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Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 6 (The week of Thanksgiving)

Published on November 20, 2023November 30, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog6 Comments

Thanksgiving is almost here and I can’t wait! Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted about some of the things we are doing to help prepare our homes for the holidays and hopefully prevent a little of the CHAOS. We will continue to review those things and work on a few more things this week. Our list is as follows:

We will take a little extra time during our weekly ‘Home Blessings’ to make sure that everything is cleaned, windows are shined, and floors are swept, mopped, and vacuumed.
I will be checking my Holiday Planner for the timeline of things I need to do to prepare for Turkey Day. ex: defrost turkey, clean oven, clean kitchen, empty fridges, get out centerpieces, etc.
I will review the menu lists in my Holiday Planner so I can add all of the perishables to my weekly grocery list so I can get them purchased ASAP and not have to make a last-minute grocery run on the day before as things will definitely be CRAZY and many shelves may be EMPTY!
I’ll review my list of ‘make-ahead’ items and try to knock out a few of them so there will be less to do at Thanksgiving.
I will pull out some of those Thanksgiving activities that I found earlier and let the kids work on them while I work on other things. The kids will help with preparations when they can but there are some things that I just want to do myself.
If we have decided to do any Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping we will review our planned lists and budgets.
I’m also trying to plan to do the 3 gift rule here this year but I’m not sure how it will go yet. I’ve got some links about this idea HERE, HERE, and HERE. This will hopefully encourage the focus to be more on Jesus than Santa and the gifts he will bring.

Most of all we will do our best to be thankful for all the family and friends that we have been blessed with and try to create some special memories with them during the holiday season! We pray that you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Light of the World Advent Study: A Family Journey Through Scripture, Nature, and Worship

For more great ideas you can check out the FlyLady website HERE.

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 6 Download

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 5 (The Week Before Thanksgiving)

Published on November 13, 2023September 16, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog7 Comments

Thanksgiving is getting closer and I’m sure you are getting constant reminders about how close it is getting to Christmas! Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted about some of the things we are doing to help prepare our homes for the holidays and hopefully prevent a little of the CHAOS. We will continue to review those things and work on a few more things this week. Our list is as follows:

We continue to look for things that don’t belong and get them put away where they belong or get rid of things we don’t really need as we do our weekly ‘Home Blessings’.
If we have items (or cards) that need to be mailed, we will try to get them taken care of ASAP… sometimes I have gifts sent directly to the recipients, but I try to warn them ahead of time so they can be on the lookout for them.
If I haven’t bought the wrapping paper and supplies, then I will try to make sure to get those this week. I also make sure that I have ordered any special tablecloths or tableware that I may need so it gets here in plenty of time.
I’m also trying to plan to do the 3 gift rule here this year, but I’m not sure how it will go yet. I’ve got some links about this idea HERE, HERE, and HERE. This will hopefully encourage the focus to be more on Jesus than Santa and the gifts he will bring.
I will review the menu lists in my Holiday Planner so I can try to add as many of the pantry goods to my weekly grocery list as well as double-checking to make sure that we have plenty of the everyday essentials like toilet paper and paper towels because we don’t want to run out of those things when we have guests.
I’ll review my list of ‘make-ahead’ items and try to knock out a few of them so there will be less to do at Thanksgiving. I will also pull out some of my recipes that will use up the leftover turkey and such if we have any.
I will also look up some information about Thanksgiving traditions and history to add to our homeschool lessons as well as some fun Thanksgiving activities. You can check this post HERE for some ideas!

Life is crazy enough without adding holiday stress to it. The simpler we can keep things, the better in most cases and we are always trying to find creative solutions to things we need to get done. By spending just a few minutes a day working on these tasks it helps to get us prepared without causing a lot of unnecessary stress.

For more great ideas you can check out the FlyLady website HERE.

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 5 Download

Holiday Planner Pics… Nothing Fancy!

Published on November 10, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog10 Comments

I’ve mentioned in several posts about my Holiday Planning Binder but I don’t know if I’ve ever really shared what it looks like. It’s definitely nothing fancy… just an old Trapper Keeper that the kiddos didn’t use and the folders are old pocket folders that they aren’t using. I really like that it zips up because it helps to keep everything contained really well and prevents the inevitable spillage that happens when you have kiddos running around.

This is what the outside of the planner looks like… nothing special at all but the fact that it is purple helps me to identify it from other binders on the shelf and I can tell almost anyone to grab me the purple binder and they have no trouble finding it all. I probably should’ve tried to clean it up a bit before the pictures but this is how LIFE goes around here and these smudges and smears remind me of all the little blessings that are running through my house!

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Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 4

Published on November 6, 2023September 16, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog9 Comments

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve posted about some of the things we are doing to help prepare our homes for the holidays and hopefully prevent a little of the CHAOS. We will continue to review those things and work on a few more things this week. Our list is as follows:

As we do our weekly ‘Home Blessings’ we will continue to look for things that don’t belong and get them put away where they belong or get rid of things we don’t really need.
I will definitely be paying more attention to the items I still need to purchase for Thanksgiving Dinner as well as making sure I have plenty of napkins and such … maybe even some To-Go containers for leftovers.
I will have the kids go through some of their toys (we have actually been decluttering quite a bit so this shouldn’t be too hard.) to get rid of things they no longer play with so they can make room for new items that will sure to be coming. This is better to do BEFORE CHRISTMAS rather than AFTER!
I try to get rid of any catalogs that come in as they come in so that I am not tempted to overspend on items that we don’t really need. It seems that we are flooded with catalogs and credit offers at this time of year but no thanks!
I will review the menu lists in my Holiday Planner so I can try to add as many of the pantry goods to my weekly grocery list as well as double checking to make sure that we have plenty of the everyday essentials like toilet paper and paper towels because we don’t want to run out of those things when we have guests. I will add these to my Sam’s Club order to get them knocked off the list so I have a few fewer things to worry about.
I will review any mail-order purchases to check off what has come in and also check off any gifts I have been able to buy/make so that I can cross them off the lists. While sitting at my desk I will also take a quick look over my regular bills to make sure that I haven’t forgotten anything during the process of ordering things.
I will also look up some information about Thanksgiving traditions and history to add to our homeschool lessons as well as some fun Thanksgiving activities, if I haven’t already found some. I did go through some of my older files and compiled a list of things we will be doing HERE.

For more great ideas you can check out the FlyLady website HERE.

Getting Ready for the Holidays Week 4 Download

Did you know you can cook FROZEN ground beef in the Instant Pot?

Published on January 26, 2023January 13, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

Ground beef has gotten a bit more expensive here lately but it can still be stretched to make many different filling meals on a budget. I like to throw some in a pot in the morning so that it can be cooked before dinner and quickly made into a yummy dish. I like to add some finely chopped mushrooms to ours while cooking to add a little extra nutrition… the kids never notice!