Christmas Joys

Storing Christmas Decorations: Quick Tips to Keep Them Straight by Jennifer Landers

You are excited to have all your holiday decorations on display, but the thought of getting it all out of storage has you dreading the fast-approaching holiday. Inevitably, your lights will be in tangles and you are bound to find some broken figurines and ornaments. Then, once you finally have everything ready, you have to decipher what goes where.

All these Christmas decorating dilemmas can be avoided by taking care to store your decorations properly. Just a few extra minutes can save hours of frustrating work the next year.

Take pictures
If you are satisfied with your holiday decorations, take pictures of all your hard work to refresh your memory next year. Having pictures will remind you where you have placed things in the past, and each year you’ll make improvements until it’s just how you want it! Without pictures, you have to start from scratch each year and you may forget where all those “perfect spots” are.

Proper containers
The most important part of storing your Christmas decorations is having the right storage containers. Clear plastic containers with lids work the best, because they are sturdy and allow you to easily see their contents. Look for special products that have compartments for gift wrap items, ornaments, wreaths and more. Manufacturers put out specialty Christmas storage items around the holiday season that maximize storage space and protect your treasured decorations.

Breakable items
You must take special care of your fragile items, but you don’t want to overdo it to the point that it takes you hours just to unpack all your careful packing. For your most breakable items, either store them in their original box (when possible) or use bubble wrap for extra protection. Ornaments, other small decorations and some items that are breakable but not super fragile, are best packed in tissue paper. Tissue provides just enough protection but is still easy to pack and unpack year after year.

Tangle-proof your lights
When light strands are stored improperly, getting them out again can inflict headaches and frustration. There are a couple of preventative measures that can be taken to help insure your lights remain tangle-free.

1. Only store lights with lights: If you mix in other items with your lights, you’re just asking for a tangled mess next year. Plus, rolls of lights can get pretty heavy when they are all together.
2. Wrap it up right: Some light sets come with a reusable plastic device for storage purposes. If yours doesn’t, using a paper towel roll is an easy fix that will save time. Simply wrap the light strand around the roll to make your own reel. It will make stringing your lights tangle-free and easy.

Label and organize
There is a difference between storage and organization. You can store your items in any haphazard way you wish, but if you organize your things it will make decorating the next go-around a lot easier. Boxes, bags and labels are awesome for organizing. If you want to make room-by-room decorating a breeze, label containers by room. For example, place all your family room Christmas decorations in a box and label it “family room”. Then, when the next Christmas comes around you’ll have everything you need for the family room already gathered together. Bags for smaller items help keep everything separate, so you don’t have to dig.

By the time the Christmas season is over, putting the decorations away becomes a dreaded chore. If you just make an effort to put in the time to do it right, it will make decorating the next year more enjoyable.

Find great ways to store Artificial Christmas Trees at http://www.christmastreeforme.com

Article Source: KalingAR.com - Articles

Angel Christmas Cards - Let a Joyful Angel Help You Share Your Season’s Greetings
By Jeniffer B.

Angels are a common symbol of the Christmas season so their presence in holiday cards is not surprising. But what is surprising is how many stellar card designs are featuring this traditional item. The result is a complete line of lovely, heartwarming angel Christmas cards for everyone.

The Amazing Angel design is a superb example. A delightful cartoon angel flies across the scene announcing “Rejoice” to revelers near and far. Above her is draped a cheerful red decoration that is the ideal offset for the white background. Ann Kelle has really outdone herself with this fine offering for the current Christmas season.

Even better, you can create your own text. Select a favorite line of poetry from your favorite Christmas poem. Write a few words to friends and relatives straight from the heart. Or, use the text that’s already featured on the card. However you choose to express yourself the message will be clear: Rejoice!

Another Ann Kelle angel-themed Christmas card is the Angelic Adventure. A tiny cartoon angel floats above the main body on the upper right, looking over and looking out for everyone. The red background creates a cheerful mood and frames the central image area perfectly.

That image area is yours to design. Select a candid photo of your children smiling during the holiday season. Take a snapshot of the family dog rolling in the snow piling up. Find a picture of a lovely hearth with a warm fire creating a glow around the family room. Whatever you select, your card is sure to be a keepsake long after Christmas has come and gone.

The Airy Angel design is a favorite of many. No wonder. The little angel graphic from Turquoise Creative is one of their finest. The delicate green outfit and blue wings are done in the most abstract style. Yet, the effect is to bring home the spirit of the season.

The beauty of this card doesn’t stop there. Above the angel you have two image areas to fill, so you don’t have to kill yourself trying to decide which photo to feature. Choose some individual portraits of the kids, or show interior and exterior shots of your home at this special time of year. Then, use the large white space below to compose your personal message of love and joy.

The Spinning Angels Christmas card shows a delightful yellow angel graphic forming a symmetric element on the lower half that will have your head spinning. Above it is a large image area for that unique portrait that will turn your card into a personalized message of happiness during the holiday season.

Choose from dozens of delightful angel Christmas cards. Select one that will bring joy to friends and family near and far. That is, choose any design!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeniffer_B.
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3 Perfect Corporate Christmas Gifts That Will Make You a Popular Boss by Nathalie Lafleur

If you are the head of a corporation, small or large, one of your responsibilities is to give corporate Christmas gifts to your employees and business contacts. The last thing you want is to look like a cheap or boring boss at the Christmas party.

Here are 3 proven-to-please corporate Christmas Gifts:

1)A personalized gift. Don’t worry, you don’t have to become Martha Stewart over night here. A good example of a personalized gift is to have an item engraved with the company logo and the name of the employee or business contact. An engraved card case, desk set or travel alarm clock would make perfect corporate Christmas gifts.

2)A Magazine Subscription. Who doesn’t like to receive in the mail every month a magazine about their favorite hobby? The first thing to do is to send a one-question survey by email to your employees asking them what their favorite hobby is. The survey is extremely easy and quick to do and will serve two purposes.

The first one is that you will get to know your employees a little bit more, which is never a bad thing. Knowing what your employees are passionate about will help you understand them better and give you a subject of conversation when you meet them in the elevator, at the Christmas party or in the meeting room while waiting for the others to arrive.

The second purpose served here is, of course, knowing what corporate Christmas gifts to order. With your list of employees and their favorite hobby, it will be quite easy to subscribe them to a magazine covering all there is to know about their hobby. You will probably have lots of golfers in the group so a subscription to Golf Digest or Golf World would certainly make them happy and you popular.

3)A gift certificate. Contrary to what you might think, giving a gift certificate is not considered a “lazy” gesture, but quite the opposite. You are showing your employees and business contacts that you care and want to offer them a gift that you are sure that they will like and find useful.

What’s the point of spending money on corporate Christmas gifts that will end up in the garbage? None, of course. With a gift card, you are sure this won’t happen. Whatever the item your employee or business contact will decide to buy with it will be a winner for sure.

As you can see, it’s not that hard to offer corporate Christmas gifts that won’t put a hole in your budget and that will make your employees and business contacts very happy.

One last recommendation: if you have to ship your corporate Christmas gifts to your business contacts overseas, make sure to order your gifts no later than the end of October.

Remember that you have to consider both the time it will take to receive the gifts, especially if you choose personalized gifts, and the time it will take for shipping them. The busiest season for the postal services is Christmas so don’t wait until the last minute to order and ship your corporate Christmas gifts.

Visit our website to get access to direct order links to the above suggestions. Find the perfect corporate Christmas gifts at http://www.hot-gifts-for-christmas.com/corporate-christmas-gifts.html

Article Source: Life Is Cheerful

3 Ways You Can Beat the Christmas Rush by Andrea C. McClure

Christmas time is getting close and the North Pole has shifted into high gear. The elves are pushing out toys at full steam, the reindeer are working out in the reindeer gym to get ready for the trip, and the North Pole Post Office is stuffed with each child’s Santa letter that needs to be sent out. The children can’t go without the letters from Santa. The North Pole is in a state of complete pandemonium. You household could be in that same shape if you don’t plan ahead a bit to avoid the Christmas rush.

Prior Proper Planning Prevent Poor Performance. That is very true. Christmas never “sneaks up” on anybody. It’s the same day every year so just plan for it and you will avoid those headaches you get from waiting till the last minute. Christmas cards and letters are an obvious place to start. By the end of October you already know who you will be sending cards to. Of course it is too early to send them but not to early to address them and even sign them. Many families include a little form letter giving an update on what the family has been up to. Those can be added when you mail them to make sure they are up to date, but the family pictures can be ordered and ready to go in with the letter.

Gifts are a little like the cards in that you should get as much done early as you can. Now the after Christmas sales are too early to do much Christmas shopping for the next year, but sometimes you can get a lot of stocking stuffers that you know you’ll use. Go ahead and get those candy canes, they’ll be fine in a year and they are 80% off. Little things that find there way into stockings are good too. Your next shopping time would be at the end of winter. You really can’t by clothes for the kids (you’ll never know how big they’ll get) but you can get winter socks, scarves and such for the kids and winter classics for adults. Now you have the rest of the year to pick up things as you go. When someone says “I’d love one of those for Christmas” go ahead and pick one up before you forget about it later. And things go on sale all year so pick things up if you were going to use it as a gift in a few months anyway. Then there is the internet which is like the worlds largest mall. Order early though because you will want to have all the ones you already have wrapped by Thanksgiving. Wrapping is not too bad when you do a little at time.

Last is your baking and candies. Instead of doing it a little at a time, try to do it all at once. That alone will save you time from cleaning the kitchen several times. It also lets you make extras to give all the folk that you really don’t buy presents for but still want to give them a little some in the spirit of the holiday season.

Planning ahead and trying to do as much as you can as you can early will help cut down on the holiday stress. Don’t worry about missing all the festive holiday crowds, the last minute shopping will give you your fill without driving you to sleepless night and worry lines.

Create magic in your child’s eyes with Santa letters. EZSantaLetters.com offers fully personalized Santa letters and 15 pre-written letters from Santa. All letters are postmarked from the North Pole and will definitely create the smile in you child’s face. Written by: Ellie Evergreen.

Article Source: Life Is Cheerful

5 Christmas Vacation Ideas by Nick Green

A few vacation ideas for you and yours this holiday season. . .

1) The Big Apple

Discover the excitement of the city this Christmas- there’s plenty of holiday fun in the city that never sleeps. Delight in the lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center, stroll through the Holiday Lights at the Bronx Zoo, and indulge in some retail therapy on 5th Avenue. Take in a Broadway show or enjoy the holiday classic at the New Your City Ballet- The Nutcracker. With constant holiday events and activities on the calendar you’ll find something to delight everyone in your family this Christmas!

2) Disney World

Discover the ultimate in Christmas wonder by experiencing the “Merriest Place On Earth”. Each Christmas season Disney World delights children and adults alike with its many special Christmas celebrations. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a must do, featuring spectacular fireworks displays, an incomparable Christmas parade, and dynamic stage shows all in the Magic Kingdom. Experience Holidays Around the World at Epcot and immerse yourself in the diverse holiday traditions of different cultures. Revel in the Christmas spirit of Japan, Italy, France and many more . . . all in one day! Don’t miss The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney Hollywood Studios- a show featuring millions of lights, twinkling in a brilliant synchronized performance to your favorite holiday songs. Also check out Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade at The Animal Kingdom and the Festival of the Seasons in Downtown Disney!

3) Staycation

Save money by staying home for your vacation. Odds are that you’ve never explored your town as a tourist because you’ve been looking through the eyes of a local. You’ll save cash on everything from gas or airfare to accommodations. Check out your town’s website or visitor’s center- be sure to check the calendar of events and map your days like you would if you were out of town. Take photos, try restaurants you’ve never been to, and take any local tours that are available. Most importantly have fun- this is no time for cleaning out the garage!

4) Climate Swap

Whether you’re dreaming of a white Christmas or wishing the white stuff away, we could all use a change of pace. If you live in a harsh winter climate consider a tropical getaway. You can bask in a beach lover’s paradise while your friends fight the chill at home! However, if you’ve never experienced the magic of waking up to snow on Christmas morning- head somewhere where your childhood Christmas wish will come true. Whether you’re hitting the slopes or sitting by the fire it will be a special Christmas memory that will last a lifetime.

5) All Aboard

Spend your Christmas on a floating resort! Cruise ships offer non-stop action, around the clock buffets, shopping & shows. There’s something here for everyone and many different cruise lines to choose from, you can truly customize your cruise experience. Explore amazing port locations and enjoy endless on ship activity. As an added bonus most holiday cruises include an all out New Year’s bash!

Why not take a Christmas vacation in Mudgee? It’s a beautiful area and Mudgee accommodation is cheap and top rate. Plus Christmas in Mudgee is like no other!

Article Source: Happy Living Articles