A Time to Celebrate – Plan for the Holidays

(Last Updated On: November 19, 2021)

Holiday centerpiece ideas, warm holiday drinks, and tips to help make your holiday the best ever!

Edition #2

We’re moving closer to the official start of the holiday season, and as I write this post today we’ve got about seven inches of snow on the ground. So, Happy Holidays to me in early November!

I’m trying to just go with it though, and have been working to the sounds of holiday music. I’ve even watched a few Christmas themed movies. No judgments, please. A girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do to deal with the cold weather.

A Time to Celebrate is a series of posts that help us plan for the holidays, and each edition highlights different themes. What better way to prepare for the hectic season than to gather and organize everything you’ll need in advance before the schedule gets away from you.

I’ve created four categories, the four F’s, that will be the foundation for this series of posts for the next seven weeks. That will take us through Thanksgiving and up to the week before Christmas.

What are those fabulous F’s?

• FITNESS
• FASHION
• FOOD
• FESTIVITIES

Each post will cover these four themes and offer suggestions for staying fit through the holiday season, treating ourselves well, looking lovely, dressing for the occasion, yummy recipes for celebrating with family and friends, and the best holiday decorating ideas I can find!

Let’s have fun with it, shall we? Who knows? You might find the perfect holiday hairstyle or the centerpiece that will grace your table. Perhaps the tips for avoiding holiday weight gain will resonate with you, although the recipes for warm holiday drinks might be a challenge!

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Plan for the Holidays Now!

FITNESS: How to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

Our commitment to healthy living, fitness, and nutrition can quickly slide to the back of our mind with a simple, “oh well, it’s the holidays so I’ll do what I want and worry about it later.”

I know how that works. It’s called flawed thinking. 🙂

It is SO much harder to lose the weight later than it is to exercise some discipline and add in extra calorie burn when we need it the most.

Here are some simple actions you can take, right now, to prepare for the holiday eating/grazing/overindulging season and avoid that annoying weight gain:

• Plan ahead when a special event or gathering is on the calendar. Don’t wait until you’ve arrived at the venue and are starving, to think about what you’re going to eat. Here are some great tips to enjoy holiday parties and be smart about your food choices.
• Burn extra calories in simple ways throughout the days and weeks during the holiday season. It’s really not hard at all, if you know what to do and give it some focus. And we have to work harder, ladies, with our midlife bodies.
• Incorporate some walking workouts into your routine, and even on those holidays when the feasting is in progress if the climate allows. When I lived in Florida we would always go for a good walk, maybe more, on days when we were celebrating and indulging more than usual.

FASHION: Easy Holiday Hairstyles

Well, I had really good intentions with this topic, girls, but I’ll tell you what: finding photos and hairstyles for women over 50 that are cute, do-able and interesting was not easy!

So many times, my search would result in outdated, less than flattering photos of celebrities in hairstyles that looked pretty awful, if I’m honest.

I was able to find one site that had some attractive and trendy styles and ideas for women over 50, thankfully!

Sometimes our everyday hairstyle is the perfect ‘do’ for a festive event, once in a while we want to take it up a notch.

Other ways to create a holiday look with your hairstyle

• Get a hair cut! Trim those locks, try something new and different..take a risk!

• Consider a toner to bring out the highlights in your hair color. There are several different types of toners and your stylist will know what will work best for you. Some toners, called demi-permanent colors or glosses, deposit color without lightening the hair. Purple and blue toning products eliminate brassiness. Add warm or cool tones to your hair with toners.

• Add a pretty, sparkly hair accessory. Boom. How easy is that?

FOOD: Warm Holiday Drinks

What fun to enjoy a nice, warm toddy on a cool (frigid?) holiday evening!

I went to our friends at the Cooking Channel for these yummy drinks. Some have the option to spike or not…

FESTIVITIES: Holiday Centerpiece Ideas

If you love to decorate for the holidays, or anytime, creating a festive holiday table is probably right up your alley!

Some of us, though, have a creative vacuum when it comes to the details of decorating, and we need some visuals to help inspire us.

I went to our friends at Midwest Living for some lovely Thanksgiving and Christmas table centerpieces.

These are just a few of the many beautiful arrangements shown, so be sure to click on the links to see more.

Thanksgiving Holiday Centerpiece Ideas:

Christmas Holiday Centerpiece Ideas

Hopefully, these ideas, recipes, and tips have inspired you to put your thinking cap on and plan for the holidays. It’s a surefire way to keep the stress under control and doesn’t hurt with budget planning either.

Our commitment to self care through this hectic season will only help us start out the New Year on a healthy path. So put that one at the top of the list, okay?

In the next edition of A Time to Celebrate, we’ll take a look at how to give your skin that healthy holiday glow, ideas for festive outfits to consider when hosting a holiday party, tasty holiday brunch ideas, and some creative ways to decorate the front door and porch.

See you soon!

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