Holiday Countdown!

HI Divas and Dukes,

As promised, here's the Grand Duchess' Holiday Countdown that we discussed on The Diva Craft Lounge. She did an AMAZING job putting this together for us. I know this year I'm trying to make more homemade gifts. I LOVE recieving home made gifts. The love ,creativity ,and thoughtfulness that goes into each present is so special.
It's fun to get together with friends and work on your projects. That's part of the joy.

Last Sat. I spent the afternoon at the Grand Duchess' new art studio. It was sooo much fun. Her studio is INCREDIBLE!!! I'm thinking of renting out space. We ran out of the ornaments we were making , so we went out and bought more!!!! Very addictive.

Yesterday I spent the day with Rayme and I started on my Christmas Cards. of course he had already done half of his!!!! It was 4 of the fastest hours I've spent in a long time. I love bouncing off creative ideas form each other. What Bliss!!!!

So here it is........




CREATIVE CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN
from the Grand Duchess of Kandu
Those of us who enjoy a handmade holiday can avoid a rushed and stressful season by just planning ahead. I’ve made a weekly calendar to assure you get everything done and can still have a wonderful holiday season.
Make changes and additions as necessary to adhere to your religious beliefs and to observe your own family traditions. If you are celebrating Hanukkah, of course, you’ll be creating a Menorah and decorating a Hanukkah bush, and you’ll have to condense this timeline because Hanukkah comes early this year, December 4 through December 12.
Starting November 1st
Halloween Décor: Pack up all the specifically Halloween decorations and store them, but leave your fall decorations up till after Thanksgiving.
Travel: Make holiday travel reservations as soon as possible--www.CornerTravelStore.com makes it easy. If you are planning to drive some distance, be sure that your car is all tuned up and has good tires, then decide on your route, making sure you have printed maps for all locales, in case your GPS fails you. Plan ahead: if you are taking presents with you, buy smaller, less fragile items which will travel well!
Show Tickets: Buy tickets for the family to attend a Christmas musical, ballet, or show--age appropriate. Nothing puts you in the spirit like a live stage presentation!
Letters to Santa: Help your kids write letters to Santa to determine their latest desires.
Gift List: Make a list of those you want to buy for in a small notebook—work colleagues, friends, and family members, including those new babies. Carry your notebook with you, so you can write down what you buy beside each person’s name. Set limits for your holiday spending by giving a cost range for each person on your list; making some gifts can keep costs low, yet let the recipient know you cared enough to create something especially for them.
Gift Purchases: Start buying presents now for better selection and to avoid disappointment. Ship gifts that go abroad as early as possible, especially to those in the service.
Unplanned Gifting: Don’t forget to have some generic gifts ready for unexpected guests--a bottle of wine with customized wrapping, a hand-decorated candle, homemade baked goods or chocolates in a decorated box or tin, etc. Everyone loves a gift with a special handmade touch!
Ideas: Look for ideas for holiday decorating, gifts to make, and recipes in magazines, books, and online. Make a file for reference through the holidays.

Week of November 5

Photo Op: Have your family Christmas photo taken as soon as possible. You can have it done professionally, but if you do, you are limited to using copies they make for you, unless you get a release from your photographer to reproduce it to use for your cards. With digital photography and inexpensive “fill” lights available, you can have a friend take the pictures; take lots of shots while you are at it and look at them on a computer screen before letting the family “escape.” Remember, you don’t have to dress everyone in red plaid and pose them around the fireplace; have your photo represent your life--take it at the beach in plain white shirts and jeans with bare feet, or in your ski gear, or with the kids in their current sports team uniforms or activity costumes (like a ballet tutu or gymnastics leotard)--that way you can display a framed enlargement in your home year ‘round
Mailing List: Check your address book to see who you want to send Christmas cards to, placing a star beside their name. As you go, add new friends, change addresses for those who have moved, and drop off those with whom you’ve lost contact.
Cards: Start making Christmas cards--kits or matched paper and embellishment sets let you create great cards quickly and easily. A little “partridge-in-a-pear-tree” told me that Rayme Royale has his website up featuring his exclusive card designs and kits--go to www.RaymeCards.com or from the Diva Craft Lounge site. While you are there, you can buy copies of his Christmas CD--they make great hostess gifts!
Calendar: Begin to put holiday events on your family calendar to be sure they don’t conflict. Don’t over-schedule—leave some time to relax and to enjoy spur-of-the-moment activities.
Week of November 12
Store Hours: Check the opening times of your favorite stores and post on the fridge for impromptu shopping trips. Most stores are open late in the month or so before Christmas; be sure to note extended hours.
Shopping Help for Clueless Men: Ask your local scrap or craft store when they are having a “Husband’s Night” for shopping. If they say, “What?”, tell them they should have their customers write their “Wish List” for tools and supplies on a card, along with contact information for that special man in her life. The store files those cards by customer’s name and notifies the hubby that their wife has her wish list on file and that he can come in and purchase the “perfect present.” They can have a special night just for that and/or have a continuous event through December. The Wish List file should remain at the cash/wrap desk at the store. Parents and friends can also be informed of this shopper’s helper if they are stuck for gift ideas; it’s like being registered for a wedding--you get just what you want and need, and the giver has a great time shopping for you.
Traditions: Start preparing for family traditions. If you don’t have any, now is the time to start. Maybe you want to donate some time, as a family, to a charity: serve meals to the homeless, do visits to the elderly who don’t have family nearby, buy items for a holiday toy drive--this is fulfilling personally and helps the kids see what the holiday season is all about. For fun with younger children, a new “tradition” I’ve seen is Santa’s Magic Elf--the elf comes to visit the family after Thanksgiving with a letter of introduction from Santa, explaining that this elf reports directly to Santa about the behavior of boys and girls and provides a list of things they want for Christmas. You can make your own Elf from stuffed toy patterns or buy one from Fiesta Toy, which makes Santa’s Secret Elf™ and provides all the written materials to accompany it--www.FiestaToy.com. Great fun!

Week of November 19 (this is a tricky week with Thanksgiving on Thursday)

Tableware: Since you may need them for Thanksgiving, as well, this is a good time check to make sure you have enough plates, silverware, and glasses, as well as special baking pans. Check you have enough serving dishes of the right size (for mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, meat, gravy, etc.). Purchase extra items needed.
Give Thanks: Enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Fall Décor: After Thanksgiving, pack up the fall decorations for storage.
Housekeeping: Give your house a good, thorough cleaning--once you’ve decorated for Christmas, it gets really hard to clean around everything. Enlist the help of your family, assigning rooms or tasks that are age appropriate.
Leftovers: Feed the family leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner while you are cleaning, so you don’t have to worry about meals. Or, do what Divas do best for dinner, order out!
Week of November 26
Clothing: Check your closets and buy new clothes and accessories, as needed, for parties, church, work parties, special events, etc. that you will be attending. For informal parties, you can decorate a shirt with iron-ons, paints, foam stamps, and of course, lots of bling. You can even stamp words on your jeans, like “JOY” or “HO HO HO,” down the leg.
Decorations: Get all your holiday decorations out of storage, separating indoor and outdoor lights and decorations. Open the boxes and make notes on any additional items you might need. Shop your local craft store to fill those needs.
Tabletop: Make table favors, napkin rings, and a centerpiece for your Christmas table. For favors, inexpensive glass balls with paint and glitter drizzled inside are a great project--write each person’s name and 2007 on with dimensional paint in gold or silver. The centerpiece should be low enough for everyone to see all the others at the table. It can be created easily with a block of floral foam, 3 candles, and some faux flowers and greenery. Closer to Christmas, you can substitute live flowers.
Contacts: Write out emergency contact numbers that you might need during the Christmas period such as doctors, drug store, babysitters, emergency numbers for service for your electricity and gas companies , emergency plumber and neighbors. Don’t just have them in your computer--you need to carry them with you.
Kitchen Cleanout: Clear out your fridge and pantry of out-of-date foods, so you can begin to buy and store your Christmas goodies--start now buying your non-perishable and frozen goods.
Week of December 3
Mail Cards: Address and mail your Christmas cards and letters.
Plan Food and Drinks for All Holiday Celebrations: Plan your food and drink shopping list. By this time you should know how many guests you are expecting for Christmas lunch or any other celebrations you're holding so you can plan accordingly. Consider the food and drink needs of your guests--vegetarians, food allergies, etc. Buy antacids for overeaters or to counteract the effects of too much “Christmas cheer”!
Special Orders: Order “party trays” for easy entertaining. Check with grocer on timing for special order items.
TV & Music: Set your Tivo or buy blank tapes or DVDs to record Christmas TV shows and films. Get out your favorite Christmas music and play it around the house to put you in the holiday mood.
Package and Ship: Ship presents to those you won’t see on Christmas. Note: heavy boxes may take longer, so be sure to allow enough time.
Celebrate: Buy chocolates and sample frequently.

Week of December 10

Decorate: Decorate your house and put up your tree, if you wish. If you put up tree now, be careful to get one with soft needles (indicating moisture content) so it will remain attractive through the entire holiday season. As a handy alternative, buy one of the new pre-lit faux trees. Your tree can go up anytime before Christmas Day, but you should take it down by January 6 (the 12th day of Christmas).
Shop & Wrap: Complete gift purchases this week and wrap presents. Don’t forget those small items for stocking stuffers.
Bake: Create those tasty cookies you and your family love. Involve the kids in the fun for some memorable moments--keep the camera close by.
Indulge: Buy chocolates and relax with a few choice pieces whenever you can.

Week of December 17

Groceries: Buy perishable foods for your holiday meals. Check supplies of eggs, milk, butter, cream, lemons, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, salad greens and garnishes, frozen vegetables, convenience foods for quick meal preparation leading up to “The Day”, and don’t forget lots of paper towels and toilet tissue.
Dinner Plan: Write out a time plan for Christmas Day, so that you won't be in a panic that day. Put recipes in a file for easy reference.
Camera: Make sure your video recorder and still camera are in good working order. Have lots of extra batteries, film, tape, and/or CDs.
Florals: Buy live flowers to decorate your home.
Cooking Utensils: Make sure you've got a pan big enough to hold the turkey, ham, goose, or roast you’ll be cooking. Make sure you can get the pan into the oven and that you have a lid or enough foil to cover it.
Thawing Meats: Compute how much time you need to thaw the turkey or other meat and mark calendar to move it from freezer to refrigerator.
Stress: Buy chocolates--eat lots of them!!!

On December 24 – Christmas Eve Day

Food Prep: Prepare any food you can and refrigerate. Check time needed for cooking turkey or other meat. Calculate when you will need to put it in the oven. If you are having a mid-day meal, set your alarm for 30 minutes to an hour before that time (disregard if you have children--they will be up at the crack of dawn!).
Christmas Cheer: Make egg nog, mulled wine, or Christmas punch.
Safety: Make sure you've got multiple pairs of oven mitts and trivets handy.
Table Prep: Set table for tomorrow’s dinner
Family Activities: Attend a service at your place of worship, invite friends in, or drive around the neighborhood to see all the holiday lights
And to All a Good Night: Put kids to bed. Relax with your hubby. Go to bed. Get up and put kids back to bed.

Christmas Day

Photo Op: Take a deep breath, then grab your camera and start capturing those great holiday moments.
Enjoy: Don’t forget to put down your camera occasionally and enjoy being “in the moment” with your family. Remember this is the day of peace and love and joyful celebration.
Entertain: Invite friends and neighbors to stop by later in the day.

Boxing Day (day after Christmas)
Toy Sorting: To make room for all those gifts, have kids sort through their old toys and decide which can be given to charity thrift stores.
Food: Create a plan to use holiday leftovers, so you can enjoy the time between Christmas and New Year’s.
Diet: Package remaining holiday cookies in zip-lock bags and freeze to avoid post-holiday binges. Get out a few at a time for lunch treats and dessert over the next month or two.
After the Holidays
Decorations: You can leave your decorations up till twelfth night or January 5th. When you do take them down, sort by indoor/outdoor or by room or use; mark the boxes, so you can identify what is in them more easily for the 2008 holiday.
After-Christmas Sales: Take advantage of the post-Christmas clearance sales to get decorations, wrapping papers, and craft supplies for next year’s holiday celebrations.
Relax: Put your feet up and relax—finish the remaining chocolate!