Save Your Sanity During the Holidays

Hi All,

The last minute rush is getting here. Get ready, get set...go.  There is officially less than a week to go before Christmas Day 2013.  And it is probably getting a bit hectic in your life right about now.

So this is the perfect time to offer up a quick and easy blog entry about 'Saving Your Sanity During the Holidays'. As a matter of fact, that is the title of the first link I'm going to share with you this morning.  Click on this link to connect to the article. Note that the article comes from the Farmingdale Patch - a local, Farmingdale based, newspaper.

This next link comes from a law firm - no, I am not advertising for the firm. I'm just connecting to an article from Panish, Shea & Boyle, entitled 'Exercise Patience and Common Sense During Holiday Shopping'. The article talks about shopping mall safety, credit card safety and long check out lines.

The holiday season brings with it its own set of stresses and strains. Families get together and there is a limited amount of time to get a lot accomplished (shopping, wrapping presents, buying presents, cleaning the house, coordinating plans with family members, possible flights in airplanes and possible pickups at airports...and more.)

Hence the appropriate topic of this last article - which comes from the Mayo Clinic website.  Entitled, 'Stress, Depression and the Holidays: Tips For Coping', the article is timely, well-written, and unbiased.  It also gives a lot of information to the reader on how to de-stress from the holidays.

Here's to a stress-free, entertaining, pleasant holiday season.  Enjoy the sites.

Regards,
Stu

Getting Ready For the Holidays

Hi All,

It is that time of year again...we are between Thanksgiving and the Christmas/New Year's Holidays - and that means parties, holiday gift giving, shopping, invitations to mail out, wrapping, cards to send and much, much more...

How is a person supposed to make head or tail from all the anxiety that this season begets?  Easy, click on the following links and you'll be well on your way to holiday season bliss.

Click on this link that will relieve you of the stress any time you have guests coming over during the holiday season.    For another perspective on simplifying the holidays, you can click on this link so that you can be organized this holiday season - and celebrate the season to boot!

From Styleathome.com comes this article entitled, '99 Ways To Get Ready For the Holidays'.  Yes, this is a long article, and yes it is an actual list - from 1-99 - on how to prepare for the holidays.  Cool stuff!  Especially number 12, 46 (who would have thought!) and 85.

Well, if you are having guests over, you will probably have to vacuum, or at least get rid of some of the clutter.  Click here to learn just how to do that....one room at at time.

Finally, click on this link - from MyWell-Being.com - which will, like the other links above, help you get ready for the holidays. 

Enjoy the holidays - hopefully they'll be stress-free, relaxing and filled with classic family get-togethers.

Regards,
Stu

How to Wrap a Holiday Gift or Present?

Hi All,

Holidays are right around the corner and I just thought of a great topic: how to wrap gifts and presents.

First some facts: how much wrapping paper is used each year during the holidays? Click here for a link to Ask.com for the answer. Click on this link that help you figure out how much wrapping paper you need for all your holiday presents!

Click on this very intuitive and interesting link that will help you estimate how much wrapping paper to use for a single present - cool site!

Okay, now that you've figure out how much wrapping paper you need, click on this link that is basically a 'tutorial' on what you need to know about wrapping paper.

Did you know that you can recycle wrapping paper? Yep - you can! Click on this link that will help you start recycling your leftover wrapping paper after the holiday season!

Now you get to the fun part - how to wrap the present!

Here are x links to videos from various sources that show you how to wrap a gift!
1. Wikihow video - how to wrap a gift
2. eHow.com - not a video - just written instructions on how to wrap a gift.
3. RealSimple.com - how to wrap a gift
4. YouTube.com - how to wrap a gift professionally

You can also do a search on Youtube for the phrase 'wrapping gifts' and you'll find many, many other videos on how to wrap gifts.

Hope this makes your holidays a bit easier! Happy wrapping!
Stu