Entries by Ellen

Elegant Holiday Decorating Made Easy

Thank you to Leslie Sarmiento for this guest post on making your home merry and bright!   Holiday decorating is an American tradition. No matter what kind of year you’ve had, the holidays always seem to conjure up images and memories of a magical time. Holiday decorating allows you to capture some of that magic and bring […]

Homemade Holiday Gifts

Homemade gifts are gifts from the heart.  We all have ornaments on our tree made by our children when they or we were young.  We have cherished small table top decorations in the same way.  Some ideas for homemade holiday gifts: Create a family cookbook.  You can print it or give it on a flash drive […]

Clutter Free Holiday Gifts

    Celebrate the season with new  meaning!  There is something powerful about the holiday season and gift giving.  View this site the advent conspiracy and see if you agree!  Clutter free holiday gifts are a great way to share experiences, not stuff. www.adventconspiracy.org   At this time of year we can teach our children about […]

Holiday time line

It here already! The holiday fun has started!  With a myriad of activities, events, and tasks, the best way to approach the holidays is with a holiday time line.  Start with a family meeting to talk about all the special parts of the holiday season.  What makes the holiday special for each family member? Make a […]

Thanksgiving Preparations: Food for Thought for the Early Bird and Procrastinator

  It’s all about the food at this time of year! And getting your Thanksgiving dinner together takes planning and organizing.  Some of us start our plans in early November and some of us start…well…not too early! Early bird preparations Getting the menu together early is a good first step!  Our family continues the tradition […]

Oversizing and Rightsizing

In a world where we are always “super sizing” our life,  I like to reflect about our stuff.  What is “enough”  in our world of consumption, media saturation, and bigger is better.  Here is a story to add awareness about upsizing and over buying. A friend recently renovated her kitchen. She moved the old (meaning 4 years old) refrigerator […]

Organizing your jewelry

  You want to wear that adorable outfit, but you can’t find the bling that matches it!   Being organized means you can put your hands on those sparkly gems at a moment’s notice.  With jewelry you really will wear it more if you can see it, touch it, and have it easy to access.   In […]