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5 Things Empty Nesters Can Do Right Now to Prepare for the Holidays

Empty Nest Blessed by Suzy Mighell
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woman sitting on the floor in a red sweater and gold skirt holding christmas wrapping paper and tags

Does it seem a little early to prepare for the holidays? I hear ya! I used to be one of those people who refused to do anything about Christmas — including putting up decorations — until after Thanksgiving. Of course, then I wondered why December was so stressful and crazy for me! 🤪 As an empty nester, I’ve realized that if I spread my holiday preparations out over November and December, I have more joy and less stress.

Whatever works for you is great, but I’ve found that in order to prepare for the holidays, I need to prepare my heart, mind, and home early and joyfully! So today, I’m sharing five things that you can do right now to help you prepare for the holidays.

If Christmas shopping is on your mind, I’ve got some exciting news! 🎁 The Empty Nest Blessed Holiday Gift Guides are coming soon, and my email subscribers will get EXCLUSIVE EARLY ACCESS before they’re available to everyone else! I’ve been busy gathering fun, thoughtful gift ideas to make your holiday shopping a little easier! Not a subscriber yet? Sign up HERE so you don’t miss out! And be sure to tell your friends and family, too!

This holiday season, you’ll see lots of holiday gift guides, but I don’t think many are customized just for empty nesters like ours! Being empty nest blessed means you may be a part of the sandwich generation—you have young adult kids; you may have senior adult parents; and, if you’re really blessed, you have grandkids as well! Our gift guide offers ideas for all of those groups and more. We work on it all year.

My heart’s desire is to help you have peaceful, meaningful, and joyful holidays this year. Today, we’re laying the foundation. You’re gonna be so organized this year, and we’re here to help!

1. Update & Upgrade as Needed

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Several years ago, when our son got married and I got my first precious daughter-in-law, I realized I was in a Christmas stocking dilemma. My kids’ handmade-by-their-grandmother Christmas stockings were well-loved (read that: worn), and now I needed one for our family’s new addition.

I’ve always loved the look of needlepoint stockings, but I wasn’t about to make my own, so I started looking for ones that were both high-quality and affordable. (It was challenging to find both, lemme tell you!) I finally settled on the darling needlepoint stockings from Lands’ End that you see in the photo above. They’re high-quality and velvet-backed, which I love, and personalization is just $10. Some designs change every year, so my exact ones might not be available. There are multiple designs, so you can pick the stocking that suits each person in your family perfectly.

Want to check out a few similar designs? Try THESE from L.L.Bean. You can personalize them with up to ten letters ($10, or free with an L.L.Bean Mastercard).

Another great option is to buy (or make) whatever stockings you love and add a little personal touch with stocking name tags! I found some darling options, including these beautiful wooden name cutouts. They’re an easy and inexpensive way to make everyone’s stocking feel special! You can also find some of my other favorite styles HERE and HERE.

2. Consider an Advent Calendar

Woman smiling and holding the Dazzle Dry 2026 “12 Days of Dazzle” holiday advent calendar while wearing a festive red sweater.

Red Cashmere Sweater (comes in multiple colors and is only $50!) | Wax Coated Jeans | Dazzle Dry “12 Days of Dazzle” Advent Calendar

I can’t think of a better way to get everyone excited about the season than sending a personalized Advent Calendar! When I was growing up, my grandparents sent us one every year, and it was such a great tradition. As you prepare for the holidays this year, you might want to start or restart a holiday tradition.

The ones my grandparents sent us were simple, open-the-flap ones, but now there are so many creative, wonderful advent calendars at various price points. Some are so elaborate they would work as a gift for the right person!

Now is a perfect time to order. Here are a few of my favorites:

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with the grandkids, you’ll want to check out THESE gingerbread house kits! If you want to involve the whole family, try THIS gingerbread village! It’s always good for a lot of laughter and fun! Last year, the girls divided into teams and competed for the best gingerbread house, and the men judged!

Here are some other fun activities:

3. Order Your Holiday Cards – Consider Collage Cards!

Do you still send holiday cards? I still love them!

When I do holiday cards now, they’re always collage cards! It can be hard to get everyone together in one spot for a photo, so doing a collage card seems to work the best. (Especially with adult kids and young families!) The biggest benefit? Everyone gets to submit a photo of themselves that they like!

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Ask everyone to email you the picture they want you to use.
  2. Save them on your computer.
  3. Click through to one of the sites I recommend below and pick out the collage card design corresponding to the number of photos you can accommodate.
  4. Upload the photos from your computer to the website and play around with the size and placement of each one on the card.
  5. When you’re satisfied, place the order.

If you order now, you can take advantage of early ordering discounts, which will save you a bundle. Here are the brands I recommend and have used personally at some point. (Click through to see if they’re offering deals right now!)

  • Minted (Use code for 15% off holiday cards and gifts until 11/2) – Collage Cards HERE.
  • Shutterfly (Up to 50% off everything!) – Collage Cards HERE.
  • Zazzle (Up to 40% off sitewide) – Collage Cards HERE.
  • Vistaprint (Main Site to check for deals.) – Collage Cards HERE.

4. Order Your Gift Wrap

woman sitting on the floor in a red sweater and gold skirt holding christmas wrapping paper and tags

Similar Puff Sleeve Crew Neck Sweater | Washable Silk Skirt | Patent Red Mary Jane Flat

When the kids were little, I bought the cheapest, thinnest, easiest-to-tear gift wrap I could find! Did you do that too? Oh sure, it ripped and tore the whole time I was wrapping gifts 🎁, but I knew the kids wouldn’t care when it came time to open them!

Not anymore! As you can see in the photo above, I now buy beautiful, quality gift wrap, and I love to color-coordinate the look under our tree with matching gift tags. (Use code ENB10 to take 10% off your entire order!)I’ve even been known to break out the glue gun and add candy canes, pine cones, or a sprig of holly berries from the tree in our front yard!

Now that the kids are gone, I’ve come to really enjoy wrapping gifts! I find it relaxing to light a fire in the fireplace, watch a Hallmark Christmas movie, or an Up Faith &Family Christmas movie, and get my gift wrap on in a big way. I always drink either THIS (decaf) holiday tea or THIS one from THIS holiday mug while I wrap!

I think the Holiday Gift Wrap at Joy Creative Shop is just the most beautiful and, well, joyful gift wrap I’ve ever seen! You’ve heard me talk about Joy Creative Shop many times before, and it really is my favorite place for high-quality paper goods and gifts. Joy Creative Shop’s gift wrap coordinates perfectly with their gift tags. If you prefer stickers, they’ve got those too!

Remember to use the exclusive ENB10 promo code for 10% off your entire Joy Creative Shop order.

5. Prepare Your Heart

If you’ve been hanging around here a while, you know my faith is the defining thing in my life. It is the key to my joy, my heart for serving, and how I approach everything.

Even so, with the hustle and bustle of the season, it can be challenging to get my heart in the right place as the holidays approach. If you struggle with that, too, I’d love to share the book I read every year to remind myself of the true meaning of Christmas. It’s called The Case for Christmas, and it’s by award-winning legal journalist Lee Strobel. In the book, the author goes beyond the traditions of the holiday and examines who that newborn baby really was and what it means for your life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

woman smiling in a colorful red plaid monogrammed vest layered over a black long-sleeve top, paired with black faux leather pants, a black belt, and pointed-toe ankle boots.

Monogrammed Quilted Ruffle Sleeve Vest | Cashmere Crewneck Sweater | Wax Coated Jeans | Booties | Toggle Chain Necklace | Bezel CZ Tennis Necklace | Icon Pave Stud Earrings

After reading today’s post, do you feel more prepared for the holiday season? I hope so! What do you do to prepare for the holidays? I’d love to know! Please leave a comment and share your ideas with our little empty-nester community!

Thank you for sharing my content!
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