5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Prepare for the Holidays

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!😜 I’ve since 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 shopping is at the top of your mind, you should know that the Empty Nest Blessed Gift Guides will go LIVE exclusively for ENB subscribers on Friday, November 1st! That’s right! Only ENB subscribers will have access during the first weekend in November. The guide goes LIVE to the public on Monday, November 4. Are you a subscriber? If not, you can subscribe HERE. Tell your friends and family to do the same!

This holiday season, you’ll see lots of holiday gift guides out there, but I don’t think there will be others 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 will give you ideas for all of those groups and more. We have nearly 1000 gift ideas in 10 categories! It’s something we work on all year. 🎁

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

1. Update & Upgrade as Needed

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 was not about to make my own 😂, so I started looking for some 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 Land’s End that you see in the photo above. They’re high-quality and velvet-backed, which I love, and personalization is just $8. Some of the designs change every year, so my exact designs might not be available. There are multiple designs, so you can pick the stocking that suits each person in your family perfectly.

Since my first daughter-in-law, Sarah, joined our family, we’ve had two more additions! Sarah and Weston had our grandbaby, Lily, in January 2023, and our son, Connor, married Abby in July 2023.

Want to check out a few similar designs? Try THESE from L.L.Bean. They’re only $29.95, and you can personalize them with up to ten letters ($8 or free if you have an L.L.Bean Mastercard).

Another great option would be to buy (or make) whatever stocking you prefer and personalize them with these beautiful wooden name cutouts I found. They’re inexpensive and highly rated, and I love the font!

2. Consider an 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 think about holiday traditions to start or restart.

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

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

• For the Faith-Based Family or Friend – Nativity Advent Calendar (Lots of other affordable Faith-Based calendars HERE.)
• For the Nail Polish Lover – 12 Days of Nails – Limited Edition Advent Calendar
• For the Beauty Lover – Ulta’s 24 Days Of Self Care Advent Calendar
• For the Gen Z Gal – ELF’s Sleigh the Holidays 24-Day Advent Calendar (Gen Z girls love ELF!)
• For the Fun Sock Fella – Happy Socks 24-Pack Advent Calendar Gift Set
• For the Lego Lover – Lots of Lego Advent Calendars are available, from Harry Potter and Star Wars to Traditional. Click HERE to see the selection.
• For the Disney Fan – Disney Junior Advent Calendar OR Disney Princess Advent Calendar.
• For the One Who Remembers the True Meaning of Christmas – Kurt Adler Nativity Advent Calendar
• For the Chocolate Crazed – Godiva’s Holiday Classic Advent Calendar
• For the Princess in Need of Pampering – L’Occitaine’s Holiday Advent Calendar
• For the Candle Connoisseur – VOLUSPA 12-Day Advent Calendar
• For the Tea Drinker – 24 Days of Tea Advent Calendar
• For the Coffee Aficionado – 2024 Christmas Coffee Advent Calendar
• For the Popcorn Pal – Christmas Popcorn Advent Calendar (Lots of other great Advent Calendars for Foodies at Williams Sonoma. See them HERE.)
• For the Young Family – Perpetual Tidings of Joy Advent Calendar OR a Toddler Nativity Playset. (My favorite and the one I gave Lily!)

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: try out a giant coloring poster/tablecloth craft, or get creative with a build-your-own snowman kit using modeling clay!

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 onto the website and play around with the sizing and location 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 one time or another. (Click through to see if they’re offering deals right now!)

• Minted (Use code JOY24 for 15% off holiday cards and gifts until 10/28,) – Collage Cards HERE.
• Shutterfly (Up to 50% off everything! Ends 10/27.) – Collage Cards HERE.
• Zazzle (20% off sitewide) – Collage Cards HERE.
• Vistaprint (Main Site to check for deals.) – Collage Cards HERE.

4. Order Your Gift Wrap

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 trying to wrap gifts😂, but I knew the kids wouldn’t care when it came time to open their gifts!

Not anymore! As you can see from the photo above, now I 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 put 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 a 10% discount on your entire Joy Creative Shop order.

5. Prepare Your Heart

If you’ve been hanging around here for a while now, you know that 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 holiday approaches. 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.

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!

Take another look at the items I shared in this post in the boutique below. Click on any item to check out the sale prices. (Lots of them are on sale right now!)