December Organizing!

It seems like just yesterday I was posting the November organizing tools.  Well, December is here, and here are some tools to help you keep track of everything.  There is a monthly calendar, recipe cards {for all that holiday cooking and baking!}, weekly calendar, gift giving guide, and of course the menu/shopping list.  I made it so you could easily cut it apart if you wanted.  I personally got tired of looking at my scribbled out grocery list up on the fridge.

Click on an image if you want to download the full-size document.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open them.  Happy December!

Custom Cards

One of my absolute favorite things to do:  create custom cards for people.  It's such a joy and challenge to try to get to know someone to create a design that they will love and perfectly express the sentiments they want to send to loved ones. 

I recently did a card for a family that had moved this year, are expecting their second child, and wanted to send greetings to family and friends.  When I have Leann's photos to work with- as I did this time- I know that I'll have excellent images to start with.  I also knew from the mom's descriptions of her aesthetic preferences that we were already on the same wave length.

Here is the card that we worked together to make.  I must say, I'm pretty excited about it! 

It's a 5"x5" inch trifold card.

outside spread- back, middle, and front {in that order}

inside spread- left to right

Christmas Tags

Christmas tags - something I love to make.  I use tags for labelling presents or as ornaments for our home/tree.  There are two files you can download here- the circular tags and rectangular tags.  I just got a circle cutter which helped get the crisp, clean lines that I cannot attain by hand.  I also used those little paper brads to clasp the circles together.  Altogether delightful, I'd say.

To downoad and read these files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.  It also helps to have paper cutters, holes punches, and a variety of string and twine!

Download Circular Christmas Tags

DownloadRectangular Christmas Tags

Christmas Cookies

Two years ago, right after moving into our current home, I went into a baking streak like none I had ever experienced before.  Home made bread, once-a-month cooking, cookies, pies, cakes...  I usually say that I like to cook a lot more than I like to bake, but that year I found I really could get into baking.

Now, I've written before about my troubles with "the holidays".  This year I am trying to be as proactive as I can to make new positive memories and associations.  I have such warm, positive feelings associated with that season of baking that I'm going to try it again.

It all started with a magazine I spotted while in line at Joann fabrics.  I usually fought the whole Christmas cookie mania, especially after a stomach flu bout after a sugar cookie extravaganza two years before.  But this magazine was so lovely to me that I bought it on impulse.

It was a Better Homes and Gardens special edition.  I came home and pored over it, flagging each recipe that I had to try.  I decided then and there that I would make a different cookie every day.

This wasn't so much about having so many cookies to eat.  I made it my prayer that God would provide me with people to share my treats with, make it clear to me how to use them to help someone else.  I thought of our family the year that Isaac was hospitalized for six days before Christmas, and when we came home on Christmas Eve we were sent home with a bag of presents for our kids {a life saver, since we had put off all Christmas gift shopping and had nothing for them}.  I wanted to do something like that for someone else.

Well, the days wore on.  I ended up making treats almost every day.  But as I made and froze them, a lot were eaten along the way.  The kids- then ages four and two- were often by my side "helping".  One Sunday my aunt came over and we spent the day after church baking as much as we could. There were frustrations- kid helpers making a mess, sink overflowing with dishes, days where my feet and legs were sore from standing so much.  And I felt like God hadn't shown me what to do with these cookies and bars to serve Him.

By the time Christmas came, I had given away none of the goods from my efforts.  I felt like a failure.  We got out all the frozen cookies and ate them over the course of a few days.  And it didn't hit me until my husband, Aaron, said something.  He thanked me {and he had been thanking me all along} that I had put so much into making those cookies.  He knew that it was difficult for me to celebrate Christmas and how much I had resisted having anything to do with Christmas cookies for so long.  He was so appreciative and grateful.  Maybe the family that needed those cookies all along was my own.

Maybe it's a cop out for not giving the cookies away.  But I think, more and more, that the time spent in the kitchen baking, giving a little to my family in a way that made us better, working in the warmth with my loved ones, watching their excitement, spending time together... was how God used those cookies to serve others.

So that's the story.  I didn't make anything last year.  But this year- yesterday- I pulled out that magazine and got together a list of things I needed to make six different treats this week.  And I think it will make a difference.

Here are the two BEST {they are all delicious} recipes in my mind.

And now it's November

I don't know about anyone else, but it's hard for me to believe it's November.  I came up with some more monthly planning resources for myself, so of course I'm sharing them with you!  All you need is Adobe Acrobat Reader, your computer and a printer.  There is the menu/shopping planner, a November calendar, a Thanksgiving menu planner, and a Thanksgiving shopping planner.

I know I'm not alone in saying that I dread the holidays.  For as many people out there who just LOOOOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas, there are those {like me} who struggle.  I can't even say exactly why.  One factor is definitely a family history of having the stomach flu on these special, special days.  Then there is the stress of planning who you are going to celebrate with and what exactly you want to celebrate.  How many extra activities are we going to take on?  How much extra money do we need to spend?  How many vacation days will be used up hurrying here and there while generally getting a lot less rest and relaxation? 

I was talking with my brother-in-law the other day and he asked what I wanted for "the holidays".  As I started listing things I did not want- mainly the stomach flu- he kindly reminded me that it can be more helpful to think about what you DO want. For me, I'll have to think about that. 

In the madness of the coming months {and in my life, in fact}, what do I want?  There are the answers that immediately pop into my head:  a close relationship with the Lord, a healthy family, commitment to serving others... but how does that actually look for me?  This is something I will be thinking about and reflecting on, trying to determine how that actually looks in my life beyond the concept.