Before the holidays arrive, breathe deep and draw on your calm, because chaos is about to ensue and you have to get it together before it can fall apart! Parents have the heaviest burden during the holiday seasons from getting all the gifting done to cooking, cleaning and making most of the family arrangements. Drawing in upon us are the holidays, and I can hardly believe that in under 3 weeks Turkey Day will be here. Is it really possible that the summer has flown by and we are ready to indulge, delight and move into the holidays? Some days more than other a blast of reality sets in that I must get organized, and be ready for the days about to come, so I grab a cup of tea and then I get organized. Special notes during the holiday, crafted with materials that we use everyday but in new colors for the holidays all lend to the festivities ahead. Here’s how I lavishly live the holidays out loud, setting a calm in place with a few helpful products and a spot of tea!
Preparedness
A well placed bin during the holidays suddenly can be the catch-all. As the bin gets loaded I purge it of documents we don’t need. The mail kind of just piles up during the season of perpetual bliss and there just no way to keep up with it. I like using my MACBETH COLLECTION Shelf Grommet Tote that is perfect for Essential Storage & Organization from Staples. This bin measures 14.5″ w X 10″ D X 5″High and is perfect for tossing mail, school papers, pens, tape, cords, chargers, etc. in, just to clear off a counterspace. The grommet carry handles make it easy to tote from room to room to collect clutter.
Once you get cleaned up, you probably need to write out those holiday cards and the perfect way to accent them is with Sharpie Metallic, fine tipped markers. These will make your envelopes, sparkle and glisten while adding just the right kick of festivity. When you go to seal that envelope, make sure to use a special Silver Foil Seal from Geographics found at Staples. These will add the final touch to those holiday cards that make them shout, ” Happy Holidays and you are opening something sealed with our love!” (yeah I got all that from looking at a foil seal.)
Wine Preparedness
When you open that bottle of wine, before the company comes, Staples can also help you out with taking the PLUNGE into the bottle by helping you seal the bottle when you are done. If you only sipped at a glass of wine, the Fred PLUNGE is the perfect silicone bottle stopper that almost looks like a toilet plungers(that ought to start some conversations) and it seals with an airtight seal!
Sweets
Once you have the holidays in check, you can relax and enjoy a few good pieces of chocolate from a premiere chocolatier. The holidays are the best time for treats. I absolutely believe in the indulgence of treats for those days during the holidays that have your head spinning and turning from beginning to end! Ethel M Chocolates is crafted in small batches, has a rich taste and is created by a family who knows just a little something about the magic of chocolate, the Mars Family! These chocolates are made with recipes that were handed down through generations of the Mars family, with the best quality ingredients and no preservatives and they truly will satiate the quest for delicious chocolate.
This year, leave yourself a few treats out on a plate of Ethel M Peppermint Bark that offers crushed peppermint turned inside of creamy white chocolate and then this sits on a bed of dark chocolate, yum, yum! Remember I bragged about this peppermint perfection last year? But if you prefer to nibble at individual pieces inside of a beautiful box, that you can open over and over and sink your teeth into, I have a different option for you: Ethel M Chocolates Holiday Deluxe Collection. This box of chocolate is the cure-all to the: bad day, running late, late library book, missed Dr. Appt, forgotten lunch box, etc. as there is a piece to soothe you through all 24 days before Christmas when every possible crisis arrives and you just need your PIECE of holiday fix. Meet creamy caramels, Almond Crunch, toffee crisps, PB& J, Egg Nog, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Peppermint Silk and of course Pecan Pie, all presented in bite size pieces of heaven. Good-bye bad day hello chocolatey bliss.
Lavishly live the holidays out loud, sweet, organized and plugging away at that wine!
*products provided to facilitate write up, opinions, images are of course my own as I lavishly live my life out loud! Never drink and drive and you must be of legal age to consume alcohol.
