We have 100 days left until Christmas. This may sound like a lot, but not for me,
I celebrate 2 daughters, a son in law, a husband and a son’s birthday within 2 weeks of Christmas. I can get stressed out if a don’t do a lot of pre-planning. This means doing everything I can before December. If I am worrying about Christmas duties, I can’t celebrate birthdays and the true meaning of Christmas.
One year I got my Christmas shopping done in August and I didn’t step foot in the malls all of December. It was too weird. It didn’t even feel like it was Christmas. So in my opinion, that early is a little extreme.
I do think it is nice to get as much done before Thanksgiving as possible. So I have between now and Nov. 27 to get everything done. I like to mail my Christmas packages out the day before Thanksgiving when there is no line. I also like shopping in the stores with few people and easy parking.

For the next 6 blog posts I am going to give you tips to prepare early so you can enjoy time with your family. Here is your first one:

flylady has a booklet to help you get ready for the holidays.

What a great idea Amy Roskelley had when she invented this simple plate. I saw this in a magazine a few weeks ago.

We have been conditioned to put a large piece of meat on a plate and add a roll and small portion of vegetables. When in reality it should this way, large portion of vegetables and small portion of bread and meat. After seeing this, when I dish up a plate of food, a picture of her plate pops into my mind. I think she is onto something.
Teaching our children proper portion sizes will help it become natural for them to eat this way.
Amy, owner of superhealthykids.com was quoted in the Utah Valley magazine below.

One of her habit changes was not so much about the food she served her children but the plates she served it on. Amy found that she was better able to teach proper portion sizes by giving her kids sectioned plates.”A balanced meal should be half fruits and vegetables,”Amy says. “I didn’t want my kids to grow up with mac and cheese as the main part of their meal with a couple piesces of broccoli on the side.”
And then she took the sectioned plates one step further.
” I thought, ‘It sure would be nice to have pictures on the plate,’”Amy says. ‘That way the kids are the ones to say, ‘Hey mom–I need more vegetables on my plate,’”

Even if you don’t buy one of these plates, it is a good idea to teach our children the message, and maybe even have a picture like this on the table for a while as a reminder.

I enjoyed reading Naomi’s Breakthrough Guide. Naomi Judd is such a sweet, unpretentious woman. After high school, life got really rough for her. This is page 24 of her book.
In that moment of truth in front of the mirror, I saw that I was more than a battered face; my life had a greater meaning than the choices I’d been making up to that point. I began to see that choices are sacred. God created us and gives us the opportunities to make choices. This means that we can become cocreators with God in deciding our future.
I didn’t fully realize it then, but I’ve since come to understand that there is an invisible, spiritual world. As we make inspired, conscious choices, we’re opening up to infinite possibilities.
There was another Mirror of Truth the night of my beating. Behind the front desk at the sheriff’s station where I went to seek help was a two-way mirror. I could see only myself, but on the other side was an invisible source of help and support. I found this out only a few weeks later when I took Wynonna’s Brownie troop on a field trip to the station.
So it is true with God. He is always there, invisible but all knowing and available for us to turn to.

This is now one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it!!!!!!

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolls over to 90 in August, so here goes: ” -Barbara St.George, aged 89.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

To see the other 42 go to All My Kids 123 Blog. It is worth it.
http://allmykids123.blogspot.com/2008/08/words-to-live-by.html
Wouldn’t it be great to take the word or an 89 year old and not have to learn all of these lessons the hard way. I found some of them to be very profound