Creating a Simply Joyous Christmas

What do you want to do to make Christmas special and memorable? Go caroling with friends? Throw a Christmas party? Make gifts with all the pictures you've taken? Have time to spend with the people you love?If you have a creative bent, there's no better time to do something with your creativity than during the Christmas season. Whether your skill lies towards watercolors, photography, baking, decorating or throwing a party, you've got exactly what it takes to create a fabulous Christmas.Don't let circumstances (or feeling like you don't have enough time) keep you from having a great holiday.Create a fabulous Christmas, lovely handmade gifts, and be ready with a plate of cookies for Santa even with less than two weeks to The Big Day.It comes down to throwing out the detail (that means you can toss the 42-point to-do list), get some focus, turn on Nat King Cole and get creating.In this quick read, Creating a Simply Joyous Christmas, you'll discover:Why it's easy to do things at the last minute at ChristmasDirections for an easy Christmas map: your go to direction guide for the week before ChristmasHow to "batch" gifts to make more with less timeEasy Ways to throw a Christmas party in less than 48 hoursFun icebreaker games for the Christmas partyWhy Winter Wreaths are Seven Times better than Christmas wreathsMore than 30 gifts to make and giveMerry Christmas and Happy Creating! Is there anything better than a dangerous mystery book along with something tasty to eat?My mom collected the Nancy Drew books when she was a girl. In my childhood home, she lined them all up on two shelves of the floor-to-ceiling oak bookcases. When I passed a milestone- good grades on my report card, did extra chores, was nice to my little brothers- my mom let me read the next mystery.As I read through the Nancy Drew series, I searched for other mysteries, especially during the triple-digit days of summer in Northern California. The Boxcar Children, the Babysitter's club, the Mandie mystery series, the Hardy Boys and the Adventures of the Bobbsey Twins filled the hours of summer.As I got older, I dived into the classics of Agatha Christie, then Mary Higgins Clark and many other intriguing mystery books. I imagined what mysteries might lie right in my own little world. As stories came to me, I began to write them down, bringing the characters in my head into life.Along with reading mysteries, cooking and baking are near and dear to my heart. Gathering people and feeding them is such fun. Food is a wonderful way to get to know people.I've gotten to know so many wonderful people and had many rich conversations over a good (or not so good!) meal as well as solved a personal mystery or two.If you'd like to know more about the other books, get the recipes from the books (along with other goodies I come up with throughout the year), go to www.poppymhaas.comYou can also find me on Facebook @poppymhaasIt would be such fun to connect!