How’s It Going? How to Take Stock of Your Holiday Prep So Far [Episode 9]

Emily  0:49

Hey friends, welcome back to the Holiday Headstart Podcast. Today, we are taking stock of where things stand with our holiday prep and sharing a get ahead tip for making Thanksgiving a little easier.

 

Heidi  1:04

Traditions are an important tool in building a healthy, happy, connected life. This week, we have a fun Thanksgiving tradition from our very own Emily. Emily, why don’t you tell us about this one?

 

Emily  1:15

Well, we have a fun Thanksgiving tradition that we call Pie Night. Now the history of Pie Night is that I had some friends who hosted a pie night on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving every year, and it was such a fun way to get together, have some pie and just hang out.

 

Heidi  1:34

And this wasn’t just for family. This was like a bit a friend activity, right?

 

Emily  1:39

No, this was just with friends, and over the years, I have considered hosting a pie night with neighbors, and I’ve never actually done it. But, several years ago, we started realizing that after Thanksgiving, we would have a lot of leftover pie. And now that all of our immediate family lives, you know, within 30 minutes of each other, we started doing a pie night after Thanksgiving, where either the next day or two days after Thanksgiving, everyone would come back over and eat some of the pie. Now, of course, everybody can take leftovers home, but pies are a little bit of a pain to cut up and dish out to people. It’s kind of easier for one person to keep all the pie and then have everybody come back and we just get it out, and everyone can have all the different kinds of pie. We are a variety lovers of pie here, where we always have more pie than we need, because we want to try all the pies, all the different kinds of pie.

 

Heidi  2:45

So yeah, we want tiny tastes of lots of things. But the problem with pie is, in order to have lots of pie, you have to have whole pies.

 

Emily  2:54

Right. And then if everybody goes home with the pie that they brought, then you have a whole bunch of one kind of pie left. But again, I want, I want some coconut cream, and I want some pecan and I want some chocolate pie, and I want, I just want a little bit of all of them. So Pie Night is a super easy tradition, and Heidi has really cute pie themed dishes that we can use. Luckily, we have the dishware we need for the occasion which is very important to us.

 

Heidi  3:22

The most important part.

 

Emily  3:24

We’d love to hear about your favorite traditions, especially if they involve pie. Come join us on Instagram @theholidayheadstart.

 

Heidi  3:33

We have reached the first week of November. Can you believe it’s November already? This is a week that I like to call Taking Stock Week. Halloween is behind us, and we’ve got this tiny little breather before Thanksgiving ramps up and launches us into the crazy of Christmas.

 

Emily  3:49

This is the perfect moment to pause and celebrate how much we’ve done and make plans for what needs to happen next.

 

Heidi  3:57

We have a three step process to follow. First, we will evaluate our progress. Then we’ll make any needed course corrections, and last, we will make a plan for moving forward.

 

Emily  4:08

Please play along with us as you listen, consider your responses to these questions, and take a few minutes to take stock of where you are and what needs to happen next.

 

Heidi  4:18

So let’s start by evaluating our progress. Emily, how do you feel about your holiday prep so far?

 

Emily  4:25

Um, I’m a little bit mixed on it. I feel like in some areas I’m farther than I usually am at this point in the year, and in other areas, I am not as far as I would like to be. So I’m kind of mixed. How about you, Heidi?

 

Heidi  4:42

I’m just the same, which is probably where everyone is. In some areas, I really, like you, I’m farther than I normally am. But in other ways, I’m still feeling very unprepared. And I don’t think it helped, like, I feel like Halloween kind of really caught me off guard this year, instead of being more on top of it with what I wanted to do.

 

Emily  5:06

Me too. I didn’t get my Halloween decorations up until halfway through the month, which I hate to do. I almost was like, should I just skip the decorations this year? But I didn’t. Decided to at least put up a few, and once I got started, I was like, this is not even that big of a deal. I’m going to continue. I didn’t put a ton up, but enough that it was like, okay, it doesn’t take much to feel festive, but next year, I gotta do it earlier. I even have it on my calendar, like, do it at the end of September, and I didn’t do it.

 

Heidi  5:35

I think this year was so challenging because we were trying to launch the Holiday Headstart Playbook. And so that really took over our Septembers and Octobers.

 

Emily  5:44

Yes.

 

Heidi  5:44

So I would say, like, oh, we won’t have that next year, but every year we seem to have some kind of work conflict. So that is true.

 

Emily  5:51

That is true.

 

Heidi  5:52

And you did get them up before Halloween. So that is, that’s our minimum standard. Alright, Emily, so what wins have you had so far?

 

Emily  5:59

Well, I would say my biggest win is just working through the playbook to begin with, because in previous years, you’ve still been working on this system, and so I have used bits and pieces of it, but this is the first time I’m actually, like going through the whole playbook myself. So that’s a huge win for me. I feel like I have my pulse on what needs to happen a lot better than I usually do.

 

Heidi  6:23

Well, that makes me so happy to hear. I love that.

 

Emily  6:26

Yes. What are your wins so far, Heidi?

 

Heidi  6:29

Well I am done with my cards. Got those ordered. I got stamps ordered, putting stamps on the cards. This year, I bought postcard Christmas cards. I didn’t have to put things in envelopes.

 

Emily  6:40

Oh, wow. I’m jealous.

 

Heidi  6:42

Yes, that feels like a really big win. We bought all of the candy for the delivery driver baskets already.

 

Emily  6:48

Yes, we did that way early.

 

Heidi  6:50

Yes, we do need to buy chips, though, that is on my list.

 

Emily  6:53

No, I have them.

 

Emily  6:54

Oh, perfect.

 

Emily  6:56

They’re just put away.

 

Heidi  6:57

Oh, that’s even better. A win I didn’t even know I had!

 

Emily  7:03

And we have, we give the same things to our neighbors at Christmas so that we could just bulk make all of the neighbor gifts. So we have made some good progress on that. We have started to really push ourselves to the limit on our neighbor gifts, where we really want to come up with the coolest, most special and unique neighbor gift that everybody’s gonna think is amazing and cool and not a copycat of anybody else’s. And so we have raised the bar very high for ourselves.

 

Heidi  7:36

And the funny thing is, I don’t think anyone else cares, or maybedoesn’t even notice, but…

 

Emily  7:40

I know, it’s just us being who we are. So we, but we have made a lot of progress on that. I don’t know if we want to get into what the neighbors get.

 

Heidi  7:49

No, because I don’t know if any neighbors are listening.

 

Emily  7:51

Spoilers! You’re right! We can’t talk about it yet. But this one involves 3D printing, which is our dad’s favorite new pastime in the last couple years. So he is 3D printing a lot of little items for us. Can I say that much?

 

Heidi  8:07

Yes, there we go. We’re getting close on that. So we’re doing we’re doing good in lots of spaces here.

 

Emily  8:13

Yes.

 

Heidi  8:14

So what do you wish you had done by now?

 

Emily  8:16

Well, it’s probably a futile wish, because I don’t know that this is actually possible for me, but I wish that my Christmas cards were done. But I am always stuck with the issue of needing pictures, and the photographers tend to do sessions, especially mini sessions, which are my preference, because I don’t want a big over the top photo shoot. I just want some nice new photos every year, of the kids and the photographers around here tend to do their mini shoots in the fall. In fact, a photographer that I wanted to use for a really long time just mentioned that she’s hoping to do mini sessions, and it’s not going to be until the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

 

Emily  8:55

So I’m going to be right back in that same boat that I’m in every year where it’s Black Friday and I’m frantically ordering from Minted before while they’re on sale, and then that means it’s early December before I’m doing anything with, you know, addressing and stuffing and stamping the cards. And that frustrates me, because it seems like the sort of task I would love to get done really early, but I just don’t know if it’s plausible that I could ever do that early, if the photos are a priority for me, which they kind of are, it’s the only thing that makes me get those photos every year.

 

Heidi  9:29

Yeah, that’s tricky. Maybe, maybe that’s just gonna have to be a mindset shift on that one, yeah, or moving other things that can be moved forward so you can make space for dealing with cards. Also you do have children, so you can have a little like, production line going.

 

Emily  9:42

Oh, for sure. And honestly, it’s not even that bad to like, I can stuff them in an envelope while I watch TV, you know, or something like, it’s an easy task to do, but I think because the actual task of getting them ready to mail is so simple I want to hurry and cross that off my list early. And yeah, it’s just not realistic if I want to be able to get photos. And I do, I do and I want that. I think if I win a different route and just reused—in fact, I know from experience—on the years I’ve just used snapshots on the cards, I have not bothered to get photos later in the year, because it sort of felt like, well, why bother if I’m not sending them on Christmas cards? So I need the Christmas cards to push me to get some family pictures taken. So all of that to say, I think, I think you’re right, that I need to just accept it, even though it’s a task I would love to cross off early, but I’m gonna look for some other easier ones that I could maybe cross off earlier.

 

Heidi  10:46

I love that. That’s a good plan.

 

Emily  10:47

Yeah, what do you wish you’d done by now, Heidi?

 

Heidi  10:49

I wish I had more food prepared and in the freezer. This was my biggest regret from last year, because, again, work prevented me from having the time to cook that I felt like I needed or I felt like I couldn’t make the time. So this year, I was trying to be more proactive. But here we are. Yeah, I’ll figure it out.

 

Emily  11:12

Well, this is a good example, too, that even though we have this planning system, it doesn’t mean that everything’s always gonna go perfectly, like, it’s real life here, real people. We all have things that come up. We all have other things going on. This is going to help us get as close as we can to the best, most stress-free holiday possible. But in reality, sometimes we’re not going to hit our ideals, and that’s okay.

 

Heidi  11:39

Well, and I think the point of for me, I think the point of planning ahead is more that I can get back on track. I have, I know what needs to happen. Like you said, I have a pulse on things. Where before, when, like work, would derail what I thought was going to happen, if I didn’t have the system in place, I wouldn’t know how to course correct, I wouldn’t know how to get back on track. Wouldn’t know where I needed to pick up the pieces. But now, because I have that clearly laid out, I can adapt, I can be flexible. I can adjust to my real human life. Because, you know, it’s can never be perfect, even, as you know, I have way fewer distractions than so many people. I work from home. I don’t have children. I am the boss of a lot of my time, and I still struggle. So, we’re all just doing the best we can to get back on track and do what we can. And we’re not going to hold ourselves to perfection, because that’s just an impossible standard.

 

Emily  12:28

Right, for sure. And I think the other thing that for me is helpful with this planning system is that I actually really love to do things in advance, because it makes me feel so motivated that I’ve gotten things done. But in the past, a lot of times with things related to Christmas, there are so many tasks involved, and just thinking about them felt so overwhelming because they weren’t broken down. In my mind, it was just like Christmas was the thing. I could just think about Christmas, that that felt so overwhelming that I would avoid thinking about it at all until it was like, the house is on fire. I have to do it right now, you know. And that’s when I’m Amazon priming things on December 23, and I have done that.

 

Emily  12:28

So all of that to say that the planning system isn’t just going to make everything magically perfect, but it helps so much, and it breaks down what needs to be done in a way that it feels manageable to do a small task here and there and get back on track when you’re off track. And this Taking Stock Week, for all of you listening, hopefully, can help you see where you’re at, where you want to go, in a way that is empowering and motivating and not like, oh, sad. Like, us pointing out the things we wish we’d done is just to help us get back on track. Like we’re not beating ourselves up about anything we haven’t done yet, and neither should you.

 

Emily  13:54

So what progress has been made toward gifts for you, Heidi?

 

Heidi  13:57

I’m actually in a pretty good spot. I’ve bought a lot of things, and I have ideas for people I haven’t bought for yet, so I’m doing pretty well on that. How about you, Emily?

 

Emily  14:06

Yeah, I’m pretty good. Actually, I would say I’m much farther along than I normally am with the gifts, again, because I think in the past, I’ve tended to be like, I don’t know. I’ll just wait. I don’t, I don’t know. And I do have a child that has a birthday in late November, and that complicates things too. So I have been picking up a lot more gifts earlier this year, and it feels good. Like I’m more motivated of like, wouldn’t it be so nice if I could say I’m done? I already have everything I need. I’ve literally never been able to say that before, until Christmas Eve at midnight.

 

Heidi  14:40

When we’re like, Oh, I hope this is enough.

 

Emily  14:42

Yep, yep. So that would be like an amazing feeling. I told Heidi that this year I would love if I had all my gifts done by Thanksgiving. And her face made it clear to me that she was shocked that I thought that was even possible.

 

Heidi  14:58

I love a girl who dreams.

 

Emily  15:01

Hey, I do dream big, and I’m going to continue to dream on that one. It may not happen, but I’m still going to shoot for it, because it would be just the delight of my life to not spend December stressing about gifts.

 

Heidi  15:13

Yeah, that would be awesome. I am here for it. Let me know.

 

Emily  15:16

We’ll have to update listeners how it goes.

 

Heidi  15:20

Alright. Well, what would you say, Emily, that matters most at this point in the holiday prep season?

 

Emily  15:25

I think for me, what I’m wanting most out of prepping for the holiday is to be clearing the decks of December. So to be doing things now that make lots of space in December, because it’s the thing every year that I feel like I want to just like, indulge in every feeling and sense of December in a way that I often don’t feel like I can fully enjoy because I’m too stressed about what I still need to get done. Sofor me, anything that I can get done in advance so that I have more time in December to just read the Christmas books and do the Christmas baking and all the things I want to enjoy doing in December, I would say that’s sort of what’s, at least it’s what’s motivating me at this point. Maybe, I guess is, is more my answer than necessarily just what matters. But what would you say matters most to you at this point, Heidi?

 

Heidi  16:24

Well, since we work together, that is an important goal for both of us, if we want to have that done. And I also found that like trying to clear the decks of as much early January stuff, because so often it’ll be, you know, December 27 and we’re back at work full time.

 

Emily  16:39

Yeah.

 

Heidi  16:40

We have stuff that’s due early in January, so trying to, like, get into the new year a little bit with that. Also, I, I know better, but I keep having the feeling of like, oh, because I haven’t done everything, I haven’t done anything, if that makes any sense. So this has actually been a really helpful conversation. Just since we’ve been talking, I felt like my load light, and I’m like, Oh, wait, I’ve done this and I’ve done this and I’ve done this, and, you know, so just recognizing that, like, just because there are things that aren’t done yet doesn’t mean that they won’t get done, or that I’m not ahead.

 

Emily  17:10

Right.

 

Heidi  17:11

The all or nothing thinking really comes back to bite me. But I’m working on it.

 

Emily  17:15

We’re all working on it.

 

Heidi  17:16

Okay. Well, I think we’re, this is some progress we’re celebrating. Yay, us. Hopefully all of you listening have checked off a few things too. So let’s talk about how to get back on track. We’re going to course correct here. So what expectations need to be managed or redirected? And I think I just admitted my expectations. I don’t have to have it all done.

 

Emily  17:36

Yeah, and I think what I was saying about like, getting hung up on things that I want to be able to have done way in advance, like the cards, that just is not realistic for me, and so I need to redirect my expectations, manage my expectations for that differently. And I imagine there’s probably some other things I haven’t encountered yet that I’m going to have to have the same talk with myself, of like it’s not realistic to get that one done early, and that’s okay.

 

Heidi  18:03

Yes. So Emily, what tasks are you avoiding even though they need attention?

 

Emily  18:08

Well, I said, I think, in last week’s episode that I was going to take stock of my pantry and baking cupboard, and I didn’t do it. I was like all, I think because I didn’t put it on the calendar, I think I needed a set day that I was going to do it. So it just became too easy to not do it at all. But I really do need to do that so that I can start picking up the grocery items I need or need to refresh, so that I don’t find myself without something at the last minute. And also to spread out the spending a little bit, so you can get a little bit every week when you’re getting groceries, instead of, like, a huge order to do all of your baking supplies again.

 

Heidi  18:50

Yes, that is something I found to be so helpful when you’re, you know, bankrupting yourself on one grocery trip. Yeah, but in reality, a lot of it can be bought ahead if you’ve figured out what you need. So I’m in the same boat there. This is so funny. Okay, this is my downfall every year, is making the grocery list because I don’t want to sit down and do it. But this is the year I’m gonna, I’ve started it, so that’s progress. I just need to sit down. Part of it is, I don’t know if we’ve fully figured out everything we’re gonna do in December. So, that shouldn’t help, but there’s plenty I know we already have figured out. So I gotta stop letting small details that I don’t have pinned down yet keep me from dealing with the bigger picture that I do know.

 

Emily  19:32

Yes, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

 

Heidi  19:34

Yes.

 

Emily  19:35

So what is causing the most stress for you right now, Heidi?

 

Heidi  19:38

I think I’m just reliving the frustration of last fall when I didn’t get, like, I didn’t get any meals made or frozen. I didn’t get Christmas stuff made ahead of time. So that meant, you know, cooking a lot on the day, of which I try to avoid, because then I’m stressed and tired and my kitchen is messy.

 

Emily  19:55

Yeah.

 

Heidi  19:56

So even though, like, I have time to do all of this stuff. Well, I think I’m just worried that this year is going to be like last year, when I know, because, like the two years before that, I crushed it and I did a ton of work in September, but it just hasn’t been possible past years. Also, this September and October have been ridiculously hot, and I haven’t wanted to heat up my kitchen.

 

Emily  20:19

It has not started feeling like fall until yesterday, like it was so warm.

 

Heidi  20:24

Yeah, record breaking AC needed all the way through October.

 

Emily  20:29

Right.

 

Heidi  20:29

It’s fine. I have time. I have time. I’m gonna, I’m gonna do stuff right after we finish this episode.

 

Emily  20:36

Yes, and I do keep finding myself doing that thing of like, oh my gosh, is basically Christmas. Which I have started doing as early as, like, back to school, like, back to school starts, and I’m like, Oh well, it’s, yeah, it’s fall, which is Halloween, and that’s Thanksgiving, which means it’s Christmas. Like, that is how my brain works.

 

Heidi  20:55

That’s why I have to start my Christmas prep. I start in like, early August with my official like planning, not that I’m really doing anything, but I just need to know that it started, because somehow back to school just feels like, Well, years over now.

 

Emily  21:08

Starting line, yep, the starting bell. Or pistol, the starting pistol. There we go, it’s a race. We’re off. And I am trying to rewire that in my brain, of like I still have plenty of time. I find I’m saying that to myself a lot in my mind of I still have lots of time. I still have lots of time. Usually I’m not even as far ahead as I am right now, and I still have that feeling. So I would say that’s what’s causing me the most stress, is my brain telling me that I’m so behind when I’m not really that behind.

 

Heidi  21:39

No, we’ve got this. We’ve got time. Yeah, all right, so as we move forward, Emily, what one action would have the largest impact on your holiday prep?

 

Emily  21:47

That’s a good question, and honestly, I’m not totally sure. What do you, what are you thinking for you, Heidi?

 

Heidi  21:53

Well, this is, ’cause when it’s done, it’s about making food. I think I just need to, if I had something in the freezer, like a freezer meal, and I keep thinking of the Grinch pancakes I need for our Grinch dinner. Because last year I was making those the day of, and that was annoying. But if I knew that like that was taken care of, it’s not that that would even like be huge and moving the needle and everything that needs to get done. But it would, I think it would just take some of that pressure off where I’m stuck in this, I’m stuck in this loop of like, it won’t happen. I can’t get it done. Just this negative self talk.

 

Emily  22:32

You almost need to prove to yourself that you can get it done by getting something in the freezer and then seeing how you, you know, how motivated that makes you feel.

 

Heidi  22:41

Yeah, and it’s almost like I can’t even see past that at this point, of like, what else needs to be done? So I have bought ingredients. So, well, the next question is, what should you focus on next? So this is me. I’ve bought ingredients dedicated in the next couple days, because I’m going to have to use them or they’re going to go bad. So that’ll be some good pressure.

 

Emily  22:59

Oh, that’s good. It’s got a deadline on it. Yeah, I think for me, I need to set a time every week that I’m going to check in on my playbook and see where I’m at, because I’m kind of just popping in randomly in there. And I think if I had a set time every week that I’m checking in of like, all right, where am I at, then I would have more of a concrete feeling about where I’m at in the process, so that I’m not wondering all the time of like, am I way behind? Like, what am I forgetting? I think if I just set a time every week that I’m gonna take a quick stock, check in, update it on what I have done and decide what I’m doing next, I think that would probably have the biggest impact, and that’s probably what I should focus on next.

 

Heidi  23:45

Well, maybe we should set a, make a set time when we can zoom each other, get work and at the same time, even if we’re not talking. What is that? Like, the body…

 

Emily  23:53

Body doubling. Yes, yeah, it’s probably a good idea. Give us some accountability to get it done. Okay, we’ll schedule that after this call.

 

Emily  24:06

Thank you for joining us on our taking stock evaluation. If you want to take stock of your own progress, we’ll go through the questions we discussed and some extras that might help you get clarity about your own needs. So grab a paper or open your notes app and pause as we go through these questions.

 

Heidi  24:23

And don’t feel like you have to answer all of them. Obviously we didn’t, but if something jumps out at you, it might be a good sign that that is something that you should spend some time thinking about.

 

Emily  24:33

Right. So for evaluating your progress, how do I feel about my holiday prep so far? How am I honoring my values and intentions? What wins have I had so far? What do I wish I had done by now? What progress has been made toward gifts? What other preparations or progress has been made? How are you keeping your spending in line with your budget? Has your vision for the holidays changed since you started preparing? What still needs doing? What matters most at this point of the holiday prep season?

 

Heidi  25:13

And now to course correct, consider what expectations need to be managed or redirected? What tasks are you avoiding even though they need attention? What could be outsourced or delegated? What could be dropped from your to do list? What do you need more of? What do you need less of? What is causing you the most stress? And what needs to change in order to make progress towards your goals?

 

Emily  25:42

And then it’s time to make a plan for moving forward. What action would have the largest impact on your holiday prep? What should you focus on next? How can you make sure your decisions are in line with your purpose?

 

Heidi  25:56

We would love to hear how you’re coming along with your holiday prep, connect with us on Instagram @theholidayheadstart.

 

Emily  26:05

Now it’s time for a Get a Head Start Tip. Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip to help you get a head start on your holiday planning. This week’s get a head start tip is freeze your Thanksgiving dinner. So tell us more about this. Heidi.

 

Heidi  26:19

Well, this is more of a PSA than a tip, probably. If you are the person responsible for preparing your family’s Thanksgiving meal, this is just a heads up that pretty much the whole meal can be made in advance. If you are like me, and you would rather not spend your whole holiday in the kitchen, because that is just exhausting, you can make basically everything well in advance.

 

Heidi  26:44

So mashed potatoes can be made, and frozen gravy also freezes great. I make the casserole, part of our sweet potato casserole, ahead of time, and I freeze it, and then an hour or so before we sit down to dinner, I add the topping and then pop it in the oven to heat up and get all melty and crunchy. I even make the turkey on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and it reheats in the oven just fine. I will put a link in the show notes to the yummylive.com blog. She has detailed step by step instructions for how to make your turkey in advance and reheat it without drying it out. It’s a total lifesaver. Makes that Thanksgiving Thursday so much easier.

 

Emily  27:24

And the turkey is always delicious and it is not dry at all.

 

Heidi  27:28

Well, thank you very much.

 

Emily  27:29

Hopefully you’ve got a potluck situation where lots of people are helping provide dishes, but even if you’re only responsible for a few items, it might be worth finding out if what you’re making can be done in advance and reheated. Then you only have to spend a few minutes of your holiday cooking instead of spending the whole day in the kitchen.

 

Heidi  27:47

Yeah, and definitely research something before you throw it in the freezer. You’re probably out of luck if you’re bringing the green salad. But really, almost everything else can be done at least partially in advance. And if you can’t freeze it, you could at least stick it in the fridge for a couple days.

 

Emily  28:03

Yeah, I have never made the green bean casserole that I only make because I want it, but I have never made it in advance, and now I’m wondering if I could make it a two step process. I’ll have to look it up. My recipe’s from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, and I bet you she has notes about whether or not you could freeze it. So glad you mentioned that.

 

Emily  28:23

Now it’s time for what we’re working on this week. As a way to keep ourselves accountable and give you some ideas of what you can do in advance for your own celebrations, we’re sharing what we’re working on this week. Heidi, what’s on your to do list?

 

Heidi  28:36

Well, this won’t surprise anyone based on the conversation we just had, but I bought everything to make those dang Grinch pancakes that are hovering over my head. So I’m gonna go make green pancakes like right now. I was gonna do it right now, but now it’s kind of late, so maybe I’ll do it tomorrow. But I’m busy—I’ve got to do it, although, shoot, I think I’m out of eggs. I might have to borrow a couple eggs.

 

Heidi  28:55

I have some eggs. You’re in luck.

 

Heidi  28:55

Emily, what are you working on this week?

 

Emily  29:00

Well, I’m taking stock of gifts and stocking items, because I have done a lot more shopping than I usually have at this point, and I don’t feel like I know exactly what I have gotten so far. Part of that’s because there were so many sales at one time that I just bought a ton of stuff, and it all came at once, and I couldn’t open it because the kids were around, and it was just like, I don’t even know what I bought. So I’ve started going through that and updating my list to be like, Okay, where are we at with things? And can already see that I have a lot of stocking items for the girls and nothing for my son so far. So that’s all good information to have. So I’m gonna take stock of where I’m at so far, so I can start narrowing down what I still need.

 

Heidi  29:44

Good thing you have those giant moving bags to stash everything in your garage.

 

Emily  29:48

Yes, heck yes, I do.

 

Heidi  29:51

You are on a roll.

 

Heidi  29:52

To wrap up the show, we are sharing our nice list. Emily, what made it on your nice list this week?

 

Emily  29:57

I’m putting my LED bookight on my nice list. This reading light rests just around your neck. It has a light on either side, and you can point them wherever you want them to go. I’m trying to show you with my hands.

 

Heidi  30:10

I can see that!

 

Emily  30:11

That’s not helpful. But it’s so handy for reading in bed. And then you just like point them at your book based on however you’re laying in your bed, or I like to use it to shine on a craft project, if I’m working on something in the evening in low lighting, or if I’m cross stitching. And they are very popular in my household. Every member of my home owns one. My son, for sure, uses his every night unless he’s reading his Kindle instead. He’s my late night reader. So this would be an awesome addition to your stockings this year if you don’t already have them for all of your household people.

 

Heidi  30:11

Yeah, that’s a really great suggestion.

 

Emily  30:17

What’s going on your nice list, Heidi?

 

Emily  30:20

Okay, I’m putting Brett Eldridge’s new album, Merry Christmas, Welcome to the Family on my nice list.

 

Emily  30:33

Okay.

 

Heidi  30:33

I love his previous Christmas albums. There’s Mr. Christmas, that was just from a couple years ago. And then Glow was his first Christmas album. And I think this one is just as good, maybe even a little better. He’s got kind of a big band classic crooner style. I think he’s normally, in his day job, he’s a country singer, so, but I’m not positive. But he suits Christmas so well. And I know this might be a little heretical in the Christmas music space, but I like his albums better than I like Michael Buble’s Christmas album.

 

Emily  31:29

Well, you know, we love Michael Buble, we just don’t always love his choices.

 

Heidi  31:33

Right? Because all of his songs are covers. He’s got one, one original song on his whole album called December Night, which is a great song, we love it.

 

Emily  31:42

Which is a great Christmas song, I love that song.

 

Heidi  31:45

But that’s the only interesting thing on his whole album. Otherwise, it’s just, you know, Jingle Bells and Ave Maria. I don’t need another version of any of those.

 

Emily  31:53

No. Thank you.

 

Heidi  31:54

But Brett Eldridge’s new album is all original songs, plus a new year song, which I give an extra bonus point on my rating system. And I do have a rating system.

 

Emily  32:06

So you’re gonna have to post about the rating system. It’s very involved, but I appreciate it.

 

Heidi  32:11

That’s a deep look into my crazy and I don’t know if we…

 

Emily  32:15

That’s behind the curtain.

 

Heidi  32:18

But Brett Eldridge’s Christmas music, A+ if you want warm and happy holiday sounds and not the same 10 songs over and over.

 

Emily  32:26

That’s it for today’s episode. Use this week to take stock of where you are in your Christmas prep and make a plan for what to do next. And don’t forget this week’s tip to make your Thanksgiving dishes in advance and freeze them.

 

Heidi  32:39

Thank you so much for joining us. We hope to see you here next week. If you enjoyed this episode, it would be so very helpful if you gave us a five star rating and a review on Apple podcasts. As a new podcast, we really need every bit of positive promo that we can get.