Unique holiday lighting ideas, easy holiday appetizers, holiday makeup tips for mature skin, and sneaky ways to burn extra calories
Edition #6
The closer the holidays are, the more hectic everything seems to become. Family gatherings, business functions, church programs, holiday events…it can become overwhelming at times.
In this 6th edition of A Time to Celebrate, we’ll discover some easy holiday appetizers that are really pretty to look at, simple to prepare, and delicious to eat.
If you’re up for that very special holiday look, I’ve got some tips and a great video tutorial for you to help with makeup application, particularly with mature skin.
Unique holiday lighting ideas as well as some easy, sometimes sneaky ways to burn some extra calories (who said I was eating all those Christmas cookies?) over the holidays, or anytime!
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.
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!
So take a few minutes to relax, reboot, and see which of these ideas checks off a to-do on your list!
A Time to Celebrate: Easy Holiday Appetizers and More!
Fitness: Sneaky Ways to Burn Extra Calories
Any method I can think of to burn off some calories, especially during the holidays, is a good thing for me. Why? Well, although I’m not a party-holic who attends every function available, I admit to eating more than my share of cookies and treats if I’m anywhere in the vicinity of them.
Homemade cookies and pastries are my downfall. I admit it. So, I’ll make sure to work in some extra calorie-burning efforts.
Here are some simple, almost sneaky ways to get that done, friends:
- walk around while talking on the phone. 4, 10-minute chats will burn up around 100 calories
- dance, even casually, for about 30 minutes to burn off 100 calories
- 30 minutes of shopping and trying on clothes is good for about 100 calories
- every 30 minutes of house cleaning works off around 100 calories
- be sure to laugh…accumulate 20 minutes of laughing in a day and you’ll burn off about 100 calories
Read the full post to learn more easy ways to burn calories
Fashion: Special Holiday Makeup Looks
Wearing makeup is not a big deal for me. I use a light foundation, blush, fill in the eyebrows (where did they go, anyway?) and sometimes a bit of eye shadow. Five-minute makeup, that’s me.
So if I decided that a more dramatic, holiday look was the way to go, I’d have to do some searching to find how-tos and tutorials, to get it right.
I found some holiday makeup photos and tips from our friends at Cosmopolitan that were interesting, not too hard, or weird, and included simple directions. Here is the link: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/advice/g1775/holiday-makeup/
Then, I came across this post that includes a video showing how to apply holiday makeup when your skin is mature: https://lindalibraloca.com/glam-holiday-makeup-tutorial-for-mature-skin/
I enjoyed the video, and if I were actually going to do the whole party makeup thing, I’d watch it again:
Food: Easy (and Pretty!) Holiday Appetizers
It is said that we feast with our eyes and then with our stomach, and I think it is really true, at least for me. I love to see pretty things, including food.
So…I found some easy holiday appetizers that are, well, charming. I would love to put any of these on my holiday table!
These recipes are from our friends at Taste of Home. Click on any image to go straight to the recipe.
Festivities: Unique Ways to Decorate with Lights
I love soft, white lights casting a holiday glow in my home, and am willing to try just about any area, shelf, ledge, receptacle, or anything else that my little mind can come up with. So this search for unique ways to display lighting during the holidays was nothin’ but fun for me!
My search took me to our friends at Country Living, where there were quite a few fun and festive lighting suggestions. Here are just a few, and if you want to see the details just click on the image:
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed putting this holiday series together, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the six editions, as well as finding inspiration for your holiday home, style, and menu.
After all, the holidays are all about family, love, and making memories that will last a lifetime. 🎄
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