Tuesday, October 24, 2006

How to have Christmas without leaving your home and saving time....

The 12 days of Christmas (revised):

12 Christmas cards for giving, 11 twinkling lights for replacing, 10 relatives for shopping, 9 dozen cookies for baking, 8 Sweaters for dry cleaning, 7 nativity characters, 6 Trips to the mall, 5 letters to Santa, 4 parties for attending, 3 wreaths for hanging, 2 Christmas recitals and 1 tinseled Tree! Ahhh.... so joyful are the days prior to Christmas.

Are you joyfully joking!?! Pardon me, but not everyone is capable of knitting matching sweaters for the family and pet Chihuahua while you sit in traffic on the 405 freeway. If only we were all Martha's with the time to churn our own butter from the cow outside our house for Christmas cookies. Thank goodness I'm no pessimist!

Lucky for you, Santa and I are gym buddies. (Yeah, he works out at the 24 hour in Irvine. No, I don’t know why. But, it might be because I’m so amusing and tell him “good girls” don’t like skinny guys.) Anyway, Santa gave me the magic fairy dust of Christmas 2 years ago. You ready here it is.....online! No joke, it’s how Santa himself does a lot of his business. After you read the below you too will consider on line shopping/ordering/reserving/developing/arranging to be the most enchanted way to have Christmas. Just sprinkle and repeat.

To use: Say the magic words below and type!

Rudolf the red nose reindeer didn’t have to pay for gas mileage!

When you add up the cost of gas, your lunch at the mall, the cost of the fender bender in the parking lot and the cost of the gift you bought at the mall... We're talking $500 for a John Mayer CD. Save yourself the woes and instead perfect your red wrapping bows! Shop on line for all of your gifts. Detailed pictures and on line sales are the best things since eggnog lattes.

Deck the halls with Free Delivery fa la la la la la la la!

Years of fabulous entertaining have done a number on your sofa. So you're going to replace the sofa and get a new bedroom set for the guest house. Of course you have plenty of time to shop and arrange for delivery. Using www.FurnitureFromHome.com you do! No other furniture retailer provides a variety of sofas and bedroom sets ranging from classical bedroom sets to contemporary dining room sets. Friendly assistance, 24 hour customer service, high resolution images and a fabulous site to navigate through. Redecorating never looked so rewarding. Not only will your house be updated, but it will be done in less than 30 minutes. Free delivery on most of the merchandise allows you to kick back and finish knitting that scarf for Aunt Bebe.

Jingle all the way, preparing Christmas dinner shouldn’t take all day!

No, this does not require a microwave! Get on line and place a catering order through The Honey baked Ham store, Bristol Farms, Gelson's, your local restaurant or super market. Most caterers offer fully roasted and stuffed turkeys with all the side dishes. You will have so much free time that you will be able to help make your daughter make that ginger bread house sparkle! Will make you almost all will deliver to your home the day of your party!

Silent Night, A very cold night, hanging Christmas Lights, oh what a fright!

Just Google “Christmas light hangers” and you will find a list of companies that will send out their elves to jump on your roof and hang your Christmas lights. A majority of these companies have installers who are18 to 20 year old boys who are home from college trying to make a couple of bucks. So while you’re making some extra time for yourself you are also feeding starving students.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a computer mouse!

By December 26 you need a massage and a batch of peppermint Vikatin cookies. Don’t let your time saving stop post Christmas. Get your memories from Christmas morning back faster than your five year old can rip through wrapping paper. Using ShutterFly.com you can upload your memories and have them mailed to you in 3 days. You don’t risk losing the digital files at the developer and you never waste the gas getting there.

It all comes down to quality, not quantity. Sometimes it’s best to pick and choose the traditions we most cherish and take some help with the others. I love the smell of the fresh pine in our living room, reading through Christmas cards and my mom’s Crepe’s Christmas morning. I do know from past experience that when I am exhausted I don’t fully enjoy all that the season has to offer. I hope you use these tips to make time for yourself to enjoy your family and spend the time cheerfully humming through what you cherish most.