Holiday Planning – Food, Guests, Decor & More

By: Lori Thayer

Recently we discussed some holiday tips for Christmas Preparation. Today let's focus in on Holiday Planning in the areas of Food, holiday decorations, guests and how to have some fun while doing it all. A little holiday planning means less stress and more time to enjoy the season and connect with others.

Holiday Decorations

This article, Planning For The Holidays: Holiday Decorations, focuses on how to make decorating for the holidays more for you and how to get the whole family involved. The decorating may get done quicker if you do it all yourself but where is the festivity in that.

Slow down and enjoy the season more when you decorate with friends or family. Make it an event and enjoy it.  I've started to bring in more fresh scents with garlands, a real tree and essential oils like Christmas Spirit and Idaho Balsam Fir. As I write this article I am listening to a new Pandora playlist I started with a Holiday Jazz CD title. The music is lovely, soothing and festive and puts me in the right spirit.

Holiday Food

Food is an area where we sometimes go a little crazy. I freely admit to over stressing and over doing food for holiday gatherings and parties. It is easy because we all have our favorites and often save them for this time of year.

In Planning For The Holidays: The Food, I'll offer some tips to help you prepare for your holiday gathering. Don't fall into the trap of doing everything yourself. We don't look back and wish we had done more of the work ourselves, we look back and lament we didn't spend that time with our loved ones. So involve your kids, family and friends in the food preparation and serving. Your holiday experience will be all the richer for it.

For general holiday food one fabulous tip is to make your holiday cookies early and freeze them. Start now, make a batch today. When the cookie dough is ready, form into balls or drop from spoon onto a cookie sheet (depending on dough consistency) and flash freeze. Once the dough is frozen, place the cookie balls in a zipper bag or other freezer safe container. Be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible. When you are ready for cookies you can take these and bake them one at a time – is there anything better than cookies fresh from the oven?

Preparing For A Holiday Party – The Guests

Holiday planning when guests are involved doesn't have to be tricky. Follow some simple guidelines shown in Planning For The Holidays: The Guests, and there will be no need to worry.

When you are the holiday guest bring a gift of appreciation for your host or hostess. Even if they don't ask that you bring something a bottle of wine or batch of your famous cookies are always appreciated.

Holiday Planning – Plan Some Fun For Yourself

Too often we play the host and focus so much on making everything perfect for everyone else that we don't consider ourselves. As the host or hostess plan your event so you will have time to enjoy the gathering as well. Some essential tips for how to do this can be found in my article, The Host Gets To Have Fun Too.

What have you learned that will help you in your holiday planning? Tell me in the comments below.

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Ways To Connect With Your Family While In The Car

By: Lori Thayer

Many of us spend hours commuting each week. During many of these trips we are taking our kids to and fro to their events or just to school. Weekend trips can result in even longer car rides to visit a fun family destination. Instead of everyone tuning out and losing themselves in their technology, you can find ways to connect with your family.

Use this time to get to know each other better and even find some teachable moments. The questions and topics below will give you a starting place. Simply ask everyone to turn off their devices and talk to each other. This idea may meet with resistance in the beginning. If so, agree to use a portion of the time to connect and the rest the kids can use to listen to their music of whatever is allowed in your car.

One great thing to do while driving is find teachable moments. Explain things you see as you drive, such as some new construction going on and why it is good or bad for the community. These types of teachable moments are imperative for us with an autistic child. This child doesn't naturally infer the things we so often take for granted.

All kids can benefit from these types of discussions. Discussion on what you see around you can start easily and naturally and become great teachable moments. One idea is to have each person in the car ask a question or start a discussion about something they can see from their window that inspires them.

Use the following questions as a way to connect with your family:

• What is your top accomplishments?
• What do you want to be when you grow up? This question is appropriate even for adults!
• What scares you the most?
• What activity brings you the most joy?
• What song most accurately describes your life?
• Where would you love to live and why?
• Where have you always wanted to visit?
• Play 20 questions
• Plan your future
• Plan your next vacation, get everyone's input.
• Ask who their favorite person is and why.
• Ask who they admire the most.
• What are you most proud of?
• Talk about the books each of you is reading. Discuss the story and how it relates to real life.
• Talk about geography, why the river meanders and how the mountain got so tall.
• What is the best quality a friend can have?
• What can you do to make tomorrow a great day? (or today if it is just starting)

Stories on the radio can be a great starting point for a discussion as well. If you love to listen to NPR like my husband, the stories can inspire many a great conversation.

How are you using car time with your family now, do you talk or does everyone tune out and do their own thing? Which ways to connect with your family can you begin implementing tomorrow?

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Keep A Relationship Fresh With Surprises

By: Lori Thayer

"Honey, you are so awesome."  Isn't this something we all want to hear our mate tell us? One way to keep a relationship fresh and continue to hear such accolades years into the relationship is to surprise your mate. Do fun, thoughtful, wonderful things for your loved one and they will reward you with love and joy for years to come.

Here are a few ideas on how to keep a relationship fresh with surprises:

• Text him at unexpected times to simply tell him you love him. Hinting at a surprise to come when he gets home will bring some excitement as well.
• Make a playlist of some of their favorite songs and set it up to play automatically for them the next time they drive their car. 
• Give him an unexpected gift. This could be a gadget for his car, an album he wants or you dressed in his favorite outfit.
• Random act of flowers. Bring your love flowers on a whim. Generally women love to receive flowers but some guys will enjoy it as well, so don't discount this idea for a male.
  
• If your loved one is stressed take him or her out to dinner, before they start cooking. It doesn't have to be an expensive dinner, just relieve their stress and help them relax for a bit with this surprise.
  
• Plan a surprise date night. You make all the decisions and have it all planned so they can just enjoy.
• To really keep a relationship fresh date like a teenager. Think back to what kind of dates you enjoyed as a teen: drive ins, car hops, roller rinks, or mini golf. These activities will have you both giggling like a teenager in no time.
• Having a night out where there is a live band? Slip the band some money to play "your song".
• Do an activity that your mate loves but isn't your favorite. Do it for them with no complaining, just enjoy their happiness during the activity. The above photo is an example of this, I took my love to a beer festival on our anniversary. As you can see, he was overjoyed.
• Take a spur of the moment vacation together. Put your finger on the map to pick a place and go. Excitement and the unknown will create memories that last a lifetime.

What are the best surprised you've given your mate or vice-versa. Share them with us in the comments below.

Interested in more ways to optimize your life? Receive regular tips to be more efficient, save time, enrich your life, and connect with others here: optimize your life 

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons 2.0, Paul W

Outdoor Activities For Groups Of Neighborhood Children 

By: Lori Thayer

Outdoor Activities are a wonderful way to enjoy a beautiful day outside. Activities that can involve all the neighborhood children can be especially fun. Whether you already know a group of kids in your neighborhood or are trying to help your kids meet more other neighborhood children these outdoor activities are a great starting point for neighborhood fun.

The outdoor activities we are highlighting today involve 4 or more children. A combination of kids and parents can make these activities a lot of fun as well. The activities are four square and kickball.

Looking for ideas for fewer kids? Read our first article on Outdoor Activities For Neighborhood Children.

Outdoor Activity for Four: Four Square

Four square is a great game for kids. There is very little equipment or set up required. The play can be short or long.

The game of four square has been around for a long time. It is great on playgrounds and neighborhood due to the ease of set up and equipment. Rules and set up directions for Four Square can be found on wikipedia.

Outdoor Activity For A Group: Kickball

Kickball is a tried and true group sport for kids and adults alike. This is another game that requires very little set up or equipment. Reference wikipedia for kickball rules and equipement needs.

Recently there has been a resurgence in the popularity of kickball among adults. This makes this a great game for your neighborhood block party. Host a kids vs. parents game. Both teams will have a lot of fun.

The simplicity of this game makes it great for a variety of ages. Start your kids playing with the neighbor kids as early as 5.

What were your favorite neighborhood games growing up? Share them with us in the comments below.

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