The Elf Blog

Christmas Countdown - 1 Week

Christmas Eve is one week from today.  You're in the homestretch!

• Finish your baking.  Take cookies to neighbors and friends.
• Wrap your presents.
• Do your grocery shopping for your Christmas Eve and Christmas meals.
• Take a walk around your house (inside and outside) to see if decorations need to be refreshed or if something needs to be tidied.
• Prepare your guest room for any Christmas guests.
• Gather Christmas DVDs and story books to entertain on Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Create a Christmas playlist on your iPod or gather CDs.
• Finalize New Year’s Eve plans.
• Shop for a New Year's Eve outfit if needed or rent a tux.
• Update your list of the gifts you have received so that you are ready to write thank you notes after Christmas.
• Take a deep breath.  You're going to make it.

Office Parties

Many workplaces celebrate the holidays with staff parties.  These parties can be joyous events or career landmines.

• Dress appropriately.  You don't want to look too casual or too flashy.  If people remember what you wore, you've probably overdone it.
• Don't overindulge in any way. Your fellow guests are people who rely on you in a professional way.  You need to always communicate reliability and responsibility.  Getting drunk and telling off-color stories doesnot communicate a helpful message.
• Do use these parties to get to know people you don't typically work with.  You can learn more about the organization, build relationships for future projects, and maybe even make a new friend.
• If you bring a guest to the party, don't abandon him or her until you've introduced at least a few people. 
• Make it a point to thank those reponsible for organizing the party.  It's a lot of work and thank yous are always nice.

Drop-In Guests

During the holiday season (roughly now through January 1st), it's not unusual to have friends drop by to bring a gift or to offer the greetings of the season.  It's good to be prepared for them:

• Make sure that the living room or family room (wherever you greet guests) stays basically tidy.  Before leaving the house each morning, give it a quick once over.
• Keep the guest bathroom stocked and clean.  Here's a nice use for the Christmas hand twoels and guest soaps.
• Keep basic serving items easily accessible: a tray or two, glasses, napkins, baskets, etc.
• Make sure you have some refreshments to offer.  During this time of year, I like to make sure that I have beverages (soda, sparkling water, coffee. tea, cocoa, beer, and/or wine) available.  I also have fast snacks at hand -- things like cheese and crackers, grapes, party mix, candy, cookies, veggies, popcorn.  If someone stops by, you can offer them a drink and something to eat without ransacking the cupboards or sending someone to the store.

Stay flexible.  Often, holiday guests drop by without notice.  If you are so tightly planned that you can't afford an hour to chat with a friend, you're risking placing preparations ahead of joy.

Christmas Countdown -- Two Weeks

Two weeks from tonight is Christmas Eve.  We're in the home stretch:

• Finish shipping your presents and mailing any cards.
• Finish your shopping. You don't want to be one of the frenzied shoppers on tv on Christmas Eve.
• Update your Christmas card address list as cards come in.
• Begin wrapping the presents you have bought.  (They add to the decorations!)
• Decide on your menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Pick up the non-perishables next time you're at the grocery store. You'll also want to lay in refreshments for the folks who may stop by to pay a Christmas visit.
• Finalize your New Year's Eve plans.

Strategies for Getting It Done

Today is a great time to take stock of where you are in your preparations.  If you aren't on track, here are some strategies to help:

• Make a list of everything you need to accomplish.  Cross off the non-essentials.  Simplify.  Do only those things that are personally meaningful -- the want-tos, not the shoulds.
• Look at ways to cooperate with friends in the same boat.  Doing a lot of one thing is often faster than doing many different things (it's the basic principle of the assembly line).  In Christmas practice, maybe you work with friends so you each make a lot of one kind of cookie and trade.  Everyone gets a nice mix of cookies with less effort.  Or you can trade off baking or decorating or shopping or gift-wrapping.
• Combine events.  Make your Christmas party a decorating party or a baking party.  Use family night to finish off the cards or to pack gifts for shipping.
• Outsource.  Often, time and money are a tradeoff.  You can buy some refeshments for a party -- perhaps a premade appetizer platter or something from a favorite restaurant.  Over the weekend, I picked up some traditional baked goods that will save me time in the kitchen.  Lots of stores offer gift-wrapping.  My local mall has a gift-wrapping service sponsored by the high school.  You can walk out of the mall with gifts ready to put under the tree.  You can also have an office store do your packing and shipping.

Keep your focus on the things that have meaning to you.  Let the rest of it go.

Christmas Countdown - 3 Weeks

Christmas Eve is only 3 weeks away.  Here are this week's tasks:

• Any gifts that need to be shipped have to go this week.  If they are going outside the US, you're already pushing it.
• Finish up your cards so you can get them in the mail by December 12th. 
• Continue shopping.  To avoid rush shipping charges or unexpected back orders, complete all online shopping.
• If you want a quiet evening, especially if the weather is bad, begin wrapping the presents you've bought.
• If you are hosting a party, confirm attendance and shop, cook, and bake.
• Decorations should be up this week (unless you keep to the German tradition of putting up the tree on Christmas Eve).  You don’t have to do everything all at once.  In fact, it can be very pleasant to do a little bit each day and slowly watch the house come alive with the spirit of Christmas.
• Decide what you will wear for your Christmas party, for Christmas Day, and for New Year's Eve.  Drop off any necessary dry cleaning.  Make necessary purchases.  Even plan your accessories.  It's not a bad idea to put the accessories in plastic bags and attach it to the clothing hanger with a clothespin (this hint is especially helpful if you have small children).

Thanksgiving To-Do 5

You'll probably begin  your detailed schedule today as you bake and brine and chop and saute.  So here are a few tasks that might get missed in all the activity.  (They also make great errands for house guests and others who want to know if there's anything they can do to help.)

• Make sure you have matches or a lighter handy to light the candles on the table.
• If you have a fireplace, lay a fire before going to bed so you just have to light it tomorrow.  Make sure you bring in enough wood to keep it going throughout the day.
• Create a holiday playlist on an mp3 player and hook it up to your speakers.  Or put a stack of CDs next to the CD player so you can have background music during the day.  (Well, after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade when SANTA!!!!! arrives.)
• Get the coffee and tea things ready so you aren't digging for tea bags and artificial sweetener at the last minute.
• The kitchen will be crazy tomorrow with the oven and the stove burners occupied, Make breakfast a light buffet event.  Send a guest to the store tonight to pick up cut fruit, some fresh rolls or croissants (butter and jam if needed), juice, and some cold cereal.  People can grab a light breakfast when they wake up without getting in the way in the kitchen.
• You are likely to be up early tomorrow.  Treat yourself to a hot bath and an early night.

Thanksgiving To-Do 4

If you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner, here are things to take care of today:

• Look over your menu and see if there is anything you can prepare today.  For example, cranberry relishes often benefit from a day or two in the fridge to let the flavors combine.  Similarly, if you make your own pie crust, you can let the balls of dough chill overnight to be rolled out and baked tomorrow.
• Take the Thanksgiving schedule you made a few weeks ago and do a "dry run."  As you look over every item on the list, make sure you've left enough time and that you have all the necessary equipment at hand.
• Do any necessary household chores.  You may want to run a quick load of laundry so that you'll have guest towels, dish cloths, and clothes to get you through the weekend.
• If you've done all these things: REST!

Thanksgiving To-Do 3

Keeping on our Thanksgiving "to do" list.  If you are hosting, today you need to do the following:

• Make sure you have all the food you'll need and make a grocery run if necessary.  Make sure you include things like coffee, creamer, and breakfast food for the day after Thanksgiving.  Also, double check to make sure your spices are still good.
• If you are making stuffing, cube bread and put it in the oven on 200 to dry out.
• Dig out your leftover containers, match bottoms and lids, and put them in a place where you can find them easily.  After you've finished cooking and serving a large meal, the last thing you want to do is dig through cabinets for containers.  Keep in mind that zipper close bags are very useful for leftovers like turkey and stuffing.  You can also put the turkey carcass (in pieces) in a large one until you have time to make broth.
• Take one last look in your fridge and toss anything that needs to be tossed.  You're going to need the space.  There's no use wasting precious real estate on things that belong in the trash.  If you have lots of good leftovers in the fridge, consider making dinner tonight or tomorrow a leftover buffet.  Heat up whatever's there and left folks choose what they want.  Nothing goes back in the fridge.

Thanksgiving To Do 2

Thanksgiving is only 5 days away!  Today, do a quick look around the house and tidy anything that needs tidying.

If at all possible, set the table.  Put the serving dishes on the table with a little note inside as to what each will contain.  This way, you'll know if you're missing anything and you'll make sure you have enough room for the food.  You can also dedicate a counter in the kitchen to all the prep equipment you'll need Thursday -- roasting pan, foil, potato masher, gravy separator, etc.  Life is far easier when you aren't looking for things last minute.

Finally, if you are serving wine or sparkling water or soda, put it in the fridge to chill.