Getting ready for the holidays: My top 3 tasks you can start preparing for
Typically I write about the world of renovations. This week, I’m going off-track just a bit and discussing getting ready for the holidays.
Since I am an uber organized person, it’s never too early to get ready for the holiday season. Here are my Top 3 Tasks to help you get ready.
Stocking Stuffers
How many of you do stocking stuffers? In my family, we actually don’t do stocking stuffers. Instead of a stocking on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, we do an Advent Calendar that starts on December 1st. Knowing that it starts on Dec. 1, there isn’t a whole lot of time left to prepare!
When the kids were young, each morning they would race down to the kitchen to see what the elf had left them. And yes, there were 24 elves that would visit our home (and someone tell me why on earth would we start a tradition like this?) Honestly, there were some nights where I woke up at 2 am to get that damn note into the Advent calendar!
Sometimes, the elf would leave
- A little treat to eat.
- A task for the kids to complete before the next day.
- On the rare occasion, the elf would leave a little bit of a ‘warning’ about the behaviour! And yes, that did happen in our home.
Since my kids are all adults now, the elf may not visit however there is ALWAYS a chocolate Advent Calendar.
Since I am a huge believer of giving experiences or consumable gifts, the tasks and/or activities were my favourite. Playing a board game, reading a new book, going skating, etc.
So whether you are participating in an Advent Calendar or going to be doing Stockings, here are a few of my favourite Stocking Stuffers that fall into the ‘consumable‘ or ‘experience‘ category.
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Guest Bedroom
For the first time ever, we may have guests sleep over at our home. With my sister being in Denver, it is only my parents and my family here in Calgary (on my side). The Mr. has his entire family living in Calgary so there is never a need to have a guest bedroom ready for them.
This year, we are hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Although my parents do live in Calgary, once the games get started and some holiday beverages get flowing, my parents will most likely sleep over. Who wants to drive home on Christmas Eve only to return the next morning for gifts and breakfast?
I’ve had so much fun creating our guest bedroom. And while I was pulling things together, I was conscious that I wanted to make things as comfortable as possible for my mom and dad. Those items include new gorgeous bedding and new towels.
Here are a few ideas that you could incorporate into your guest bedroom.
Food and Drink Items
Since we are hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we will be serving a lot of food and drinks.
I’ve put together a few of my favourite ‘must have’ items for this category.
Getting Ready for the Holidays
While we do not have our Christmas lights up yet (I make my family wait until at least December 1st), if you are doing any sort of hosting or any kind of Advent activities, it’s never too early to start preparing and getting organized!
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Sheri: it sounds like you are getting ready to have a great holiday with your family. I love that you are thinking about how to make your guest bedroom really comfy for your Mom and Dad. Since I am a guest in my brother and sister – in – law’s home right now, I can tell you that one thing I wish they had was a better reading light – or a clip on reading light in a drawer – in the bedroom + a warm pair of extra slippers.
Have a good weekend ahead!
The reading light and slippers are brilliant ideas!
I love your Christmas elf advent calendar idea – I can just see you up at 1 am crafting an elf note…the closest I’ve come to that is the tooth fairy notes! We did traditional advent calendars every year when my kids were here – I even sent them to them in college! And one year, when they were young we did the “12 days of Christmas” where they opened one little gift each day beginning on Christmas…which was a nice way to extend the joy and give them an opportunity to play with/appreciate each gift in turn!
How fun – the 12 Days of Christmas! And yes – I bet you can see me at 1 am (and that happened a number of times) writing the notes!
Hi Sheri! That month long Advent event must have been so much fun for your kids – but so much work for you. The original Buddy the Elf? Love all your pics for guest bedrooms and stocking stuffers!
Thank you so much, Linda. While I look back with fond memories of our Advent Calendar, there were some years that I thought it was going to be the death of me!
OMG Thanks for the reminder! I’ve been doing LEGO Advent Calendars for my grandkids the last couple of years. Now that everybody’s out of the house, maybe I’ll do a chocolate one for me. 😉
Love all of your food and drink ideas – great to get, great to give.
I know where you can get some great sour cherry liqueur.
I just wish I could order some of that sour cherry liqueur. It looks and sounds delicious!
Nice ideas here! We love games at the holidays too. I’m getting my guest rooms ready too upstairs. Definitely need a luggage rack!
Many people have commented on the luggage rack. It’s a great idea that doesn’t take up a large amount of space. 🙂
So many great ideas! I am the ultimate procrastinator so you have given me a little motivation to start preparing for Christmas today! Love the guest room tips.
Thank you so much, Lisa.
The Advent Calendar is such a great idea!!
It is a cherished holiday activity in our family!
Hey Sheri! Am I the only one that doesn’t want to start thinking about Christmas?! LOL. We do our game nights though and every year for Christmas Santa brings the family a new game. I’ll need to check out Farkle!
We were just introduced to Farkle this month. Best part is telling someone they Farkled – LOL
We love stuffing stockings at our house. This is the first year that we won’t have Santa Claus. The jig is up with my 12 year old, sadly.
Awe…we still tell our adult children that if they don’t believe in Santa, there will be no gifts. LOL
Sheri, I can’t even imagine doing the advent calendar the way you did, Kudos! Lots of great ideas, a little motivation goes a long way! thanks.
You are so welcome. Oh, I can clearly remember shooting out of bed to get that elf note downstairs! I look back now with very fond memories!
Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. I think I will add an advent calendar back into tradition and I definitely need that luggage rack!
The luggage rack seems to be quite popular!
This is fantastic! I need the luggage rack and bar cart (for myself). 🙂
My favourite is by far, the bar cart!
Love your ideas especially the luggage rack. So easy to store and pull out when needed. My sister in-law gave me the wine glass charms one year… love them!
Hi Sheri
It’s great that you will have your parents as guests at your home for Christmas. It’s so much fun to have family over during the holidays. We celebrate a different Holiday, its fun to be together, have lots of yummy traditional dishes, and gifting.
Love all of your great ideas Sheri, I’ve already started working on my guest room, now I’m inspired to tackle it all!
I love all of your wonderful ideas! We generally don’t have temporary guests; we have permanent ones! Our 93 and 97 year-old moms live with us, and they’re enough to handle!
Oh wow Debbie! I bow down to everyone who has their parents live with them. My parents are very healthy and a bit younger than your moms so they are still on their own. I know if the day ever comes, they are both welcome in our home. <3
I’m off to get my stocking stuffers!
As always, Sheri, your post is so complete with a relevant message and this one is no exception. Love giving gifts for an experience as the games and etc. And I so related to getting a guest room ready as until now, we lived away from all of our families. This would be a challenge if not prepared ahead of time with all the holiday demands we must do. Oh, and we did the elves too!