DECORATING WITH JEANIE--LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS TIME SAVERS

The countdown to Christmas is on, especially this year, with fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ever notice how there never seems to be enough hours in the day normally, but come the holidays, life gets even more stressed and complicated? Of course, you have! So take a deep breath, and see if any of these last minute time savers will help you out.

Still don’t have a centerpiece for your Christmas dinner? If you’re lucky, one of your guests will bring flowers. Meantime, grab a bowl, fill it with glass ornaments, and plop it in the center of your table.

Still need to finish decorating the house for those guests who will be arriving? As we say in New Jersey, fuhgeddaboudit! So you won’t win the Martha Stewart Award this Christmas. No one is going to care if you didn’t go whole hog in every room. Put out the Christmas hand towels in the powder room, hang a wreath on the door, and be done with it. You’ve got the tree up and gifts around it. People will understand if you didn’t have time to do more. And if your sister-in-law makes some snide remarks about the meager decorating? In your most Christmasy cheerful voice, tell her to…well, you get the idea. I don’t need to spell it out.

Same goes for cleaning. You don’t need to scrub your home from top to bottom. Swipe a dust cloth over the coffee and end tables, run the vacuum, scoop up the clutter, and throw some clean sheets on the guest beds if you’re having overnight guests. If you see your mother-in-law donning a pair of white gloves to score you on a Suzy Homemaker test, hand her a Swiffer sheet, and tell her you’d love for her to finish cleaning while you finish preparing dinner.

When it comes to meals, don’t be guilted into making everything from scratch. Scratch takes hours. Go for heat-and-serve. Head to the bakery for cookies, pies, and other desserts. If anyone complains, ask them if they’re volunteering to do Christmas next year at their home.

Finally, pour yourself a glass of wine, put your feet up, and enjoy the holidays. You deserve it.

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - ENERGY FOODS

The holidays are over. Are you exhausted? Have you made a resolution to treat your body better in the coming year? One of the ways to do that is to eat better. Eating the right foods can help counter exhaustion by providing us with more energy.

Foods rich in iron and vitamin C do just that. Iron helps provide our muscles with oxygen, and vitamin C helps our cells absorb more iron. Think of them as the Dynamic Duo.

Foods rich in iron include chicken, eggs, red meats, spinach, tofu, starchy beans, oatmeal, quinoa, and wheat germ. You can find rich sources of vitamin C in citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, kiwi, Brussels sprouts, guava, and potatoes.

So on those hectic days leading up to Christmas, start your morning off with a glass of orange juice, followed by a bowl of oatmeal with sliced strawberries or a tomato omelet. For lunch try a spinach salad with broiled chicken. Dinner? How about a stir fry of lean beef, bell peppers, broccoli, and tomatoes with a side of quinoa?

Change your diet to add more iron and vitamin C, and you’ll find you have much more energy to tackle anything the day throws at you. 

DECORATING WITH JEANIE - HOLIDAY CLEANING TIPS

Six days to Christmas. If you’re having company for the holiday, you’re probably thinking about all the cleaning you need to do to make your home presentable. And that’s probably just adding more stress to your already stressed life. The key to getting everything presentable is accepting that no one expects your home to look like a showplace except for one or two nasty relatives who are going to complain about something no matter what you do. My suggestion is don’t invite them, but if you really, really have to, treat yourself to a glass of wine before they arrive, then ignore them.

The first thing you need to do is accept that you don’t have to clean every room from top to bottom. Close the doors of the rooms where you won’t be entertaining. That means you don’t have to fret about piles of laundry or unmade beds. Entertain your guests in your living room, dining room, family room/den, and kitchen. Clean the powder room for their use. If you have a finished basement, send the kids down there to play. They’re not going to care if the floor is covered with toys. Even if you’ve straightened up the room, it won’t stay straightened up for long, so why waste time and energy?

If you’ve got a sink full of dirty dishes, stick them in the dishwasher, and run the dishwasher while you’re tackling the other rooms.

For the rooms where you’ll be entertaining, do a clutter sweep. Dump the stuff that has accumulated on all horizontal surfaces and the floors into laundry baskets. Then stick the baskets in a closet, storage area, or your garage.

Next, dust the furniture and vacuum the carpets. Voila! You’re finished with everything except the kitchen and bathroom, and it probably took no more than 15 or 20 minutes.

For the kitchen, clear off your countertops and kitchen table. Items that can be stored in cabinets, drawers, and the pantry should be put away. Wipe down the countertops and table. Clean the stovetop. Sweep, then wash the floor. Take out the trash. You don’t need to do anything beyond that. Remember, you’re serving Christmas dinner. The kitchen is just going to get messy and dirty again. What you’re really striving for here is to have clean, uncluttered prep and staging areas.

Finally, clean your powder room or whichever bathroom you designate for guests. This means cleaning the toilet, sink, and floor. Make sure the towels are fresh and the sink area is free of personal grooming items other than hand soap. If this is your one and only bathroom, remove tub toys and other personal family items you normally leave out but make sure you have a box of tissues and extra rolls of toilet paper within easy reach. If you keep a basket of magazines in your bathroom, remove them. You don’t want guests lingering or taking refuge to get away from those nasty relatives.