally with my girlfriends this year.
6. Favorite Holiday Meals or Recipes to Share?
In addition to my cornbread, sausage and chestnut dressing that I typically make for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have really Good cocktail meatballs that I make. The secret is that you use cranberry sauce instead of grape jelly. It's actually an Ocean Spray recipe and so easy.
Photo Credit: oceanspray.com
These meatballs have a little tang due to the cranberry instead of the sweetness of the grape jelly. They are always super popular with the guys at parties and it got to the point where my friend and I had to make three crockpots of them and they were still gone in 15 minutes. I always use the frozen gluten-free meatballs from Wegman's.
7. Best Holiday Organization Tips
I use an app for all of my gift lists and it is really helpful. You can put in all of your gift ideas for people, budgets, if you have purchased these items and if they are wrapped. I think I have been using this app for about five years and it is great.
The other thing that I do to help myself during the holiday season is I hire an elf. I know I have mentioned this before but I hire a high school friend to wrap for me. Wrapping is not my thing. I find it boring and I am not Good at it. My elf loves to wrap and she does a beautiful job. It's the Best money I spend during the holiday season.
Knowing that I need to get my gifts over to my elf also forces me to finish up my shopping early. I need to give her time to wrap and then ship anything that needs to be shipped.
8. Gift Wrapping? Love It or Hate it?
Well, considering I hire someone else to do it...I fall in the hate it category.
9. Holiday Coffee Drink? Yes Please or Hard Pass?
I love a peppermint mocha but I am pretty specific about my order. I only like two pumps of syrup, skim, no whip. I haven't had one this season but much like a pumpkin spice latte, I know the day to have the first peppermint mocha when I feel it.
10. Are You a Holiday Baker? Recipes to Share?
I am not much of a baker but I did make these cake balls with gluten-free Peppermint Joe Joe's from Trader Trades that my friend's mom made me and they were a total hit. They are so Good that when brought home the Peppermint Joe Joe's, Hockey Guy asked me last night when I was making these. Soon! I will post the recipe soon and credit my friend's mom. Stay tuned!
I hope this post brings you a little pre-holiday Joy and helps you organize your holiday prep. Make sure you visit the sites below to find out more holiday prep tips. These ladies below are so great.
I would have loved that wrapping job when I was in high school! What a fun idea. We decorate after Thanksgiving too; I might not care about decorating sooner if we didn't host but we do and I just feel like my decor needs to focus on fall and Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI love thanksgiving. Hubby has a hardfast rule against Christmas decorations before thanksgiving. We have a tradition of going to lights. The last few years we have gone to the one at Meadowlark Botanical Garden.
ReplyDeleteI loved your memes, especially the "blind T-rex wrapping" one. That is so me!!! What a brilliant idea to hire an elf to wrap your gifts. If I didn't have Dave, I would do that! And I loved hearing about the nun you adopt. What an amazing opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting! Thanksgiving is almost here! It's lovely how it breaks up the time in the run down to Christmas, lots of celebrations in the rundown to the end of the year now! :) Sim x
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