torsdag 20. desember 2018

How I Decorate For Christmas

I would guess most of us have decorated a bit for Christmas at the moment. At least I've done it, even if my flat is fairly small.

Due to the fact that my flat is pretty small, I don't have any room for a Christmas tree. Instead, I've focused on putting some decor on my living room table instead. Sometimes a little goes a long way, as long as one gets a Christmas vibe out of it. It doesn't have to look like Santa's living room in order to have a "proper" Christmas vibe.

Of course, an added bonus of just a little bit of decor is that it makes packing it away after Christmas so much easier. Feel free to call me a bit lazy if you want.

Luckily I also have some Christmas-themed napkins and mugs for some extra Christmas vibe, in addition to a framed art printable hanging in my entrance (the art printable, not the mugs and napkins).

 How have you decorated for Christmas? Feel free to comment below.

tirsdag 18. desember 2018

Making a Home; 5 Free Printable Christmas Gift Tags

I love to wrap the Christmas gifts a bit "fancy". One of the easier ways to do that, is by having some fun/interesting gift tags. Even though I have a bucketload of gift tags already, I'm always in search of new ones. A cheap way of getting my hands on some fun tags are the free printable gift tags one can find online and print out. It's no need to go to the grocery store (or any other store) and purchase gift tags.

Stock photo from Pexels
Here's five free printable gift tags you can use if you want.

lørdag 15. desember 2018

Weekend Cooking; Christmas Breakfast Ideas

Whether you're having a Christmas breakfast or brunch, it can be nice to have it all planned out in terms of food. Even better if some of the food is make ahead or made in a slow cooker. No one wants to be a slave in the kitchen, especially during Christmas. So today, I'll give you a round up of Christmas related breakfast/brunch recipes, some which can either be made ahead or in a slow cooker, while others are done "the regular way". Enjoy!

Stock photo from Pexels
Food
Eggnog French Toast
Chocolate Crossant Breakfast Bake
Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze
Cranberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake
Slow Cooker Gingerbread Oatmeal
Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast
Make-Ahead Eggnog French Toast Casserole
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Crem Cheese Frosting
Slow Cooker Maple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oatmeal
Slow Cooker Orange Sweet Rolls

Beverages
Gingerbread Smoothie
Crockpot White Chocolate Latte
Slow Cooker Candy Cane White Hot Chocolate
Slow Cooker Cranberry Wassail

Do you have any favourite breakfast or brunch recipes for Christmas? Feel free to share below in the comment section.

fredag 14. desember 2018

Friday Finds; Gifts on a Budget

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Christmas often means expenses, unfortunately, and sometimes we all can be on a tight budget. So, what to do when you need to buy Christmas gifts? Aside from doing the hard line of reducing the number of people you're going to buy gifts for, you can in addition to that, buy items in a bulk (think multi packs of tea etc).

Stock photo from Pexels
A great place to purchase items is iHerb and I'm guilty as charged in terms of buying Christmas gifts there. A good thing about iHerb is that they've also got quantity discount on a number of items, so in some cases you can get an even bigger discount if you actually combine a multi pack of something with quanitity discount (buying two multi packs, instead of one).

Now, I want to give you a short list for inspiration in terms of Christmas gifts you can buy from iHerb. A cool thing you can do, is purchasing several different items and make cute gift baskets. Doesn't it sound nice to do one online order and actually buy multiple Christmas gifts at once? It certainly cuts the stress a bit.

torsdag 13. desember 2018

Thursday Thoughts; My Goals For And What I Look Forward To This Christmas Season

Christmas is fast approaching for most of us at this point, myself included. Luckily I've finishing buying the Christmas gifts a long time ago, so at this stage I only need to hand over a few gifts to my friends I haven't seen in a while.

Some of the stuff I look forward to this Christmas is to spend some time with my family, eat yummy food, relax and watch a couple of Christmas movies. I have also planned to have French Toast and hot chocolate for dinner, go ice skating, donate unwanted clothes and visit a museum if I manage to pull it all off.

One of the biggest perks of being single and child-free is that I can shape my own Christmas in the way I want to. I even don't mind doing some solo-dates (like ice-skating and visiting a museum), as I sometimes crave some alone time. Christmas is supposed to be fun, so I honestly don't see the point in pressuring oneself into doing something you honestly don't want to do.

No matter what you choose to do this Christmas season, I hope you have a lot of fun.

tirsdag 11. desember 2018

mandag 10. desember 2018

Menu Plan Monday Week 50

I figured out it was a long time since I posted my last Menu Plan Monday post, so I thought it was the time to get another one done. This weekly feature is hosted by Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie. It's not that I haven't written my menu plans lately, I just forgot to post them here on this blog. Sometimes life gets in the way, unfortunately.

Stock photo from Pexels
Nevertheless, here's my menu for this week.
Monday; Leftovers from Sunday
Tuesday; Lightly breaded cod
Wednesday; Tortelloni
Thursday; Salmon with Peruvian style garlic and tomato sauce
Friday; Leftovers
Saturday, Tortelloni
Sunday; Pulled Salmon Wraps

What's on your menu plan this week?

lørdag 8. desember 2018

Weekend Cooking; 5 Christmas Inspired Cocktails to Try This Season

For those of us who likes to try new cocktails, I've got you covered today as I'm having a round up of 5 Christmas inspired cocktails to try this season.

When it comes to alcohol, especially during holidays like Christmas, I believe in moderation. I'm not banning people drinking, but I honestly don't think that there's that many kids that want to be around drunk people (esp. parents/family members). 

Anyway, here's the five cocktails.

Do you have any favourite Christmas inspired cocktail recipes? Feel free to share in the comment section below.

fredag 7. desember 2018

Friday Finds; 10 Free Printable Christmas Party Invites

Even though I recently had a bit of a rant on this blog about the pressure of attending Christmas parties, it doesn't stop me from writing a round up of 10 free printable Christmas party invites. People can attend or host as many parties as they like.

The printables have various themes, whether it's cookie exchanges, ugly sweater parties and what-not, so there is a fair chance you might find a free printable for your needs. Christmas is expensive enough, so why not make use of some fun printables?

Here's the links to the invitations.

onsdag 5. desember 2018

5 DIY Christmas Cards

Are you still a bit clueless about how to make your own Christmas cards? No worry, today I've found five tutorials for DIY Christmas cards. Some of them are even easy enough that kids can participate in making them.

tirsdag 4. desember 2018

Making a Home; Nine Quick and Easy Christmas Crafts

As it's officially December, a lot of people think about Christmas crafts. Some crafts can be a bit time consuming and difficult, so today I wanted to share a round up of nine rather quick and easy Christmas crafts. Some could work as Christmas presents and some of them are so kid-friendly that your children could do them.
Stock photo from Pexels
DIY Snowy Mason Jars
Christmas Tree Cut Out Mason Jar
Wood Slice Santa Ornaments
Spray Painted Pine Cones
Thread Trees
Epsom Salt Snow Candle
Weaving Danish Heart Baskets
Twine Angels
Snow Covered Pine Cones

søndag 2. desember 2018

How Do I Plan My Christmas?

Stock photo from Pexels
As I'm single and childfree apart from being a "catmom", I see that I have a bit less stress during the Christmas season. It doesn't mean that I don't have things to do though, whether it's baking, gift shopping and other random things.

One of the major things that reduce the stress during Christmas for me, is planning a bit ahead. One thing that I do is having the rule of being finished purchasing all Christmas gifts before December 1st. I might sound a bit crazy for doing it, but personally I don't find it too much fun spending time at a shopping center in December due to the stressed out crowds. And why on Earth procastinate on the gifts if I accidentally come across something that I know would suit X perfectly in July? It also helps me a bit economically buying Christmas gifts throughout the year instead of waiting until December. Instead of spending a chunk of money at once, it's a bit here and there. An added bonus is that I get more time to think on the gifts and actually give more thoughtful gifts rather than something purchased in a last minute panic.

With the time freed from Christmas gift purchasing, I get the chance of relaxing and have a bit of fun during the holidays. I love to bake, so each year I bake some kind of Christmas treats. It varies a bit from year to year what I bake, but I often make Norwegian Cookie Men (Kakemenn), which is more or less a Christmas staple in my flat.

Recent years, I've also made a Christmas "bucket list", where I write down various Christmas related activities I want to do. I try having a varied list, whether it's reading a Christmas-themed book, donating unwanted clothes to charity and what-not. I try to have a bit of a balance between doing something for myself and random acts of kindness or similar. As Christmas often is a bit of "me, me, me" time, I think it's important opening the eyes and spread the love.

As I'm a huge lover of lists, I tend to write down "everything", so if you're in search of some printable lists to aid you during the holiday season, feel free to check out these ones.
How do you plan your Christmas? And do you have control of all the things you need to do? Feel free to share in the comment section below.