HOLIDAY TIPS FROM READERS Submitted by Simple Times subscribers Re: Holiday notebook idea This is something I did last year and it really was a help! Purchase a small notebook (about 4"x6") to keep in pocketbook or car at all times. Mine was 79 cents. Write down the names of everyone who you need to buy holiday gifts for. I usually divide them up by family and include sizes. Leave space for gift ideas and jot them down as you think of them. Many times I come up with a "great idea" or see something that would be perfect for someone, but when I am out shopping I, of course, forget what it was! Also include the addresses of people you will be mailing gifts to. If you are in a store that ships you can really save time if you have the address on you. This will cost a little more but going home, finding a box, and going to the post office with kids during the holidays, that's worse. If the stores you shop in send out any coupons, paper clip them into your notebook so you have them when you need them (some of the little notebooks have pouches to slip these into). When shopping for little ones, it is very helpful to have ages and sizes written down in your book. Even if you think you know, when you're tired and the stores are crowed, it is a big help. In addition to my notebook, I keep a special holiday receipts envelope so everything stays together and I can keep track of what I am spending. --Diane B. Re: Shop early I try to watch sales throughtout the year, and whenever I see something that is "just right" for a certain person, I buy it and put it away for Christmas. It often lets you buy a nicer gift for the person than if you waited and didn't get it on sale. It spreads the cost out so it isn't such a shock at one time, and it definitely helps save my sanity! Sometimes I can be almost halfway done with my shopping before the season gets here. --Kathy D. Re: Recommended book Don't forget Bill McKibben's "Hundred Dollar Holiday." I saw this originally as an article on the Mother Jones web site ... [the article has now been] published as a book. --Richard G., Melbourne FL Re: Easy-as-pie Christmas dinner The day after Thanksgiving, take the leftover turkey and veggies and make a large turkey pot pie. Put it in the freezer for Christmas dinner. You have a turkey dinner ready, all you need is some cranberry salad and rolls and cookies. This keeps me out of the kitchen enjoying my family on Christmas morning and still have a special Christmas dinner. --Evans, TN Re: Simple gift ideas For the holidays, I "try" to keep it simple. However, as we all know, that is not quite as easy said as done. One solution I've found is what we all hear every year: Gift baskets. They can be as simple as a coffee cup filled with hot chocolate packets and a nice spoon. Or you can get more elaborate. I usually pick the baskets up at the thrift stores for a dollar at most. The baskets at stores are too expensive if you are making more than one. I bake a little each day and fill the baskets with these items. Such things I've filled them with are: Banana bread, fudge, peanut butter fudge, turtles (the candy variety!), sugar cookies my kids decorated, peanut brittle, homemade kahlua for coffees, and homemade hot fudge along with a pint of ice cream. I wrap each in cellophane and then top the whole basket with a bow and usually a tree ornament my kids painted. This is a bit elaborate to some and not quite enough for others, but it works for me, so just elaborate on your own. Another gift I've given is a nice bowl I picked up at Six Star for a dollar, filled it with crumpled newspaper, two microwave popcorn packets on top of this, a gift certificate to the local video store, and sprinkled with holiday candies. Wonderful gifts! And all that I've given these to always appreciate them! Don't be embarrassed, a lot of preparation goes into these. Another idea? How about breads or cookies in a jar? Those are another of my favorites to give out. --Crystal L. Re: Lots of tips I usually start my Christmas shopping in June. I keep a little list in the back of my planner of who I have purchsed for (just in case my kids look, I only put initials or big/little after their names). I purchase all the things I need to make Christmas goodies before Halloween. We make a trip to the nearest big city and do the kids' Christmas shopping and the tail end of ours sometime before Thanksgiving (my children love to tell the cashier they are done with their Christmas shopping). We have an extra nice dinner out that night and talk about old Christmas memories. The weekend after Thanksgiving is when we plan our Christmas. All of us submit a list of things we want to do -- the important things that make Christmas special to each of us. I collate the lists and pick days to do them. Each day we do one thing -- decorate, bake a batch of cookies, go caroling, etc. Since I work 7pm-7am shift as a nurse, we don't usually celebrate Christmas on the 25th. Instead, we pick a day when mom is rested to celebrate. We have a nice leisurely day and open presents in the afternoon. Of course, Santa still comes on the morning of the 25th after Mom gets home from work. We usually pick a family to play the Twelve Days of Christmas on. Each day for twelve days we deliver a present annonymously. Day One -- 1 item, Day Two -- 2 items, etc. It takes ingenuity to pick enough things, be inexpensive, and be unknown. It is a lot of fun! Day One is always a bottle of soda with a note attached explaining the game -- and challenging them, "Catch us if you can!" On Day Twelve, we tell them who we are and sing them carols as we deliver a dozen cookies or some such thing. --Di D. Re: Gingerbread house idea Just wanted to share an idea that worked for us when I longing to make a gingerbread house but I had a baby and toddler. We waited until Valentine's Day in February. There is lots of candy to pick from and none of the stress that often accompanies December. --Donna K. Re: Gingerbread houses, Thanksgiving and other tips Instead of spending hours baking the houses, just use one or two (taped together) school milk cartons and use graham crackers for the sides attached with royal icing. Or just frost and decorate the cartons. Cut up cartons and make pavillions and barns. Much easier than baking and much more fun. We used the Thanksgiving Tree idea (you shared last year) except we just used cut out leaves and posted them on the hall wall. After a while we were just using pieces of paper. We got creative with our ideas such as: The Moon, Mars, water, etc. It was a great way to get cousins busy when they arrived. Another Christmas simplifier: After Thanksgiving we make the left-over turkey and veggies (or add bag of mixed veggies) into a turkey pot pie and put it in the freezer. We then eat it on Christmas Day. All the joy of a turkey dinner and time to play with our new toys. --Evans B., Maryville TN Re: Christmas is coming With Christmas fast approaching, I thought that I would pass this gift idea along to other readers. Quite often I get phone calls from the grandparents this time of year asking for gift ideas for our family. I have for the past three years responded to their inquiries with the request for a family membership to one of our area attractions. This allows us to visit a particular museum often, without worrying about paying for admission fees. Also, with one of my children being pre-school age, I can make our trips shorter in length, knowing that we can return anytime to see something that we missed. We live in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area and have many educational opportunities available to us. Last year we received a one year membership to the Art Institute of Chicago and received four free tickets to the VanGogh/Gauguin exhibit. Some other ideas other than art museums are your local zoo, children's museum, botanical gardens. The ideas are only limited by what is available in your area. We have enjoyed our past membership to an outdoor living history museum called 'Old World Wisconsin' which has moved actual homes and cabins from Wisconsin's pioneer past and reconstructed them on their grounds. Just think about where you like to take your children for field trips, and find out if they offer yearly memberships. --Laura B., Wisconsin Re: Turkey tip Turkeys for holiday meals can sure take up a lot of room in a refrigerator! If you have a side-by-side refrigerator, a turkey, even a small one might not fit! We always put our turkey in a large cooler and add gallon size ice bags to keep it cold. We leave it in the kitchen -- in eye's view -- and check it often (so we don't forget about it). Just add ice as it melts in the cooler. Come the day of roasting, we have a perfectly "safe" turkey, thawed and ready to prepare. It really works well and leaves room in your refrigerator for some of your extra "fixings." My parents had a milk chest when I was growing up. The milk man would deliver the milk and send us a bill each month. We used that milk chest for plenty of other things during "high volume" food preparations. I'm really mad at myself for not keeping that chest when I closed up their home. Another tip, is to purchase a fresh turkey, not frozen. This year we paid 78 cents instead of 39 cents for frozen. --Frances C.