What We're Planning for Today's Housewife!

For the last two and a half years, Alicia, KLee, Kama and I have been giving four opinions on one topic each week. It's been a lot of fun!

But we feel like the current format is restricting in some ways. By the end of the week, there's not much new to say. So we have talked, we have prayed, and we have some exciting changes to share with you!

Beginning January 3rd, Today's Housewife will move to a channel layout. Each week we will write about topics relating to family, home, food, hobbies, faith, and deals. Each of us will be staying on the team as editors, and we'll be introducing you to new team members in January and February!

If you are interested in writing for Today's Housewife, please email us (todayshousewife @ hotmail. com - take out the spaces!) with information about yourself and links to your blog or other writing. We hope to build teams with 2-3 writers for each topic.

In February, we'll be unveiling a new blog layout and design, and accepting ads for the first time! With page views close to 10,000 a month and almost 500 subscribers, we might be a great opportunity for your Etsy shop, website, or product. Rates are $20 for a 120x120 ad, above the fold. Email for more information todayshousewife @ hotmail. com

So, in the next few weeks, a lot will be happening "behind the screens!" We hope you have a blessed Christmas and New Year and we'll see you in January!

Preparing for Friends and Family

Boy, has it been a crazy week around here! I feel like yesterday should have been Friday - there were 2 weeks worth of events packed into the first 3 days of the week. KLee's post yesterday was so timely for me. I've been rushing around (like I do EVERY year) preparing everyone else for Christmas. The cookies, the presents, even working on meaningful advent related activities for my kids isn't as important as preparing my own heart. Thanks for the reminder, KLee.

So, today's been a bit more relaxed around here. Luke and I have read a lot of books and I've taken some time for myself and my own heart. It doesn't mean I don't still have a million things to do, but hopefully I'll be doing them more faithfully and with the right attitude.

What exactly is still on my to do list:

Make Christmas sugar cookies for the kids and family

Wrap presents

Order 2 more presents online

Mail a present

Prepare the guest bedroom

Clean up the dining room table so we have a place to eat Christmas dinner

But it will all get done. And if it doesn't? Well, I'm sure it's not crucial to this season anyway!

What's still on your list before next week?

What are you Preparing for?

Christmas is the busiest time of year. Parties, lights, cookies, shopping, making, wrapping, trip planning...the list seems never ending. Especially right now. It is crunch time! 10 more days until Christmas!

We will be leaving in the near future for our first ever cross country drive with a 4 year old. We are looking at 2 full days in the car. This has created some extra planning that wasn't needed before. I am trying to finish up my to-do list, which does not include cleaning the house, laundry, and packing. It is all coming to a head and I am worn out already.

But during all this planning, I am realizing that I am not taking as much time as I should be in remembering the WHY of Christmas. It's not about the lights, gifts, or traveling. It is about JESUS. What should I be doing to prepare my heart for our coming King? You can see our plan here.

So, if I am committed to reading every night with my daughter, why am I not taking the time to read for myself? Doesn't our example speak louder than our words? Don't our actions reflect what we are putting into our heart? (Matt 12:34)

Today, I must take a break from the "must get done" to do something much more important--Preparing my heart for the King of all Kings!

The Trip of a Lifetime

This week, among other things, I'll be cleaning the house for the arrival of my in-laws, dinner with the family and in-law Christmas. I'll also be wrapping and finishing their gifts. Then, I'll be packing for our trip to see my parents. We will leave the boys with them and my husband and I will be heading to Israel for 10 days! I can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away (and I still have so much to do). My husband thinks we should just carry on our bag of clothes (like we did for our 2 weeks in Europe), but I don't know how to pack! Guess I'll be figuring that out this week too! Packing for 2 weeks for 4 people, what a joy.

I wish I were more prepared for this momentous trip, so hopefully I'll be able to take some time before we get to leave to re-read some Bible stories and pray. If you think of me over the rest of the month, please pray that things will go smoothly. I'm nervous about leaving the boys and being so far away for 10 days!!

The In-Laws Are Coming to Town!

Even better than Santa Clause coming to town, my in-laws are coming! Usually we are the ones traveling for the holidays, but this year Lee's parents agreed to come visit us. Of course, an upcoming visit from the in-laws is a great motivator to get things done around the house. I have a little over two weeks until they are here, so I'm breaking down my to-do list into daily tasks. Here are my top ten "before they get here" tasks, plus one bonus!

1. Clean out the fridge and freezer
2. Organize the kitchen cabinets
3. Clean out master closet
4. Clean laundry room
5. Organize basement closets
6. Organize & clean out toys
7. Make sure I have enough towels
8. Borrow a set of sheets
9. Clean desk area
10. Plan the menu & grocery shop, make some ahead of time
11. Regular cleaning schedule, taken up a notch (especially cleaning the floors!)

And just in case you think I'm doing all the work, here's my husband's to-do list:

• Clean out and organize the garage
• Caulk the bathtub (after a good scrubbing)
• "Winterize" the back yard & back porch
• Clean cars (inside and out)
• Make sure we have everything we need for snow

Are you planning on any big cleaning projects before Christmas? 

For more fun top ten lists, check out Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda!

Quilted Stockings!

(Sorry I forgot to post on Tuesday. My brain is elsewhere I guess!!)

Along with a few other decorations that we sat out this year, like a tiny 3 foot tree on the bar, some jingle bells and a 3 foot Santa hanging on our wall, I got to dig out the stockings I made last year!! I was so excited to hang them up! I made them while super pregnant and waiting for #2 to arrive. I quilted them and then lined them with a coordinating fabric. I just love the way they turned out. What do you think??

Edit: Here's the link (after much digging--I found it on my own blog)...

http://faithandfrugality.blogspot.com/2009/12/stockings-were-hung-by-chimney-with.html

New Year, Same Decorations

I really didn't do a lot different at my house this year with my decorations. In fact, I looked up last year's post to see where everything was last year. But I did pare down the decorations just a bit since I'm working on de-cluttering everything for putting our home up for sale. Here are a couple new areas I decorated this year.

We got to add a 5th stocking to our row!

I only put out my very favorite Santa's and Snowmen together this year.

And I found this branch with the nest last year after Christmas on super clearance. It ended up being less than $5. I loved the simple elegance and thought it looked perfect in my dining room.

Want to see the rest? Click over to last year's decorations. Do you do the same thing year in and year out for your holiday decorations? Or do you change it up a bit?

Where's Your Christmas Tree?

We had some friends over last night and their 5 year old asked me, "where is your Christmas tree?"

Call me Scrooge, but I am sticking to the same story I did last year! You can read all about it and see the fun decor HERE.

Christmas at the Peoples' House

Thanks for stopping by from The Nesting Place! My Christmas decorating is still a work in progress. We weren't planning on doing much decorating this year since we were going to be traveling, but my in-laws decided to come visit us this year instead of us going there so now we do get to decorate!

We got a new nativity set this week after the accident last year that resulted in baby Jesus losing His head. The boys enjoy getting to touch and play with this one, even though our five year old is taking some liberties with the biblical account. I'm pretty sure the angels didn't fly into each other and crash as many times as they do at our house.

Last year I bought a few Christmas decorations on clearance! It's been fun to get those out and putting them around the house!

I hate to admit it, but I'm one of those who likes to have a Christmas tree that color coordinates. So last year we got David a little tree to put in his room. Now there's a place for all our memory and homemade ornaments! 

We were {this close} to getting an artificial tree this year but at the last minute decided on a real one again. (It's hard to convince my husband that artificial is just as good!) We really love the size and shape of the one we got. Since my in-laws will be sleeping on pull-outs in the living room, we couldn't get a tree that took up too much space.

We are using Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Book. I printed off her images and laminated them. Then I filled a vase with branches from the yard we we hang an ornament up each day as we read the corresponding passage and devotion.

Finally, we are counting down to Christmas with our Advent Calendar, doing a fun activity each day. You can read more about it at our family blog, Celebrate Every Day.


Next year we hope to celebrate Christmas with our new son from Ethiopia! Right now we are deep into the paperwork stage and need to raise about $2,700 before we can take the next step. We are selling hand-made Christmas ornaments in the shape of Africa for $10 a piece. You can visit our blog for more information!

Cleaning Up... EVERYTHING!

It's that time again. The Navy will soon tell us to pack our boxes and head to our next duty station. We are thinking sometime toward the end of school but we don't know where we'll be next. We do know that we'd like to get our home on the market after the first of the year. If you've ever sold a home you know that there's a lot of work that goes into staging it. So, I'm slowly cleaning out all our closets and packing away things we can live without for 6 months to make our home look especially roomy and organized. When the Christmas boxes came out last weekend the garage became the clearing house of sorts to organize it all. All my decorations are up in the house, but now I have to pack away other things. As you can see, I have quite a bit of work to do! But this cold front we are having came just at the right time. Now I'm super motivated to getting it all organized so that my van can be parked inside again!

How do you stay organized with all the holiday decorations and extra "clutter" around the house?

Cleaning Out the To-Do List

With Christmas quickly approaching, there is way to much to do in way too little time! Can I get an amen?
We are headed out of town for an extended stay with our family. And this year we are driving. Call me crazy! But we are up for the challenge, but it has also added several things to my list.

On my list:

• Several, okay a lot, gifts to make
• Stocking stuffers to purchase
• Church music to enjoy
• Parties to attend
• Planning an 18+ hour trip home
• Lights to drive by
• Cookies to decorate

All of this while trying to enjoy the holiday season and focus on the reason we are celebrating!

Each day I am trying to take one or more of my items and keeping my list handy so I can add or mark off items as appropriate.

How do you stay organized and sane during the holidays?