10 24 Happiest Holidays Planner with Jeannine_mixdown
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Karen Bemmes: [00:00:00] ~So ~are you ready for the holidays? Because if you're not, we got the perfect solution for you today. My friend Janine Rose and I are going to talk about the happiest holidays planner ~y'all, ~and it's going to be awesome. ~So hello, my lovelies and ~welcome to ~the, ~the moving toward better podcast. I'm your host, Karen Bemis.
~And ~today we're going to talk about the happiest holidays planner and how it can help you have your best holiday season possible. ~Now, ~before we dive in, I want to make sure that you all know that what we are about to share are experiences from our own lives. ~And what we've learned along the way, ~your situation may be different, and this is no substitute for professional financial, medical, or mental health intervention if your situation warrants it.
So, this podcast is designed to help people understand themselves and others better. ~And that is ~based on their personalities. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any mental or physical [00:01:00] condition. ~And ~if you suspect you or a family member is at risk of physical or mental harm, please seek appropriate medical intervention immediately.
For those ~who are ~new to the podcast, ~when we talk about personalities, which we may do in this, ~We are using the model of behavior for DISC and I refer to people as D are driven, I are inspired, S are supportive, and C are cautious. ~So, ~you can get more information on that and how to take your own assessment in the show notes.
So, we're going to start with the fact that we both love the holidays. ~Okay. ~Our experiences of the holidays have been very different. ~We talk about that in, in the intros in our, in our planner, but ~we both love the holidays. We have a different vibe. I think we've finally ended up calling Janine's vibe.
~The it's ~the Martha Stewart vibe without the Martha Stewart cost. ~Okay. It ~it's ~simple. I shouldn't say simple person, ~more elaborate where mine is very simplistic. ~Hers is more elaborate. Okay. ~We both love what we do. She's a three tree ~kind of ~kind of lady. I'm a one tree girl and I'm lucky if I get that up.
~Right. ~But what's great about it is, ~you know, ~it's her [00:02:00] house, it's her life and she loves what she does. ~Mine is more centered on. ~I don't do as much decorating because it's not my thing, but I love to bake all through the holiday season and share it with other people. We just kind of have a different vibe, but what's really cool is when we put this thing together.
We get the best of her and the best of me. And that's what I love the most. So welcome Janine. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. As we all know, ~and I've, I'm going to mention that I will mention this another podcast. ~We spend over 900 billion in the United States on Christmas last year. That's an amazing statistic to me, but I also know that there's a lot of people, and I'm sure you do too, who are, ~they're ~struggling financially.
~I mean, ~Gene lives in Florida, where they've just gotten hit with two hurricanes. There are definitely people who are going to be looking to scale way back. if they can have a Christmas at all. So we are not tone deaf to that. Maybe just give ~a little, ~a little snippet of where you live ~and, ~and how things [00:03:00] are where you are, because I think it's an important thing to think about as we go into the holidays.
Jeannine Rose: ~Okay. ~I am in central Florida, the Tampa Bay area. We were hit by Helene, and then we were hit by Milton, ~and ~Although we did fare very well and we're very blessed, ~what ~many people around us did not, and my heart goes out to them. We've done what we can to help mom. And I brought food down to the shore, to the Pine Island area.
You ~know, you kind of ~try to stay as aware as possible as to what are the different things that you can do to contribute to a comeback. ~And ~I do believe that one will be on the horizon, still a little fresh, but that's where I am right now, central Florida.
Karen Bemmes: ~Okay. ~And for me, ~um, ~a lot of ~the, ~what happened with lean in the Asheville area has affected.
People around me, ~I, ~I actually have relatives who are from Boone, North Carolina. ~So, um, ~I have a friend that was in Asheville. He got out, I'm [00:04:00] not sure if he's back yet. ~So, ~I've been keeping up with a lot of that. I also have ~some, ~a friend in, ~uh, ~eastern Tennessee, ~and ~they've had power, but they didn't have water until about three days ago.
And so ~that, you know, this is, ~this is going to take a while. ~So, we're not. ~We don't want to be toned up to that because there's a lot of people for whom surviving Christmas is going to be a big deal. But for those of us who get to celebrate and we don't have those things to deal with, we're going to talk about that a little bit.
And this is a labor of love between the two of us. ~As a matter of fact, ~we weren't sure we were going to get it published. on Amazon this year. It was ~quite the, ~quite the thing, but ~I was down at, uh, ~I was down at Janine's in August, and we kind of went through all of it, and it was like, you know what? We could probably get this published this week.
~And other than the fact that we had a few errors in here that we hadn't thought, but, uh, ~KDP did catch a lot of our errors for us, and we had to keep ~Going back and ~re submitting ~and ~it took ~what ~three, four weeks, ~something like that ~to get it ~finally ~to the point where we think we caught all the errors.
~And ~if you happen to find one, then you could let us know we'll correct it for next year. But we [00:05:00] came up with something we're ~really, ~really proud of. ~Because I think ~it's a great companion. It's a great way to keep yourself on plan on budget. We do talk about those things. We've got how to plan for your holiday spending.
We have a gift list in here for people if you've never done that before. ~There's just so much here. And ~whether you're a seasoned holiday planner, like me, I mean I've been married and had kids for over 30 years, so I've been doing this a very long time, I still use this every year. It's what informs what I want to do because we don't do the same things every year.
~And, and ~part of why we're talking about this right now. is one of the things both of us have learned is to plan sooner rather than later. Honestly, when I was looking for statistics, about 60 percent of people start buying ~in ~in October for gifts and things like that, which is why I think the gift list is so [00:06:00] important, you know, to know what we've purchased because I don't know about you, but I have gotten to December and I go to wrap everything.
~And I was like, Oh, I forgot about, I forgot all about buying this. ~
Jeannine Rose: I actually have a running list. I always keep on my phone, but ~you know, ~having it written down ~just kind of ~keeps you on track budget wise and organized so that you're not buying, ~you know, ~different things for different people that you've already got covered in your lists.
Karen Bemmes: And that's another thing, you know, talking about personalities and things, that's where Janine and I have basically an opposite personality about that. But what's interesting about being organized through the holidays ~is it ~is, it saves our sanity. in very different ways ~because ~For janine ~and ~she's got a lot of the c personality in her.
She loves a list She loves ~the just ~the act of organizing ~and all of that Where ~I don't actually love making the list, but I need them to survive ~And ~that's the way ~I've, ~I've put it ~is that, you know, ~these people are like, Oh, do away with your to do list. I'm like, nothing [00:07:00] would get done in my life, ~nothing would get done.~
And then somebody like Janine without a list, she'd be full of stress all the time because she's like, ~I need my, ~I need to check my things off. So I know that I'm making progress, right? Both of that is in here. ~You know, that ~those thought processes ~are, ~are both in here. ~So ~for those who love a list, it's there for you.
For those who need the list to survive. It's there for you. ~You know, I have my recipes and stuff like that. And ~it took me years to do this and it won't take you years because we've already done it for you. Knowing how much flour ~that ~I need, knowing how much butter I need, knowing how much sugar ~that ~I need because I'm a baker.
So those three things, ~I use a lot of weird things that sometimes you forget, you know, like for you, ~you make your compound butters in advance.
Jeannine Rose: ~Right. ~I make my compound butter every year. Between August, September, October has been the latest I've ever made my compound butter and it just sits in the freezer and it's ready to take out a couple of days before Thanksgiving and use on my turkey and many other recipes.
Karen Bemmes: And ~what's, you know, with the list, you know, ~exactly what herbs you need to buy,
Jeannine Rose: [00:08:00] right.
Karen Bemmes: ~You know, and I, ~there are things that I check ~my, ~my vanilla at this time, every year. And I almost always buying a new one. I check some of the expiration dates on Extracts and things like that to see if I have to buy them.
~Because the other thing is, you know, ~for those of us who are on a budget, ~and I think most of us are, it's, ~it's a way that you can ~kind of ~parcel that out too. ~Like ~you buy a little bit every week. You don't have to ~go ~spend hundreds of dollars at one time. And you see that bill and you're like, Oh, dear Lord, ~you know, where.~
And I talked about this in another podcast of mine that butter has been on sale almost all month here. ~And ~it is two to 3 a pound cheaper. ~And ~I did the math on it ~the one day ~with the, we use about 10 to 12 pounds of butter every year ~between, well, ~between Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the cookies that we make and all the stuff that we give away, ~we've, we've ~just eating regularly, ~you know, we use 10 to 12 pounds of butter.~
And buying that 10 pounds of butter, when it's 2. 49 instead of 6. 49, it's [00:09:00] huge. You know, ~when you're paying, ~when you're saving yourself 30 to 40 on one item, why wouldn't you? ~Exactly. You know, and ~you can just kind of watch the sales ~and when everything, ~and there's a lot of sales that happen in October for people who are paying attention.
Jeannine Rose: Right. ~I've been got my, ~I always set up my Thanksgiving table with the food ~on the side, ~on a buffet table, ~um, ~because there's just too much to keep it on ~my ~set table. I picked up my chafing dishes and my pans on sale this summer for Thanksgiving. ~And ~I had to replace them after many years of use, ~which is why I needed to get all of that.~
But that on top of everything you need to shop for at one time ~can, ~can be really stressful. Financially and emotionally
Karen Bemmes: ~well and so ~what I would tell people who've never been through this before since we're ~kind of ~seasoned with it is to ~kind of ~keep a running set of notes ~and ~we do have a note section in the planner in the back.
We have ~a ~gratitude and ~we also have ~notes all through here. ~But what you can do is ~you can make notes of what you want to buy over the next year. [00:10:00] Like if you get out a roaster or something like that, say you use a roaster every year and you're like, wow, I really could use a new roaster. Make a note in your planner.
And then when you see roasters go on sale, ~then you ~get yourself one. ~Right. Yeah. And ~that's a ~really ~great way ~of kind ~of keeping things ~going and keeping things so that they're ~within budget and all that. And you're not just doing it all. And look, if you're the kind of person who's going to buy the, the aluminum roasting pans, No shade here.
You do you, and if that's what works for you, yay for you. ~You know, we're going to show you, as a matter of fact, ~my son is working on it this week, and hopefully we'll have it in the show notes ~for you. ~Janine and I, ~uh, when we were down, ~when we were together in August, ~we ~did a small family meal, but you don't want to make that giant big turkey and all that.
We did a much smaller version of. A Thanksgiving meal. Many of the recipes are also in here. That was great for four people,
Jeannine Rose: you
Karen Bemmes: know, and there were leftovers. So if you're one of [00:11:00] those people who loves Thanksgiving leftovers, and you never get any because you go to somebody else's house, this is a great way for you to do that.
And that video will be coming soon. I'm hoping to have that ready by the time we release this podcast so that we can just link to it in the show notes. ~So. ~Keep an eye out for that in the show notes. ~That's the other thing we talk about. Whether it's a big, you're going to do a big thing, or you're going to do a small thing, or you just want to do something for yourself.~
There are all of those in there. And a lot of what I'm talking about this season too, and it is not your typical self care because we all get that, right? Where you should meditate and you should do this and you should do that. ~And you're like, that's a mom. You know, ~even, you know, Janine ~has, ~has one child, my kids are grown and I remember during the holiday season when people are like, you need to do your self care.
~And I was like, we've got time for that. Right. So, but ~we are talking about ways that self care doesn't have to be facials and massages and all that kind of stuff. Sometimes self care is simply putting your kids to bed 30 minutes earlier and having a cup of hot cocoa. Or a glass of wine, or whatever it is that, ~you know, ~relaxes [00:12:00] you.
~Right. ~That counts as self care. ~You know, ~taking a moment at the end of the day to breathe. ~Put on, ~put on hand lotion. ~I don't know, ~something simple. It doesn't have to be everything. What concerns me more is that we run ourselves into the ground. That's why you have this. So that you don't wake up on the 26th of December ~just freaking ~exhausted going, well, I got through it.
I want you to wake up on the 26th going, wow, I feel better than I felt in years. That's our ~goal. That's the ~goal. Because I will tell you when I started doing this. That's how I got there. ~Right. And my, my podcast will be dedicated to that. ~A lot of Janine's blog posts will be dedicated to that on you guys having the holiday season that works for you.
So what we're telling you to do is ~number one, you want to ~go to Amazon and ~you want to ~get this. There will be a link in the show notes and we're excited for you to have it because there's ~just ~so much good stuff in here. We've got a Thanksgiving timeline. If you've never done Thanksgiving before, or maybe if you have and you [00:13:00] always feel rushed, this will help
Jeannine Rose: ~you.~
And that's what I get asked the most on ~my, ~my blog, ~I blog over at ~sweet humble home. ~Um, and ~that's the biggest question I get every year is what. It's the timeline I should use, what should I do when, when do I start, how do I make sure everything's ready? ~So ~a Thanksgiving timeline ~is, ~is crucial to get rid of that stress.
Karen Bemmes: And look at this, we start one month prior, guess what? If you get this now, you're still one month prior. The thing is ~we, ~we do this for Thanksgiving, but then we also do it again for Christmas. And that one goes about six weeks out. Guess when six weeks is about a week before Thanksgiving. So there's a little bit of overlap, but the good thing about that is because it's only about a week of overlap.
So what if you're a little bit behind, ~you know, ~or if ~you look at it now, ~you look at the timeline now and you're like, ~Oh, ~I can get a few of those things done now instead of later. And then Thanksgiving week, isn't going to be crazy for you. ~Right. You know, ~we go five to six weeks prior to [00:14:00] Christmas. And we have lovely checklists that we've already created.
But then what I also love is that we have created blank lists for you as well. ~So ~if you want to follow ours, fine. If you want your own, you've got that too. And the cool thing about this is then if you fill this in next year, you get yourself a new one, you start all over again, but you don't start from scratch again.
You start better. And that's what we love the most about the planner is that you're not starting from scratch ~because you have. ~Between the two of us, we probably have ~over, ~well over 50 years of dealing with personases. You start better every year, and that's really what makes it amazing when you get to where we are, where you've done it for several years.
So much of it is automatic, but at the same time, it's so much room for improvement. I don't know about you, but every year I think of something new I could be doing. ~Well, and ~life changes. [00:15:00] There are people who don't sit at our table anymore and we want to find ways to honor them. And there are children that grow and have different needs.
~And you want to deal with that. ~I grew up never ~having overnight guests. during the holiday or very rarely ~having overnight guests during the holiday season ~for me. ~But now that my kids are grown, two of them live out of town. I have overnight guests. So prepping the bedrooms and making sure that they've got all the supplies they needed.
You used to be with all your family. And now you're in Florida and your mother's with you. So are you guys going home
Jeannine Rose: during the holiday season? ~Well, um, ~no, this will be ~other than COVID ~our first complete holiday season staying put. ~And ~although ~we're gonna, you know, ~we're gonna miss seeing people, ~you know, ~and it's not going to be the same as it was years prior.
We are really looking forward to a holiday season where we can stay put, we can make the cookies, we can bring things to neighbors. ~We're, ~we're here, we're present, ~um, ~in our own community and, ~and we're, ~we're looking forward to that.
Karen Bemmes: See, ~and again, ~[00:16:00] there's one of those changes that, ~you know, and, and as, ~as kids grow and we've spent a couple of seasons now that I have two of my sons are married.
We don't celebrate Christmas on Christmas anymore. Both of my sons are with their wives, families on Christmas day. And part of that is because I've always said, I don't need the day. I need a day. Right. ~So my, you know, when my, ~I have one son that lives in California and they split the time between her family and our family.
And they're really great about it. ~You know, ~her family's great about sharing. We're great about sharing. So it all works out really well. But they're only here for a few days. So we pick one of those few days that they're here and that will be Christmas day for us. It won't be the 25th. Which is fine. ~You know, it's, ~it is what it is.
~And so, ~I would rather have them for one good day. ~Absolutely. ~Than half of a stress day. ~And by the way, I'm fine. ~I have fall allergies y'all. So, that is the coughing that's going on ~and it is. Oh, it's bad. ~I need a little bit of rain to cut everything down. But anyway, ~so ~whatever your situation is with the holiday season, we're here to help.
It [00:17:00] all starts with this. And then coming into our world, whether you go to Janine's world, ~which tell everybody how they can find you. ~
Jeannine Rose: ~ Um, ~I am over at sweet humble home, ~uh, ~sweet humble home. com. ~I'm also, ~I have some seasonal decor items that I sell on my Etsy shops under the same name. ~Um, and I'm, this is, ~this is my favorite time of year.
I'll be out there with posts about, ~you know, ~helpful things that ~we, ~we touch on in the planner. I'll be there to help you find some decor gifts as well. ~And ~I believe that Karen and I are also going to be on the moving towards better, happiest holidays. Facebook group as well.
Karen Bemmes: ~Also, I'm going to add that you're going to want to go on Pinterest and ~if you're a Pinterest person, go follow Janine.
It's what is it sweet humble home your Pinterest as well. It is. Yes. So go follow her, because. ~Her, ~her pins are gorgeous and they will take you to the most gorgeous things for the, especially for the decorating ~and, ~and all of her wonderful things that she makes. You can see ~her, ~her machine. ~If you're on the, uh, ~if you're on the video of this, there will also be an audio version.
And [00:18:00] then to find me, I'm at everywhere. I'm, it's moving toward better, whether you're looking for me on, for my blog ~content, for my ~website ~content ~or my podcast content. ~She's everywhere. ~You can find me everywhere as Moving Toward Better. Facebook, Instagram, wherever you are, that's probably where I am.
And there is a Happiest Holidays Facebook group for anyone who gets the planner. If you don't have the planner, it's not going to make sense for you to be there. ~You're really not going to get out of it what you could. ~So that's your thing to do is to go get the Happiest Holidays planner, join us in the Facebook group.
And then for all of you, it'll just. give you a much better, much calmer, more peaceful, more joyful, more budget friendly holiday season. ~Absolutely. ~Janine, I want to thank you for being my first guest.
Jeannine Rose: ~Well, ~thank you for having me.
Karen Bemmes: And hopefully we'll see each other soon. It won't be another year in between.
So take care, everybody. Keep moving forward better. [00:19:00] And I love y'all. At Moving Toward Better. It's our mission to help you unlock a fantastic life powered by what's unique and authentically you To learn how we can help you in your quest, head over to moving toward better.com to check it out or use the links in the show notes.
Thanks for listening. Thanks for being you and have a great day. Love you all.
