Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Christmas Tips

Here I am all cold and wet

Working to post and yet

There is just one little regret

For my "deadline" I have not met.

This was supposed to post much earlier

But apparently things are 'twirlier' (using poetic license here)

As boxes get unpacked

And nativties get stacked.


The advent wreath is out and unpacked, with the little prayer book in the middle....




The above photo is my first uploaded picture from my new camera but it was a challenge to find the pictures I took as they are in a completely different location from the Kodak photos.  The advent wreath above is a homemade one that Mario and I put together many, many years ago when I had trouble finding one.  Mario made little wire spirals within the wreath, to hold the candles but it was still difficult at times to keep the candles in place.  Although the spirals are still there, I did find this candle ring that I just lay on top of the old wreath now.

This was supposed to be Tuesday Tips for Christmas but it is now a Wordful Wednesday tip post. 

 First tip, when decorating your tree, make sure you don't have top heavy ornaments or your tree could look like this one...



Now here are the tips I found on the Internet...

"Boss Yourself
At back-to-school night this year, my first-grade daughter’s teacher told us parents that she frequently tells a tattling child to “Boss yourself.” What this means, she explained, is that the child should make sure she is doing the right thing instead of paying so much attention to what the other children are doing. I loved this saying and have been using it at home with my children as well.

Ummm, so what does this have to do with Christmas stress? Well, the same guidelines can apply for Christmas as well. Don’t worry about what other people are getting their kids for Christmas. Don’t worry that the neighbors across the street already have their lights up and you can’t even remember where yours are. Don’t worry that the cookies you are bringing to the cookie exchange are store-bought instead of homemade. You and you family need to decide where you want to spend your time and money this holiday season and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing.

Give Yourself the Gift of Time
Christmas was not meant to be packed into a day. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” is more than just a song, after all. Christmas is a season that goes from December 24-January 6. That gives you 12 more days to get your Christmas cards sent out!

You can also give yourself the gift of time by cutting out activities no one really enjoys. Ask everyone in you family to pick on or two Christmas activities they really enjoy, and then focus on getting those activities done. Let everything else go.

Set a Budget and Stick to It
Extra expenses can certainly make you feel stressed out. Don’t judge the success of your Christmas by the number of packages under the tree. If you have a large family you buy presents for, suggest some ways to help reduce costs for everyone:
•Buy gifts just for the children
•Draw names so everyone buys a gift for only one person
•Set a limit on the cost of gifts
•Give homemade gifts
When you do go shopping for gifts, shop early in the Christmas season to avoid the last-minute crowds. Also consider shopping online. Many retailers offer free shipping during the holidays.

Cook Up Some Memories
So many memories involve food! Food plays a very important role in Christmas celebrations, from cookies to candies to Christmas dinners. If you enjoy cooking and baking, you’ll love this part of Christmas. If you don’t…remember our Christmas rule for this year: Boss yourself. Buy goodies, trade with friends, or just decide to be healthy and skip the treats altogether.

Even if you enjoy baking, it can be hard to find time to get it done at Christmas. It’s fun to set aside one day and have a marathon baking day with a friend. You enjoy special time together, and at the end of the day, you split all the goodies. Another option is to have a cookie exchange with a group of friends, where everyone brings a treat and you all share the goodies."

Here's a really cute home made item for someone with time and talent...





Some more tips on a picture...we can never have too many tips, can we??...




This is the BIGGEST tip I can give ever....remember to keep HIM in everything you do.  This year I have gotten the earliest start ever on my Christams nativity preparations.  I used to think it was not very christian to start too early but I have found myself  more into the praying and seeing Him this year as I put the nativities out. 

On Monday I had a lady come over from my consolation group at church.  Sharon lost her beloved husband of 34 yrs very suddenly last January and she is now relocating to Connecticut, so she will miss my nativity and cookie party open house...to 'make up' for this, I invited her over to see what was being put out as well as the permanent displays.  Sharon really blessed me with what she said as she was looking at them all...she said "I feel like I should be praying"...and I can only hope and pray that others will be affected the same way.

Since there are over three hundred natvities now, I could never do this on my own or with other's help, no...what I need to do is to do it for Him, for Jesus, then I can even do it all alone....





I am trying the newest blogger settings and there is no spell check (wah, sob, sniffle), although there are other neat features.  This means that the funniest parts of my posts will probably not be in the jokes but in the wrong words or misspellings I will now have!!  I plan to really check though.

Just in case I haven't tickled your funny bone enough with fast and creative spellings, here are some funnies...
~Holiday Diet Tips ~

If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar,
They cancel each other out.

When eating with someone else, calories don't count
if you both eat the same amount.

Foods used for medicinal purposes have no calories.
This includes any chocolate used for energy, brandy,
Sara Lee Cheesecake (eaten whole), And Haagen-Daz Ice Cream.

Movie-related foods are much lower in calories simply
Because they are a part of the entertainment experience
and not part of one's personal fuel.
This includes Milk Duds, popcorn with butter, Junior Mints,
Snickers, and Gummi Bears.

Cookie pieces contain no
calories because the process of breakage causes calorie leakage.

If you eat the food off someone else's plate, it doesn't count.

If you eat standing up the calories
All go to your feet and get walked off.

Food eaten at Christmas parties has no calories

And remember STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backwards!






~~~For the blessings of preparing for Your birthday and not being stressed about it, I thank You Lord.

25 comments:

  1. Oh I can't wait to see all of the Nativities!
    I remember from last year that you had quite a few. I love seeing other peoples collections!
    Get busy unpacking and photographing!!!!!
    Love Di

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  2. Well at least you are posting. I just sit and enjoy reading everyone's post then have the hardest time posting myself! I am in the midst of unpacking and trying to figure out where to put all my 'stuff'. hugs and smiles across the miles.

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  3. Love 'twirlier'....but your poetic license is being examined.... :)))
    I'll be back later this evening when I get back from church to read at length. I read the poem....and want to come back and put my feet up (on my desk, of course) and read every word....from my dear friend.
    Smiles to you,
    Jackie

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  4. Three hundred Nativity Scenes! Wow! I'm excited! I didn't start following you until sometime this year so I didn't get to see your colletion. 'Can't wait!

    Ray and I had an Advent wreath that we made too (years ago) because we couldn't find one anywhere (not even in the Catholic shops!), it's seen it's better days now. We keep saying we're going to make another one but we haven't gotten around to it.

    And I say "Boss yourself" to the kids all the time! (To mine when they were little, to the Kindergarten kids when I worked in school, and now to Jayden!)

    I wish those eating tips were true!

    Thanks for the Christmas tips, all good advice!
    Love to you!, E

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  5. ...things are getting twirlier here, too! I think it's remarkable that you can rhyme while twirly! For the life of me, I can't!

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  6. Marcy I love how you share your faith with all of us, and now making your home ready for our Creator's birthday....you are an inspiration to me.
    I have been thinking about your friend Cheryl, how is she doing Marcy......:-) Hugs

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  7. ***Di, I think you might be high
    Or you are having another dream
    For I did not come on the blog scene
    Till February of this year, my dear.
    This is my first December post ever but I may have talked about my nativities...or not.
    Try not to mess with my brain
    as it is a little lame.

    ***Linda, I am FINALLY posting, but I have been very out of it, so I need to get back on track.

    ***New words are the best, Jackie and twirlier might just catch on and I probably should have started using it years ago when things were getting twirly!

    ***Eileen, you didn't miss anything. Shhh...I think Di has been hitting the bottle again and thought I was online last year. You found me (or I found you) shortly after I started in February 2009.

    ***Rebecca, I can not only rhyme while twirly but I can even chew bubble gum and twirl...how's that for talent???

    ***Bernie, I have meant to over and over agin say something about Cheryl. I even called her when I got back from Phoenix. She is in good spirits as always but said she is puffy from the steroids they have her taking. while she is still on Hospice, she has actually gone to Wal Mart and to a luncheon so I am praying so much that she does get those two extra years she so desparately wants to have before it is her time to go home to Heaven.

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  8. Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, must I do all the work for you? I am very tired, getting older and possibly somewhat decrepit, but I am not high!
    Check your March 9th or 10th blog post.
    And just exactly why were your Nativities still out then? Or perhaps you just posted the photos late? And why must I keep track of your blog posts? I can barely keep track of what day it is, help me out here!
    Love Di

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  9. DIANA!! THAT'S IT! I am loopy here from lack of sleep! And I come here for a quiet little moment, and what happens?! I sit here with tears of laughter spilling out, I am falling off my chair! Peals of laughter!
    And, Miss Marcy, you are just as bad!
    Now how am I going to fall asleep?!
    Seriously, I was feeling a little down about some things! And, now, I can not stop laughing!

    Okay, girls, WE'RE BACK ON TRACK!!

    Now I have to go check Marcy's March posts. I'm sure I was following her then!

    'See' you tomorrow (er, that would be later today), girls!
    LOVE you!,
    Eileen

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  10. Diana is right! You posted about it. I just got back from March, but I see I didn't comment on it, so I must have started following you religiously after that post!

    And I'm busting out laughing at Diana's comments!
    She writes:
    "I became my own follower on my own blog and I have no idea how I did it"!
    I am screaming with laughter here, I am going to wake the whole house!

    Okay, I'm going to bed now.
    Love you, E

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  11. Cookie pieces have no calories? Really? I'm going to break all the cookies before I eat them! Great reminder, especially about keeping Jesus as the focus of this time of year!

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  12. Okay, okay, pick on the feeble redhead you two if that helps make your day...something has finally stirred in this lame brain and I actually do remember that I did that (that's always reassuring to me that I can remember doin it). Eileen, you were probably following me but just too stunned to comment, feeling you had come across a real nut case or two (two is for Di since she followed herself...hmmm, think she is till following herself everywhere???). On the plus side she is a terrific memory and can remember what I posted, so when I am lost and confused I will now go to Di for remembering things...Yahoo, I've needed someone like her for a long, long time. So, Di, where is my angel earring that I lost last year??

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  13. Whoa, just hold everything...I re-read Diana's comment and she DID say LAST year and I wasn't here last year (not so sure I am even 'here' this year) even though I did that posting on the nativities...so I get some points for that, if we are going to be good and fair christian women, right?

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  14. "Pick on the feeble redhead" ~ that reminds me, did you know there was a "Kick A Ginger Day"? It was a day made up specifically to kick/beat-up on/pick on a redhead!
    We missed it, I think it was one day last week or the week before.
    But Di and I are making up for it now!

    I shouldn't joke about it, it was a serious thing and it is being treated and prosecuted as a hate crime.

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  15. So you guys are finally at it again...you do know from this moment on I will be calling you ..."The Three Stooges" ...no offense meant, it's just the three of you together are entertaining, if not crazy!

    Love all of you!
    Wanda

    P.S. Thanks for the tips Marcy, can't wait to see all 300 of the Nativity Scenes!

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  16. Wanda, who is Curly? Who is Larry? And who is Moe?
    I think I liked being compared to "The Trouble With Angels" better!

    And, wait a minute here! How did I get lumped in with the Twisted Sisters anyway?! I was just an innocent bystander (byreader), minding my own business, and then Diana came along!

    NOW the village feels right again!

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  17. Wow, I don't think I can keep up with all these witty comments..it makes my head all twirlly, kind of like when I stand up to quickly and the room spins!
    You never fail to bring a smile to my face..and have done it once again!
    Hugs!

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  18. Oh Marcy, Last year, this year, what difference does it make. After 50 all the years just sort of mash together. Most times I don't even know what day it is and calenders don't help, I don't look at them.
    I do remember the earring post,I don't know what happened to the angel earring. Perhaps she wanted to fly back to heaven!
    Love Di

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  19. I'm still laughing!!! Can you tell!?! Thanks! Cathy

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  20. What else can I say Marcy? I just love your posts!
    Many blessings
    Lara

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  21. OK...I've decided that redheads have more fun.
    I'm off to Wal Mart. I'm buying Ms. Clairol.
    I'll be baaaaaaaaack!
    Jackie

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  22. Dear Marcy,
    what a great post! My family have an advent wreath at home, and I remember it was so special when we were younger: the smell, the candlelight, and every Sunday we'd spend time together around it and my mom would read us Christmas stories and we'd make things for Christmas -I miss that here; maybe I should get a wreath myself. But that would probably make me miss my family even more... I'm feeling very nostalgic right now.
    Thanks for posting this.
    Lots of love,
    Marina

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  23. What a blessing you are! I guess that is why you are missed when you are not posting(although I do understand). This is so much fun to read, and I like how you helped me see humor in the Christmas eating thing. Thank you so much!

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  24. Ooops...have you removed word verification? Not sure if my comment got through...so I'll leave another!!! Love, love, love the way you count calories...you are my newest "bestest" friend!! ;-) And your advent wreath is very lovely...and I can understand why you treasure it! I thoroughly appreciate all the terrific advice you give in this post...and hope I can keep it all in mind this Christmas! Thank you! Love you! Janine XO

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  25. Hello Marcy...wow you guys have been busy!! You guys crack me up :) I esp. laughed at Eileen telling that Diana became her own follower...that same thing happened to me on facebook...trying to post my blog to facebook..crazy but funny!!
    By the way, my sweet and dear friend..I recieved the most lovely card and gift in the mail!! You are an angel Marcy!! And yes it made me happy...(I love lighthouses :)and thank you, thank you!! Sending you a virtual hug...a big one!!
    Love you!! Jerelene

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