Preparing for Guests During the Holidays

This time of year from Thanksgiving to New Year's, lots of friends and family will be coming around to visit. I love having people over, decorating the house and serving festive food and beverages. This was the first Thanksgiving we hosted and I can't wait to host a Christmas get-together!

There is so much to do in preparation for guests. Cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, buying and wrapping presents...shall I continue? We all want a clean home to show off, but who has time to clean on top of everything else on our to-do list?! I have some tips and ways to clean up and make it seem like we spent hours scrubbing every inch of our home. 

Even if you only have a morning or an afternoon to clean up before your guests arrive, you can make it seem like you spent all those hours cleaning. 

First, empty trash cans in the kitchen and bathrooms. No one wants to smell or see your trash!

Next, if you don't have time to vacuum, shake out your bathroom, kitchen and other rugs to make them seem cleaner. Bonus points for vacuuming or sweeping/Swiffering! You only need to do the main rooms in your home.

Add new toilet paper rolls in the guest bathrooms so there won't be a chance it will run out and your guests have to hunt for extra rolls, or worse, holler for you to bring them one.

In your family/living room/den, fold blankets and fluff up couch cushions and pillows. Straighten books, magazines and knick knacks on coffee and side tables or even put them away in a cabinet so there is room to place drinks.

Empty dishwasher and load up dirty dishes, then wipe down sink and counter tops with Clorox wipes.

Close doors to bedrooms, offices, playrooms, and any other rooms that won't be used by guests. This gives you an excuse not to clean these rooms! For now...

Finally, light a candle in the guest bathroom, kitchen, and living room or dining room where guests will congregate. The scent and glow will make any home feel cozy and festive. 

See? That was easy! Never stress over cleaning for guests again! Now use all that extra time to cook some awesome goodies! I've been wanting to try out this recipe. Love a good muffin!! An excuse to eat a cupcake for breakfast :)

Christmas Eve PJs

Prepping for a cozy winter morning!

My handsome pup wanted in on the fun

Lounging in my favorite flannel PJs from VS! with my fav Starbucks mug :)

Christmas is right around the corner!! Is it just me, or did the weeks leading up to Christmas FLY by?? We can be very busy this time of year (I know I have been!), but I hope y'all have had a chance to slow down and just enjoy it all! 

With Christmas Eve just days away, let's talk about those cute PJs everyone wants to wear! A lot of families have traditions where they all get matching Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve to wear that night and Christmas morning! I love this, so I have rounded up some of my favorite Christmas-y PJs for you to run out and snag if you haven't already as you make the final preparations for CHRISTMAS! Seriously, I feel like we just celebrated Halloween...

Nordstrom PJ Salvage Thermal Knit Lounge Pants in Fuchsia Snowmen

Nordstrom PJ Salvage Thermal PJs

J. Crew Marled Camp Socks - 30% off
(need warm socks to go with the PJs)

J. Crew Fair Isle Leggings - 40% off

Gap Printed cotton leggings in snowflake holly berry

Target Nick and Nora in Winter Snowglobe - on sale!

Target Holiday PJ

Victoria's Secret Fireside Long Jane in Grey Fair Isle - on sale!

Victoria's Secret Dreamer Flannel PJ (what I'm wearing!)

Christmas fun!

As I have mentioned before (and will continue to!) Christmas is my favorite. All of it, everything about it! The hubs (who loves Christmas as much as I do) and I wanted to host some of our family and have a fun Christmas get together with food and then going to see the Lights Before Christmas at the Riverbank Zoo. So, yesterday my parents came down and we did just that!

A yummy display of food!

We had so much fun, and it's always great to get to spend time with my parents. My dad and Jeffrey are like two peas in a pod trading jokes, and Aspen tried to play with Mia, my parents' 11 year-old Cavalier who could care less about anyone other than my mom, let alone a rambunctious puppy!

I made lots of finger food appetizers and desserts with a fun Christmas-y punch and stovetop hot chocolate to finish the night off! (Recipes and links at end)

Ham and Cheese Party Roll-ups

Mini Chicken and Waffles

Bacon-wrapped Lil' Smokies

Peppermint Marshmallows

Candy Cane Oreo Brownies

Posing by the giant Christmas tree at the Zoo

My adorable parents!

Here is a compilation of all of the recipes for the food, desserts, and drinks:

Savories
Bacon-wrapped Lil' Smokies (with a delicious brown sugar glaze! Sure to be a crowd pleaser)
Hot Ham & Cheese Roll-ups (my Dad's favorite)
Mini Chicken and Waffles - so simple! Just Mini Eggo waffles with a Chick-fil-A nugget sandwiched between with a toothpick! Serve with a drizzle of Maple Syrup.

Sweets
Puppy Chow
Gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting - recipe from The Cupcake Diaries by the girls of Georgetown Cupcake! This cookbook started my cupcake craze!
Candy Cane Oreo Brownies (I couldn't find the candy cane type Oreos but the Mint ones worked perfectly!)
Pretzel "Kisses"(Linked recipe used Hugs, but again, couldn't find so Kisses it was!)

Drinks
Cranberry Punch
Stovetop Hot Chocolate (so fast and east and makes the perfect cup of hot chocolate)
Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows (a show-stopper for sure)