Holiday Meals and More Free Printables

Is there anything more yummy than those special holiday dishes?  You know the ones I mean, the ones we wait all year long for; the ones that just don't taste right at any other time of the year?  For me they are right up at the top of my holiday favourites list, along with Christmas Music and eagerly awaiting Christmas morning when I get to enjoy watching the magic of the season sparkle in my kid's eyes.

Last year we were so lucky to be able to spend time with my Mom and Dad and brother and his family, and it was pure joy, but normally it's just Travis, myself and our boys.  Because it's usually just the four of us, we tend to keep things simple.  Over the years we've slowly added a few more dishes, bringing in our childhood favourites, trying something new.  But I really didn't have a system in place for keeping track of all of it, which is why when I decided to put together a Holiday Planner, I knew the menu part was going to be pretty important, and was more than likely going to take a few pages to encompass what I wanted.

One of these years I want to do up a BIG family dinner, and just like the baking and other goodies, I want to be able to include everyone's favourite holiday dish.

Favourite Dishes

So, I made the above printable.  When I made this, I had two uses in mind.  The first, being a way to keep track of who likes what, and the second one being that this could easily be used as a potluck planner.

Of course, this will only go so far, what about the main holiday meal?  Well, I whipped up a little something for that as well.

Holiday Menu

This is where I can keep track of what we're planning to serve, who we've invited, as well as what we're drinking, what I want to put on the table, (so I can make sure we have what I need, like say... candles!) and a place to jot down ideas or plans for place settings.  Plus a small area for those little reminders or other useful pieces of info that come along.

When it comes to making up a big meal, I know that having a time line, and a plan is always a good thing.  Many items can be made ahead of time, sometimes even a week or two ahead (depending on what you're making)  and I know that there are going to be things that I'm going to need to pick up from the store.  To help keep track, I borrowed a few ideas from my baking printables and combined them into my "Cooking Plan" form.

Cooking Plan

This one is pretty self explanatory too.  Like with the baking sheet, I included a spot for jotting down recipes we're going to be using and where we will find them, as well as spot to mark down if we can make the recipe ahead of time.  There's even room to jot down how early we can make it.  I also included and undated 2 week calendar, because I can't see being able to make anything much further ahead than that.

And there you have it.  I'm hoping these babies will help us plan our Christmas meal a little more carefully, and maybe even be able to fit in a few more dishes that we always mean to make but never seem to have time for.  And when that Christmas yet to come arrives, I'll be ahead of the game!  

As always, to grab a copy of your own click the captions.  (not the pictures)  And if you have any trouble viewing or printing the PDFs, send me an email and I will gladly email you a copy of the ones you want.  I am working on a better way to bring the files to you, it's just going to take a little more time until it's set up.  Until then, if you have any troubles with them, please let me know.

So what do you think?  Will these help you?  Do you plan your holiday meals or do you wing it?  Do you have favourite holiday dishes that you look forward to year after year?

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Organize & Decorate Everything

New Nostalgia

The Little Touches

Last week my Mom and Dad were here for a visit.  We had so much fun with them, I can't wait to do it again.  I'm still grinning!  For me, this visit was a HUGE milestone.  I've always struggled with being organized; not just with our stuff, but with my time as well.  My house was my battleground, where I waged war with the burning desire to divert from the planned course to follow that illusive something "shiny".  So, when Mom and Dad would let us know they were planning a visit I would literally fly into a flurry of activity, trying to organize and clean the house within in an inch of its life.  I kid you not, one time I scrubbed the walls, and if you were to ask me why I couldn't, for the life of me, tell you.  Little by little it got easier, I relaxed a little more, I got comfortable with my home, with the state of it.  I like to put in the extra effort when company comes, but I don't take it as far as I did before.  But.... there was always a flurry of activity.  Finishing up a project I started and got discouraged over, clearing out the clutter or at least taking the donate bags to the store.  Tackling the plethora of hotspots and ill used spaces, and my list could just keep growing, but I'm sure you get the point.  This time it was different.

This visit was monumental for me.  For the first time I can remember, there was no flurry of activity.  With the one exception of organizing Travis's Office/the Guest Room, nothing I had to do was anything I wouldn't normally have done.  I didn't scrub the windows till they sparkled (though they do need a cleaning) I didn't scrub down walls just because, I didn't take a tooth brush to the baseboards ... no crazy life or death struggle for a state of perfection that just can't be reached when you actually LIVE in your home.  Sure, I gave the office/guest room a deeper cleaning than normal, and yes, I did spend some extra time and pay extra attention to the guest bathrooms, but I did that because I COULD, not because I felt compelled to do it.  And you know what?  I had time left over to add some special touches to those two areas.  And I wasn't worn right out when my parents arrived.  (I also didn't turn into a crabby, snapping, crazy lady either, for which I'm sure Travis and the boys are grateful)

The first area I tackled was the Guest Room.  I took a little time to cover up some of the visual clutter in the room and add a little touch of autumn.

I added a couple makeshift bedside tables, and dressed them up with a lamp and a stack of books.

They're just a couple of barrels with glass tops.  Under the glass I added a few leaves and I tried to pick out books I thought might interest my Mom and Dad.  We're readers in our family, so this was a fun way to continue to share that.  For my Dad I chose two Clive Cussler books from different series, and a non-fiction book about our home-town hockey team.

For my Mom I chose Janet Evanovich.  I remember she had said that she hadn't read them yet, so I thought I would start with "One for the Money".  I added a book of poetry, and an old copy of "The King's General" by Daphne du Maurier.

After that I turned my attention to the bathroom.  I wanted to add a little something special but not go too over board.

In the bathroom I added a basket to the counter top.  I haven't had a chance to stock up on guest items yet, but I'm hoping over time I can build up what we do have.

I also brought in the glass jars from our room to dress up the window sill.  It was fun to make things pretty, to add those special little touches that I normally overlook because I'm so busy trying to get the house perfect.  (Why is it that simple, little things like cotton ball and swabs look so pretty when you put them in glass jars?)

Wanna know a secret?  I forgot to dust the baseboards!  Wanna know what else?  I don't think anyone noticed, and it certainly didn't ruin the time we had with Mom and Dad.

Have you ever gone overboard getting ready for company?  What fun little things do you do for guests?

The Most Wonderful Thing and a Free Printable

You know that moment when what you know in theory turns into an experience in reality?  When you finally find out if you were right in your assumptions or totally off track?  That happened to me last week.  One of the things we most looked forward to with moving to a new area, was the proximity to family.  In theory this was going to be fantastic.  Not just for us to hop over for a visit, but having family come to stay with us.  This part really excited me.  For starters, we have a room for guests to use when they come.  This is absolutely amazing to me, and I love that I can offer a little oasis to overnight company.  Secondly, I have two boys, who's bathroom has to double as the guest bathroom.  I want to emphasize the BOY part.  They have very little bathroom items, tooth brushes and paste, a cup, comb, gel and face wash.  Their vanity has lots of unused space.  I have a whole drawer, plus two shelves free and clear for company to use to hold their own bathroom stuff. Where am I going with this?

My parents came for a visit last week.  To say I was giddy with excitement was an understatement.  I had so much fun getting ready for their arrival.  It helped that I'm more in control of my home than the last time they came for a visit, so there really was little to do in way of cleaning.  Aside from an extra deep clean of the guest room and bathroom, everything on my to do list was stuff I would normally have done anyway.  Not having to organize on top of cleaning was such a huge help that I was able to spend some time putting extra touches on things.  Books on their bedside tables, a flower arrangement in their room, just little things, but they were oh so much fun.  In this case, reality was sooo much better than the theory.  I love being able to open up my home in welcome to those nearest and dearest to us.

The weekend before they arrived I sat down to make up a list of things to do, meal ideas, activity ideas, etc... As I was jotting things down I got to thinking; this isn't going to be a once a year thing, and it's not only going to be my parents coming for a visit.  Those wheels in my head started turning, and I decided that it would be kind of fun and totally practical to make up a planner for when we have overnight guests.  Here is what I came up with.

Guest Planner

Here's how I'm using it.  I plan on having one of these for each visitor/group of visitors. I can fill out all the info that won't change visit to visit and then tuck it into a page protector and use a dry erase for the the things that will change.  

Since I know that I'll pretty much do the same cleaning every time we get ready for company, I added the check-list on the top right.  And because having company usually means larger meals, or special desserts, I also have a shopping list at the bottom.  

The box for "Places to Go, Things to Do" will probably end up being a combination of permanent and ever changing.  For example:  When my Mom and Dad were visiting we found a local restaurant (more coming on that in a later post) that was AMAZING.  It definitely made the list of places to visit again.  I can jot it down in the box so that next time they come we don't forget about it.  

The "Meal Plans" box is for ideas, or items I know our guests like. Our Teen was telling Mom and Dad about this cornbread recipe he got in Foods class, and we found out that they both really like cornbread.  So I put a note in the box for next time so I don't forget to have our Teen make it for them.  I even noted the ingredients that I'll probably need to purchase for it on the shopping list.

With the holidays right around the corner, I'm thinking this little printable might come in handy.  I can't wait to use it again, because is there really anything better than sharing time with the ones you love?  Now, if only pulling together a guest room was as easy. ;-)

As always, to grab your free copy simply click the caption of the photo!  All printables are for personal use only.  

Do you like having out of town guests come stay with you?  Are there any special preparations you do to get ready for their arrival?


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