What should my priorites be? house-cleaning? game/activity planning? preparing for the family photos? sending Christmas cards? buying gifts? making gifts? wrapping gifts? teaching my dogs to be quiet as a Christmas mouse??? taking care of my health and sanity???
2006-12-17 13:23:27 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
For sure, put health and sanity first, elsewise, what's the use?!!
Next, in this order, take care of the food & drinks, gifts, games & fun, and have extra food for the dogs, so you can overfeed them just before guests arrive (hopefully they'll go nap). Strings of tiny clear lights are charming decoration, and quick to put up. A spell before folks arrive, clear up all the clutter so they won't have to shuffle all your stuff around in getting seated, and junk won't be in the background of the photos. When your guests begin arriving, have warm drinks (alcohol and/or non-) ready to put into their hands, and let 'em start snacking. Make sure you're not wound up and frazzled by drafting kids or an adult to be your assistant, it'll help keep your nerves even. Then, PAR - TAY! Happy holidaze!
2006-12-17 13:32:39 · answer #1 · answered by Zeera 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get the food, make as much ahead of time and freeze. Buy ready made snack trays and platters. Thats what they made the deli section for! Do a quick pick up of the house. If it's really cluttered, then use a laundry basket, throw all the clutter in the basket and put it someplace your family won't see (you can take care of it later). Buy gifts all year, then there is no rush at the end, otherwise do a lot of online shopping...much quicker! Most online stores will wrap it for you for a small fee. Pick an outfit or two for family photos and pick an area of the house where you'll be taking most of the photos...for instance, around the tree. Do a Christmas letter and print on Christmas themed paper, then just sign cards and put the letter in them, if you set up labels in Microsoft Word (or something similar) beforehand, all you have to do is print off your mailing and return labels and put them on the card (this can be done ahead of time). Always get enough sleep and wash your hands often (cold and flu season). And last but not least.....enjoy yourself, this is Christmas!
2006-12-17 13:34:11 · answer #2 · answered by friendlygardens 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best way is to do the things first that have to be done yesterday. Do everything in order of importance. Straighten the house, pick up clutter, address the Christmas cards first to those who you seldom see or live far away. Local people don't really need a card unless you find the time to do it. It's getting too late to make gifts. For my children and grands, I use large beautiful gift bags. I have their name on the gift tag. I take the bags back shortly after Christmas and keep them for the next year. I've also written the year that it is being used on it. My present bags are being used for the 5th time this year. They still look like new. I think I bought them at Dollar Tree. They were only $1. I can put a lot of stuff in them. For others you can use cheaper gift bags; you don't need them to last a life time. You take care of your health and sanity by not trying to do for the whole world. Our children don't need everything in the store; they just need to be remembered and loved. Real love is you spending quality time with them. You're wasting time thinking about teaching your dog to be quiet; let him be himself. They get excited just like we do. Just be your natural selves for the family photos. They are the best ones anyway.
2006-12-18 01:14:10 · answer #3 · answered by Barbra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
About the house cleaning part, walk into your house and see what looks the messiest or what stands out and clean that. Since the obvious parts are clean, it won't seem so dirty.
It would be hard to teach ur dogs to be quiet on such short notice, besides, the energy of your family being there might excite them and throw that down the hole. (maybe)
And the rest, im not so sure... sanity sounds good tho :)
2006-12-17 13:35:32 · answer #4 · answered by Will Bleed For Kicks 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, Yule was a pagan festival to celebrate the winter solstice. Constantine, being a wise leader, realized he just couldn't tell people to stop celebrating their traditional holidays so he basically hijacked the Yule holiday and turned it into Christmas. It is for this reason that many of our Christmas traditions including the Christmas tree, the Yule log, and even the Christmas ham have their roots set firmly in pre-Christian pagan tradition.
2016-05-23 03:18:17 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
relax! u got 7 days. organize yourself. if u r having alot of people over, u don't need to keep your dogs quiet or plan activities. all u need is to have your photo albums handy, have some music on, tree decorated, and make sure u have food and finger foods. to relieve the stress u can have each family bring a favorite dish. as for cleaning your house just do 1 room a day. u still got 1 week to go. walmart or target is the perfect place to shop because they have gifts for mom's, dad's, kids, teachers.
i am done with my christmas shopping i went to target on saturday and 4 hours later i was done.
2006-12-17 13:35:40 · answer #6 · answered by Miki 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your health and sanity!! I've had to learn the hard way. Get what food you need.....make sure at least the bathroom and living room are clean....and don't worry about the rest.
Get gifts as you have time...make it easy on yourself...use bags instead of wrapping paper(when you can).
Learn to sit back and enjoy the holidays. Don't get so tired that you are unable to enjoy the memories.
2006-12-17 13:31:23 · answer #7 · answered by TexasRose 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
lol...eh, who cares about the house. You'll have enough friends, family, and presents to take up room and clutter the floor. :) You're priorities should be your sanity. Not to mention, if you're being so kind to hold the celebration at your house, anyone you ask should be also just as kind and help you prepare. :) Merry Christmas!!!!
2006-12-17 13:33:10 · answer #8 · answered by Suse 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That depends on how dirty your house really is. If you normally keep your house as dirty as downtown Detroit, you might have a problem. If it is just day to day stuff and your house is generally neat, just scrub the toilet and vacuum. Relax, enjoy your family time.
2006-12-17 13:35:33 · answer #9 · answered by googleplex 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Im going to say health and sanity
2006-12-17 13:30:49 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋