Category Archives: holiday tips

Holiday Cards and Holiday Invitations

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The holidays are a wonderful time to send a personal letter to old friends and new friends. There are a great variety of holiday cards to send depending on what the occasion is. Holiday cards don’t need to be sent just at the end of the year either. There are holiday cards to send year round. And with holidays, also come holiday parties, so don’t forget about holiday party invitations too.

The end of the year is the most popular time to send holiday cards. If the sender is sending Christmas wishes or hosting a Christmas party, there are numerous types of cards and invitations available. There are many themes for holiday parties
including traditional Christmas elements such as Christmas trees, wreathes, and presents. Other elements may include poinsettias, snowmen, and bells. For a Hanukkah celebration, there are many wonderful invitations and cards featuring traditional menorah or Dradle.

There are lots of other holidays year round that may call for sending a card or throwing a party. Independence Day invitations or 4th of July invitations are very popular. The summer time is a great time to get guests together for an outdoor barbeque or picnic. There are some great invitations that feature the flag or fireworks. Halloween is also a great opportunity to send cards or throw a costume party. Halloween invitations have some great themes like pumpkins, ghosts, and trick or treaters.

Since you will often need to order lots of invitations or holiday cards, it is important to find a distributor that offers a discount. Many distributors will offer a discount for orders over 25 or 50 invitations. Others offer a discount for ordering invitations online. Look for discounts like 25% off or free shipping. These types of discounts can help save a bundle, especially helpful at the holiday times when money can be spent on other things.

So no matter when or what the occasion, cards and invitations can always come in handy. Choose the best theme for your party and find discount cards and discount invitations to stay in a budget. And most importantly, have fun!

Christmas Recipes: Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

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By: Laurie Bennett
“This is a great old Maine recipe, moist and spicy. The bread actually tastes even better the day after it is baked. Great for holiday gift giving!”

Prep Time: 15 Min  Cook Time: 50 Min Ready In: 1 Hr 5 Min

Original Recipe Yield 3 – 7×3 inch loaf pans

Ingredients

  • 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7×3 inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving Calories: 263 | Total Fat: 10.3g | Cholesterol: 35mg

original source & reviews

How to have that Stress Free Christmas!!

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Christmas is just around the corner again and you can almost feel it coming. It is the most joyful season of the year. But there are simple steps you can follow to avoid Christmas stress.
Is it the commercial aspect of Christmas that makes you feel stress? Some people do experience stress because of the number of products that is coming out because of the season. In spite of this people still do enjoy, it’s just a matter of mind setting. Know what activities you really need to do and know what does the season really mean.
Do not participate in occasions that are against your will. While there are lots of people who want to celebrate the season, there are also people who are not fascinated or even want to celebrate. If you’re this type of person then nobody is forcing you. Remember you’re still the one who knows what would make you happy, if you think that celebrating Christmas is a little too much then give yourself a gift of stress free Christmas just by saying “No”.
Set a budget and work on it. Money is one of the biggest reasons why people are being stress when Christmas is coming. The concept is very simply, if you’re having problems setting your budget then it’s ok. Just think that the month of December is a short one and it will be January already in just few weeks and its all back to normal including the budget.
Set a limit to your budget if you’re planning to celebrate the season and let others know it most especially the children. This is particular to children most especially if they are requesting for an expensive gift or toy. Some people explain it to their children thru Santa Claus, that it would be impossible for Santa to bring a gift like that since he’ll be also bringing millions of gift to other children around the world. If the child does not care if he is going to be surprise for Christmas but expects to have a gift under the Christmas tree, then, money can be given directly but should be explained also that the gift they will get would be depending on the value that they will be receiving. For teenagers money can be given to them and let them have a chance to go out and have fun with their friends.
Limit your shopping in the malls and retail stores. If you need to buy something you can also check it online. Since there are also a lot of people shopping in the malls you’ll be having a hard time asking for assistance from the sales clerk. Better get the item that you need to purchase and go home immediately.