Monday, June 30, 2008

And, we're off!

Today is the start of Magical Holiday Home's Christmas in July, or what I'm calling 31 Days of Rudolph!! That means I have 31 days to prepare for Christmas. My list of plans are posted below, in case you missed it!

Today is calendar day. I'll spend some time working on plans for December-making notes of special dates, scheduling pictures, etc and also planning a few parties! I love to party!!

Additionally, this month I hope to be able to post every day, at least a short post. The boys are on board with this--well, the little ones are, anyway! I hope to post a few decorating and party tips and hints, some menu and recipe ideas and just spread general Christmas cheer! Don't forget to click on the blog ring links on the sidebar-you'll find a wealth of info on these Christmas crazies blogs! So nice to be in good company!! Also, Ginger has all kinds of cool things going on over at MHH! Check it out!!

Today's tips come from the 2004 edition of the ezine, Celebrating Christmas. If you haven't discovered this little gem, check it out!! It is chock full of tips, ideas and recipes and they even have an archive for earlier issues. I have downloaded each and printed them out for my files, and I always save it on a flash drive to have for reference on the computer.

Here's some ideas from an article entitled 101 Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas: (My notes are in parenthesis.

*While you are baking for your family, bake a few extra cakes to use as gifts. Round and square shaped cakes never go out of style, but if you're baking for kids, considering investing in some fun shaped pans. (My Mom made pound cakes for gifts one year, and presented them in stockings-how cute is that?)

*Quick breads are easy to make and are also popular Christmas gifts. (Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap them again in either plastic or cellophane and tie each end with a curling ribbon to make it look like a big candy piece-Festive!!)

*Fudge is another quick and easy thing to make. (I have a great fudge recipe that I'll post later. It's fun to make it and pour it into large cookie cutters-lay the cutter on a piece of waxed paper and pour the fudge into it. Let it cool, then wrap the candy filled cutter in plastic wrap and tie it all up with curling ribbon.)

*Decorate a diary or notebook with any form of art that you are good at-scrapbook, photos, whatever-and present as a journal. (Check out the printable journal prompts and create a journal jar to go with your gift at Organized Christmas. Just go to the printables menu on the sidebar, click and print! )

Maybe that will get the old creative juices flowing!! More to follow!

Merry, Merry!
Cathy

1 comment:

  1. I do the quick breads and diaries as gifts. I get lots of thank yous for the quick bread.

    I am going to do a daily post (M-F) as well. Yeah for Christmas in July!!

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

I love to cook, decorate, entertain and plan the holidays. I'm wife to one handsome man and mom to three handsome boys, I love God, my family and my country. I'm the one at the small town parade waving the American flag!! Almost all the holidays are celebrated at our house, and we like it that way!!