November is all about the prep work!
Use November to get ready for whatever way you celebrate the holiday season through December. To really get ready for the season, plan ahead, declutter your seasonal decor, and fire up that oven or stove for some delicious, warm-the-soul type meals!
Plan ahead
Plan ahead and get ready for the chaos. Use a planner or a calendar app on your phone to be ready to jot down the dates of events you want to participate in. You can even scan your local town magazine or social media page for events happening nearby. As you update your calendar, especially if you use your phone, add any notes you can think of when you initially get the invite. Sometimes, the invite is exciting until the morning of, when you need to find clothes, do your hair, or even frantically figure out what you’re going to bring. Jot down notes in the calendar event like a favourite shirt or earrings you might want to wear, make a note of something easy to bake, make a list of the gifts you have for people at that event, even write down things that the kids will want to bring or clothes you want them to wear. It makes life so much easier to just simply think ahead a bit AND write it down somewhere so that you will remember on the day of or a couple of days before.
Declutter your seasonal decor
Don’t be too hasty putting away any fall or Halloween decorations. Really look at them as you put them away. Are they in need of repair? Do you still love them? Would you buy them again today if you could? Did you even set it up or put it out this year? Think critically about all that stuff before putting it away. Make sure that the items you are keeping will be exciting for you to set up next year.
Thinking ahead to the winter season, think critically about those decorations as you pull them out to set them up. Do you have anything that you pull out but always set aside before setting up? Do you have any broken items? If you find items you no longer love, try donating them to your local shelters, thrift store, or try selling them online. There’s no sense in putting work and thought into setting stuff up that you don’t truly love. Setting up for a season or event should be fun and inspire some excitement and magic! Decorations that no longer do that for you, simply need to go!
Meal planning
I find this time of year, I want cozy comfort food more than any other time of year. I want the chili, the soup, or the crazy casseroles. I usually pick one day a week in November to try a new recipe. I usually aim for one pot dinners or basic ingredient casseroles. I test them in November so that if I find a good one, I have already “practiced” making the recipe once before having company over or bringing it to a friend’s house. I like to taste the leftovers or see if it freezes well, either before or after making it. I just like knowing whether it will or will not work in a pinch!
Stay tuned through November as we kick up the prep for the month!
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