To wow your guests and still get your beauty rest, there are many dishes you can make ahead of time for Easter brunch, says Taste of Home. Brunch enchiladas, egg casseroles, and even stuffed French toast can be assembled and refrigerated overnight, then popped in the oven and served—still sizzling—the following day. You can also chop, measure and plate other brunch essentials such as a fruit salad, coffee and condiments the night before and take them directly to the table.
Tag: holidays
Get Organized Before Santa Arrives
Christmas is now only a few days away, and whether you’re responsible for cooking, giving, hosting, entertaining or all of the above, you probably still have a lot of chores to do. You want your holiday to go off without a hitch, and there’s not much time left to make sure everything is “just so.”
You’ve cleaned and decluttered the house, and maybe even donated some of your unused clothing and other stuff to ClothingDonations.org. You’ve decorated the tree and lit the lights. You’ve sent the holiday cards and party invites. You’ve even decided what you’ll serve at the holiday feast, but you still may feel a little bit frazzled by the final countdown.
Get Packing
The final week of the holiday season has any number of deadlines to observe. Dec. 21 is the last day to drop Priority Mail packages off at the post office so that they might arrive by Christmas; Amazon Prime subscribers have an extra day to shop and take advantage of free two-day shipping. Wait, and you’ll pay a premium to get your packages in time for the weekend.
Three days ahead, Real Simple advises in its comprehensive holiday checklist, those hosting a holiday dinner can buy any fresh ingredients needed and set the holiday table. Two days out, you can start cooking. Many dishes actually improve in the refrigerator overnight, and making them ahead of time will cut the stress on the crucial day-of.
On the final day before the holiday, charge up any camcorders or cameras you’ll use to record the good cheer, and buy extra batteries for all the little gadgets people are going to unwrap. Polish off your cooking preparations, and create a timeline for whatever has to go in the oven on the feast day itself.
Do any last-minute gift-wrapping that needs to be done, and give the house a quick once-over for the weekend ahead. And finally, take the time to do whatever it is you like to do to relax before the big day.
You may not be able to do everything on your list, but you can do enough to make the holiday a success if you start now. As Clean & Scentsible blogger Jenn Lifford says, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Things can (and will) go wrong, but you can leave less to chance by getting organized.
Have a Happy & Healthy Holiday!
Make Room for Your Black Friday Buys
Since the advent of the indoor mall, the day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — has become a holiday unto itself. The overwhelming, all-American desire to get a good deal on holiday gifts has made the day a huge event for consumers. And retailers are only too happy to oblige, since many chains look to the last two months of the year as their biggest opportunity to command a profit for the year.
Retail stores expect to post $3 billion in sales this Friday, up 11.5% from 2015. And Black Friday’s online corollary, Cyber Monday, is set to match those figures. In fact, Black Friday is no longer just a single day; Amazon launched 35 straight days of “Black Friday” promotions last week, offering a new deal every five minutes through Dec. 22. And eBay, Macy’s, Target and Walmart aren’t far behind; many retail stores will open when the sun sets on the Thanksgiving feast.
As you head to the malls and superstores this year to get a great deal on a big-screen TV or Playstation VR system, don’t forget that you’ll have to make room for those bargain finds. Because for every people-pleasing gift of Black Fridays past, there’s a sweater that just didn’t fit, a toy nobody liked or a countertop appliance that was used once before getting shoved to the back of a closet.
Bag up that unwanted apparel and other items and call ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. They’ll be taken to a thrift shop and resold, putting them into the hands of people who use and appreciate them while funding programs that benefit the nation’s veterans. You’ll earn a tax deduction, and be secure in the knowledge that the deals you found on previous Black Fridays and abandoned won’t add to landfills.
You’ll also give thanks for the newfound space you can use to hide any deals you find this Black Friday and Cyber Monday before you wrap them up for gift-giving. And that will make for happy shopping and a happy holiday!