Planning a Matheson Christmas, Post #6, A little bit of Everything

     

          I have been overlapping the barriers between holidays here in the last week. I've dabbled in Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. Yesterday we went and got our pumpkins, and can I just say how I prefer having Thanksgiving first. My uncarved pumpkins are out getting rained on (hopefully cleaned) before we turn them into Jack-o-lanterns in a few short weeks. Our Thanksgiving plans don't have me hosting, so I've been looking more to our wardrobe, and starting to ponder wardrobe for Halloween and Christmas too. I know about 4 years ago I was scrambling to get my outfit for my holiday party the night before.

         We got some dollar store decorations to put up for Halloween. I have never gone too crazy, but Jake gets a kick out of the Halloween decorations when we go to the store, skeletons in particular.

         As for Christmas, it's been about my lists. The grocery one obviously, my pantry is pretty full, and the non perishable list has dwindled. I got into my frozen over the weekend. Where it isn't separated from my other items, I alway leave a sharpie nearby to put a "c" on it.

        I also looked to my gift list. I set myself a due date of Dec 1st. I'm weird about crowds, I can be in them, but if I feel like I'm in a rush in them, not a good time. So I go for getting it all done early. This is also incase I need to go the online route, or need to send something. For this reason I'm deciding now what everyone is getting, so I can start picking the gifts up one by one.

        K, Luv Ya, Bye

        Nancy, Cale, Jake and Alice

Planning a Matheson Family Christmas post # 5

           Every year earlier posts cover the holidays between the start of my blog and Christmas. There are 3 and I do recognize all 3. Thanksgiving and Halloween both played a part in our house this week. Most of our Fall decor has been out for a while, this week was finishing touches. I also need to grab a wreath hanger, for my Thanksgiving wreath. I also kind of want to find a little something for my door for Halloween, just so there is something between my Thanksgiving wreath and my Christmas one. I'm leaning to something with a skeleton, because it would seem Jake is a fan of skeletons.

          Beyond that, we got our Halloween treats for trick-or-treaters...now the question is, how much will make it to Halloween?

          Today is our family day, so we have some stuff we're going to do. I also need to go over my grocery list progress. Gravy, hot chocolate, stuffing and the soups are done, but I need to look it over.

           K, Luv ya, Bye 

           Nancy, Cale, Jake and Alice 

          

Planning a Matheson Family Christmas post #4, Inventory and Organizing the Linen closet

       

        Most of my friends know at this point I have started my Christmas planning, but they all think I'm about to haul out my tree at any second...not the case. I have a bunch of organizing I'm doing at this point. One thing I always do this time of year is gut my linen closet, and take inventory. That said, this year, Cale has already re organized our closet, so I only need to take inventory. This is also when Alice's towel collection gets replenished ( and it's about to be used a lot more too).

         It may sound more like housekeeping than preparing for Christmas, but let's be honest it is one of those things that could be a last minute scramble,  and I kind of hate those. Besides, I would much rather use our time in December for more festive activities.

        K, Luv Ya, Bye!

        Nancy, Cale, Jake and Alice

Planning a Matheson Family Christmas, Post #3, The Grocery Lists

            The picture on this post was my Christmas gift from my Brother and Sister in-law last Christmas. I have been making notes all year with gift ideas, snacks, recipes, and of course my grocery lists, yes plural. When I make my menu, I make my grocery list, and it breaks up into 3 parts, fresh, frozen and non perishables. Why you ask? I have already started grocery shopping for Christmas. Right now I'm exclusively using the non perishable list. Above my fridge is an awkward to reach rarely used cupboard that is perfect for this. It designates the items, so they don't get used by accident. If you'd like to see my lists, check out below.

        K, Luv Ya, Bye!

        Nancy, Cale, Jake and Alice

Planning a Matheson Family Christmas, Post #2, The Menu

           Why do I start this blog series so early? Honestly I love Christmas and could do an all year one, but the practical answer is money. Christmas is expensive, so I try and spread out the cost, one factor is the food. For this reason, I have my menu sorted now for Christmas Eve, Day, Boxing day, and the day after ( do YOU want to go grocery shopping that day?) That said, a lot of my menu is leftovers. Fortunately Christmas does tend to be pretty traditional, so it's not like it's hard to do. When you do it, don't forget beverages, snacks, and those little things everyone has that "it's not Christmas without. If you're looking for some inspiration, check below.

        K, Luv Ya, Bye

        Nancy,Cale,Jake and Alice

Planning A Matheson Family Christmas, Post #1

              101 days from today is Christmas, and for that reason, I welcome you to my 4th year doing my Christmas planning blog series. First year on THIS blog, and first year with an actual title. I start 101 days to Christmas, because it's the series I used to follow and pay tribute every year. Her's I'd far more refined ( and American). It's more of instructions, while mine is, hey, here's what I tried. I'll post for this series once a week minimum, on Sundays. Each post might need additional posts, so Sunday's I'll always let you know. I also only promise the one, because I might have other things I want to post about. For example we have a great family day planned today, watch for that.

           This said there will be 2 more Christmas posts this week, because I have started working on some stuff already, and it's one of my favorite things to start with and typically a major money saver for me, so watch for that. Today I simply post to say welcome back to another year of planning, attempting to organize, and seriously enjoying Christmas.

      K, Luv Ya, Bye!

      Nancy,Cale, Jake and Alice

          

         

First batch of Broth

         

It's September now, and the unofficial start to my favorite season, Fall. I started putting out some fall decor, and one tradition in our house, I made a ton of broth last night. We have Souper Sundays in our house, and have a big pot of soup every week from about September to May. Where I just jarred 42 cups of chicken broth, I thought I would share what we do. 

         You ever had Costco Chicken? It's awesome. We grab one for dinner, then I rip the rest of it apart, freeze the leftover chicken and use the carcass for broth. This goes into a large stockpot. I used to fill the pot with water, but it's a huge and I get a better tasting broth if I put about half as much (and it still made 42 cups). I add about 5 carrots, 5 stalks of celery, a big onion, a red pepper, 1tblsp garlic (I like garlic) and a couple bay leaves. Salt comes down to a personal preference. I add a little less than 1/3 cup. For my taste it's great, but when in doubt less is more, you can always add more later. Bring it to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 12 hours...yes 12 hours. I usually have it going all night. I let it cool some, then use pickle jars to store.

            This made for a nice golden batch for me, and will be a great start to my fall. Most of this goes in the freezer to cover us for a few weeks.