Christmas is 1 month and 15 days away, can you believe that? Thanksgiving is 13 days away. Are you feeling stressed? Are you feeling overwhelmed? It’s okay, I am here to help you and let you know we’ve got this. Well do these 5 things this week to help reduce the stress in your life.

1. Finish any Thanksgiving plans, menu items that need to be done. This must be done. Trust me, you will feel a weight lifted off your shoulders. We have our menu all planned out for breakfast and dinner. Get the family involved if this is not done. BTW we don’t do turkey, we actually do steak and shrimp. It is a win for everyone in our family.
2. Plan at least one thing that is self care for you this Holiday season. It can be a massage, it can be time alone. No matter what it is, put it on the calendar. Remember it is an appointment even if it is with yourself. Moms, we tend to put everyone else before ourselves, but when we do this we aren’t giving our best selves to our husband and kids. They deserve the best version of us. 
3. Deep clean your house and set up your guest bedroom. Especially if you haven’t decorated. I deep clean our house while I decorate for Christmas. To me it makes everything easier.
4. Cook at least two meals that you can freeze for December. Trust me on this one, it will be a life saver for those busy nights. Some of our favorites are Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole, Stuffed Shells and Lasagna. You can even make this one for breakfast. This is on my list of things to do this week. I know this will help make December a little bit easier. 
5. Get your advent calendar. This year I got the kids ones from Trader Joes and each night the kids get a piece of candy. Hopefully this year goes better than last year. The kids never had advent calendars before. One of the kids opened all of them in two days. So this year we went simple and more traditional.

The past two years, our Christmas’ have been crazy. Last year we officially adopted our kids a few days before Christmas. It was the first Christmas the kids spent with us and emotions were all over the place. I did a lot of things to help make the Christmas season run a little bit smoother, which was good. I also learned a lot too. Things I am sharing with you. Two years ago we moved into our house a few days before Christmas. Talk about crazy, nothing like unpacking boxes, organizing and setting a new house. 

This year I hope life will be a little less crazy. We are excited about making some new memories as a family.  

Love From My Kitchen ????

Billie-Jo