Week 11

November 4th-10th

I joked the other day about the fact that I went to bed on Halloween and woke up on Christmas.  But this is indeed how I feel.  On November 1st, I ventured out to my favorite box store to see what kinds of discounts I could find on their Halloween clearance and was disappointed to find that most of the Halloween goodies had already been replaced by wreaths, trees, wrapping paper, and other assorted Christmas items.  Around here we recognize and rejoice in the fact that there is a holiday between Halloween and Christmas and it will not get swept away in the Christmas frenzy.  We've already been preparing for Christmas so we do not need to feel part of the sudden rush to get ready in less than 2 months. We get to enjoy Thanksgiving!  Let's get to it...

Make one batch of holiday goodies-unless you are confident that you have enough.  If you're on the fence, make an extra batch.  You can always give more away.  But it's better to have too much than not enough...at least in my book.

Make one freezer meal- we are about to wrap this process up and start enjoying these meals.  If you've run out of ideas, make a pot of soup or grab a ready-made meal from Costco that you can stash in your freezer.

Purchase at least 1 gift- Hopefully you are making some headway on this.  If you've gotten behind, now is the time to hit it hard before the December rush.  Make November your chance to catch up and get ahead if possible.

Wrap & label any gifts you have purchased

Review and revise your Thanksgiving menu

Plan your table setting and centerpiece

Reserve or purchase any items that need to be borrowed or replaced

Purchase, clean, or iron holiday clothing

Finish addressing your Christmas cards

Send out your invites for Thanksgiving if you haven't already

Make appointments for your flu vaccinations- if your family regularly gets flu vaccines, get them taken care of as soon as possible to help avoid illness during the holiday season.  Also, stock up on vitamins as well as cold medicines and other over the counter medications.  Make sure you have tissues on hand too!