Essentially EmmaMarie
Welcome
Come, sit, relax, and take a few minutes to breathe! My goal is to help infuse your life with inspiration for the everyday. Whether it’s a new recipe, helping your to find your next read, offering a decor tip, or simply sharing helpful hints for everyday life, I hope you will take my invitation to pause for a few minutes in your crazy life and enjoy the simple things of life-for its all the little things that make up this big, crazy, beautiful thing we call life.
Planning Your Christmas – 2023
Are you ready for the holidays? From about this time in mid November- Christmas Day is my favorite time of year! As much as I love the evenings spent in front of the fire watching a christmas movie while sipping hot chocolate even I can’t deny that this is also a very busy time of year. Between an uptick in activities, to more baking than normal, not to mention gifts to buy and wrap this time of year can easily spiral from being the most wonderful time of year, to being the most stressful! In this post I am sharing several things you can start planning and doing now to make this time of year a little less stressful!
Activities
What activities do you want to do this year? Are there music performances, light shows, other events that you want to go to? Now is the time to take a look at your calendar and start purchasing tickets- things tend to sell out pretty quickly so secure your fun now!
Cooking
Do you host a lot during the holidays? You might start collecting a few extra ingredients to have on hand, and again help ease your budget later. If you mind yourself with a little bit of extra time on your hands you might also whip up an additional casserole or two and stick them in the freezer- anything you can do now, so that later you can enjoy the holidays, I would advise doing!
Baking
As you’ve no doubt heard me mention, my grandma always made peanut brittle, fudge, and other baked goods throughout the holiday season. I have noticed that, while some people have no desire to bake there tends largely to be 2 groups of people: those who do a ton of baking at the holidays and those who wish they did more.
I always find myself wanting to bake, but I usually make myself wait, or hold back until…? I’m not sure what I am always waiting for! If you want to try out some new Christmas cookies this year, go ahead and get started now- you can freeze the cookies and just pull out what you need when you need them.
When my family got the flu a few days before Christmas last year, I was glad that I had made some cookies and frozen them ahead of time, that way when we were feeling better and still had a few parties to attend I had cookies at the ready! And yes- they still tasted good. I had people asking for the recipe!
Tip: Try using a vacuum sealer for an airtight seal on your cookies, and watch closely- you want the seal to be tight but stop just before the cookies look like they will get stress fractures in front of the sealing!
Shopping
I love attending craft shows and try to keep my eye open for gifts throughout the year, however there are still gifts that I purchase for people outside of craft shows. If you are someone who buys books, for example, or other items like that for people, go ahead and start purchasing one or two of these gifts now! It will be easier on your budget and one less thing to do later!
Wrapping
I love wrapping gifts while sipping hot chocolate in front of a warm fire, while watching a christmas movie- this is one of our favorite things! I always want to leave some wrapping for later, there are things that can be wrapped or even just boxed ahead of time. Boxing ahead of time might also be a good idea for those of you who have snoops living in your house!
Decor
No, alas I am not going to tell you to pull out your decorations and start decorating for christmas at the beginning of november…. But you might pull them out and look through them! This is the perfect time of year to collect ideas, make lists, and see if you have any holes in your decor, or any specific additions. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Do you say every year that you need something? Another garland? An extra small tree, or a new wreath for your front door?
Do you have a stocking for everyone in your family?
Do you like your Christmas color scheme or are you wanting to switch it up a little this year?
Think about your decor from last year and make a list of anything you might want to change! Also if you look through your decor and see anything that you’re not excited to put up this year, time to give it to someone who will!
Outside Decorating
Do you put Christmas lights up outside of your house? If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to pull out the lights and make sure that they are all working! If there are any new items you want to add- time to make a list!
I hope these tips help to get you thinking and preparing ahead for the holidays. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I hate to see people so frazzled that they can’t enjoy themselves! Here’s to having a very merry Christmas in 2023!
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
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Meet Essentially EmmaMarie
Hi! So nice to meet you! My name is Alaina. “What?!” You say, who is Emma Marie then? I shall tell you. I wanted to start this little blog and I didn’t just want to do my name, I love my name but I wanted to do something a little chicer, a little different, something with a little sparkle to it. While still ruminating on a name for my blog I was listening to an audio book by Jessica Herrin, founder of Stella and Dot. The name Stella and Dot was derived from her grandmothers’ names. That struck a chord within me. Family is very important to me, and I am especially close with my grandma. I started thinking about my grandmother’s name. Velma is my grandmother on my father’s side and while I love her dearly, well, lets just say Velma didn’t have exactly the ring I was going for. But her middle name is Marie. Ooh, I like that, a lot.
Then there is my maternal grandma. Her name is Luemma. An aside; she was named Helen at her birth but she abhorred that name so when she turned eighteen she changed it! Luemma is a mouthful and doesn’t need anything added to it, but Emma? Yes!
As I thought about the name, I realized that the essence of these two women epitomized what I hope to cover on this blog. Velma Marie was the quintessential 1950’s housewife. I say that with all the love and respect in the world, look up perfect 1950s housewife and you will see her picture! The last of five children, she grew up in the 30’s as a little farm girl in Iowa. After high school she went on to major in Home Economics at Iowa state university, ultimately obtaining her Mrs. degree in a union that lasted over 71 years!
Luemma, I never had the privilege of knowing. But here is what I do know about her: she could sing and yodel. Neither of these talents did she pass on to any of her five children. In addition to being a mother she was also a teacher. She then became the sole provider for her family when my grandfather died. She rose to the challenge and raised those five children, all between the ages of 7-13, on her own in the turbulent era of the 1960s.
From these two women I believe I draw a lot of what brings me joy. My love of “housekeeping,” if you will, I draw from my grandma Velma Marie, I love to cook, bake, decorate, and create any variety of things from jewelry to wooden signs. From my grandma Luemma I derive my love of history, reading, learning, and teaching. She passed down to my mother the importance of looking ones best no matter the budget.
These traits and interests sum up what I will primarily talk about here; anything from books to housekeeping, decorating to fashion, history to DIY. It is my hope that these little posts will inspire you and bring you joy. I hope that sitting down to read for a few minutes will feel like a deep breath of fresh air for your soul. I know they will certainly bring me joy to create them for you!