EVEN MORE CHRISTMAS TIPS

FIND NEW WAYS TO USE YOUR PASTRY

AND BISCUIT CUTTERS

Make fancy Christmas shaped pancakes with metal pastry

cutters. It’s festive, and you probably already own them!

ORDER THINGS ONLINE

Christmas Eve maybe a bit late for this year but keep

it in mind for next year.  This might seem obvious,

but it expands beyond ordering gifts on Amazon.com

to even your groceries or common items. Most stores allow

you to purchase items (only non-perishable) for pick up,

so instead of a 20 minute schlepp through the store

filled with people, you just walk to customer services,

grab your goods and go home. Retailers want to

do the work for you, so let them.

IF YOU HAVE PETS OR SMALL CHILDREN,

ANCHOR YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE TO THE WALL

It’s safer and saves the possible frustration of having

to clean up an entire Christmas tree.

GET HELP FROM PHOTOS

This is more of an all the time tip, but particularly with

parties/baking/cooking around the holidays, take a picture

of your fridge and cabinet before you leave for the store.

Don’t know if you’re almost out of X or if you bought

a box two days ago? Check the picture.

DON'T SAY YES TO EVERYTHING

Be picky about what you volunteer to do so you can make

time for what’s most important to you and still be flexible

if needed.

REMOVE SOME PACKAGING

If you’re wrapping gifts for your own child/children, go ahead

and remove the frustrating packaging before wrapping

the gift. They won’t care, and there won’t be the

frustration of a hyper child waiting for mommy and

daddy to get the thing out of the box.

USE PAPER PLATES

Get the fancy ones if you wish, but if you’re hosting a Holiday

meal, just…use paper plates. You know who says, “I look

forward to doing the dishes after dinner!” No one, that’s who.

GOOD ENOUGH IS GREAT

If you’re the kind of person who wants to hand decorate

a dozen cakes for everyone you know, decorate the

house magazine perfect, cook holiday meals from

scratch, AND you work and/or have children, lower

your expectations a little. The holidays are about

people, and people, the people you love, will enjoy

holidays with a less stressed out you. Be in the

moment, enjoy the moment.