Holiday Preparedness Tips!

[Weedygarden]

I know we probably think of preparedness in terms of long term survival, but there are other aspects of life to think ahead and prepare for.

I am so tempted to go to the grocery store and buy a sweet potato or pumpkin pie, but shopping the week or few days before Thanksgiving or Christmas is just insane, imho. And I could make a pie. I have all the ingredients, but I am more in a cleaning mode today.

Christmas shopping: when I am out shopping for other things, I have a list of things for Christmas that are classic for us. I already have our stocking Toblerone bars in the fridge. I have picked up a few things.

We do stocking stuffers and I have a stash that I keep working on for our stockings. I buy things like toothbrushes, lighters, mints, candles, Burt's Bees lip balm (pomegranate), small flashlights and other useful but smaller items. Almost anytime of the year I could stuff a stocking, but I am always adding to these throughout the year.

I make gift bags for my clients that always include poop bags and dog treats, as well as some ball or toy. I also include some home made treats for their owners. I am well on my way to having these gift bags ready.

A friend of mine's family started making wish lists on Amazon that they share with the rest of the family. Each person has a wish list. It helps to get the right size, color, etc. for clothing and other things. It also helps people to get what they want, not a version that doesn't work as well for them.

How do you prepare for the holidays?

 

[backlash]

I do 99.9% of my Christmas shopping sitting in my chair late at night when I can't sleep.
We have been using Amazon wish list for years.
It saves a lot of time and trouble and you can buy things people actually want.
The problem is my wife would buy everything on the Grandkids list.
Our Grandkids finally told her to just pick something and not buy everything.
My son puts stuff on his list for reference. Things like truck parts and 4 wheeler stuff.
I told him I was not buying him $2000 worth of Dodge parts.
Another problem is my wife and I don't really need or want anything.
We both say the other one is difficult to buy for.
We usually get things like new house shoes, and gloves.
I get at least 1 new pocket knife every year.
I have a box full of old pocket knives.
Last year we didn't even hang the Christmas stockings.
It was too depressing with one missing.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I make dinner. That's it. We don't do gifts. It's enough that you come to dinner. Everything is easy to source and in place months in advance.

I made some fancy cross stitched stockings for the kids when they were little and one for their spouses when they married. No grandchildren. All the stockings get stuffed the same way, each and every year.

The biggest hard gum balls I can find, chocolate loonies and twoonies and a big home made candy cane.

We take the gum balls outside and use them to play croquet in the snow until they dissolve too much to find. We use wooden candy canes for clubs and throw snow balls at one's opponents to make it harder for them to hit the gum balls.

 

[Pearl]

With no family here, and not going to see them, we are prepared to eat and rest! My holiday tip....hide!!

 

[Weedygarden]

With no family here, and not going to see them, we are prepared to eat and rest! My holiday tip....hide!!

I don't hide per se, but I do like quiet holidays. When winter break came when I was teaching, I was so ready to do relax and do little or nothing, but I actually did do some interesting things during my winter break. One year I hung all the cabinets in my kitchen. It was just a change of pace.

 

[lonewolf]

we dont do Christmas as such as neither of us are religious, just a normal day to us.
we do like our food but it wont be anything out of the ordinary, we like plain ordinary English food.

 

[Weedygarden]

we dont do Christmas as such as neither of us are religious, just a normal day to us.
we do like our food but it wont be anything out of the ordinary, we like plain ordinary English food.

I know many people who are not religious who do a big Christmas celebration. Maybe at some point in time in their family history there was a religious belief, but for some people, there is no religious belief. For them, it is a cultural thing, not a religious thing. In the U.S. Christmas is a big thing. Santa is big here.
I was in the grocery store today and Christmas music was playing. It was also playing on the classical music radio station that I listen to.
In schools, it is a "winter holiday," not Christmas. You can do Christmas discussions and activities, but people also do Hanukah and Kwanza activities as well.
When I was teaching, we did a Winter Holiday Party. Children wrote about their family beliefs and traditions and everyone presented. They also brought a sample of their decorations and a holiday food to share. They were all over the map. Some children were from atheistic families, but still hung stockings, had trees, etc. I had students who were Pagans and celebrated Yule. With the children presenting, it removed the school as forcing something on the children and made it inclusive. It helps children to know how others are the same as well as different.

 

[Amish Heart]

Three of our kids are saying they are coming for Christmas. So that will be different. We'll have church, stockings, gifts, and special meals. The past few years I've left the gift buying to husband (online) because he can do that easily.

 

[Aerindel]

I remember thinking I had 'arrived' as a prepper in 2020 I think....when I realized I didn't have to do any shopping to put on an entire christmas dinner or three.....I had everything stocked for a years worth of holidays.

 

[Magus]

My holidays are simple, wake me up when I run out of weed and booze.