Christmas: Merry or Scary?

Is Christmas Joyful, or frightful?

As you know, Christmas is less than 1 month away, which means more spending, more stressing, and less enjoyment and fun on Christmas day! Do you watch the Christmas parade on the telly every year? Do you decorate the house, cook a nice Christmas meal for your family? Or do you celebrate every year with friends and family and just supply awesome gifts? Well, either way, getting those awesome gifts and making that awesome meal, doesn't spare time or money. So I'm here to give you a few Christmas tips to help you shop till you drop, and not let your spending money go up in flames before you're done.

Here are some items that you can purchase ahead of your holidays that will save you money at the end of the year for Christmas shopping and gift giving.

First, and foremost, is your list of food items, because everyone knows that the traditional holiday is to have a nice meal before settling down and opening presents, then taking pictures. These items are items that can be kept for a while without perishing. (If you don't make the meal, you can skip this part :P)

One of the things most recommended for early purchases is a turkey (or two) and your ham, if you purchase a turkey and a ham for each holiday, or whatever you purchase, be it a ham on thanksgiving and a turkey on Christmas, or vice versa, how ever you do it. If you buy them earlier in the year you have a better chance of actually saving money rather than waiting until closer to the holidays and buying one for more. Stick it in the freezer. Even if it takes up room, it'll be well worth it when you find out how much you can save. You can get crusts pre-made and keep them in your freezer as well.

Next you have canned goods. Always check your expiration dates to judge how much time maximum you'll have to keep your items stored. Some items just can't be stored for long. If you make a lot of desserts you might go ahead and get things like canned cherries, pumpkin, evaporated milk, etc.

Other good things to do are to buy your box's of stuffing, or supplies to make it. Cranberry sauce can be a delight around the holidays, so you can purchase frozen cranberries to make it, or purchase it in a can as well. You can't always store your fruits and veggies in the fridge or freezer, but all of the things you know you can store, stock up on while they're cheap.

Don't forget the coupons! And the ice!

Christmas shopping is always one of the hardest things to do, especially since it falls at the end of the year, right around tax time. Not only do I have a few little tips to help you along with budgeting, but also, how to shop for people. I hope that this can help you out. So many people in America have a problem with the governments choice of 'tax time'. Unfortunately, tax time falls so close to Christmas that many people can't afford to go Christmas shopping, and pay their taxes. This little guide will hopefully help you afford to do both things, while staying in a budget and enjoy the holiday season.

Tip 1: Money Muncher Secrets
No matter what, everything costs money. Its unavoidable, and unfortunately the base of most of America's problems. This doesn't mean you can't do things for your friends and family, even on a small budget. America's money munchers definately like to make things as difficult as possible, so here are some budgeting tips. First things first, as always, draw up how much money you have, then add up your rough sum of how much you'll spend on bills, then groceries, then subtract your taxes.
***If you serve a holiday meal and you have or can purchase items in advance, please do so! This will help with your budgeting later in the year. I'll supply you with a short list of things you can get ahead of time.***

Once you've subtracted all those things, you'll be able to see how much you have to spend on people. Then, count out only the people you purchase gifts for. Count out families/people you send cards or wreath's to. You should have two lists. Next, divide your shopping budget. Putting things on lay-away is also good, because over time you can pay off those things, without it affecting your end of the year budget.

Once you've split your budget in half, divide one half by the amount of people you'll be purchasing gifts for, then do the same for the cards/wreaths. Write down the number you're able to spend on each person.
If you don't purchase wreaths or cards for your family members, you can simply make one list.

Next, look online at places like your local Wal-Mart's website, or go out and look around for neat things you can get.

Tip 2: Have a hole in your pocket?
Sometimes you feel like you have to spend a lot on people, but you don't always have to spend money to give people great gifts! Make your family members a basket of things, including baked/cooked goodies, like chocolate covered peanut butter spheres, hazelnut truffles w/ nutella filling, cookies, homemade candies, etc. Just some little things that are easy and that you can make at home. A good friend of mine, Ann Reardon has a website www.howtocookthat.net and also has a youtube channel How To Cook That where you can find all sorts of recipes and ideas for holiday goodies. Or you can check out mine, where I'll be making the top 10 easy-treats for gifts and goodie bags to hand out around the holidays!

Tip 3: Look a lot, cost a little.

Sometimes when you're trying to put together a gift for someone, you just don't know what kind of box's or containers to use, so I'm gonna show you in the attatched video links (which you'll find at the end of the blog with their lables) how to decorate a vase, or any kind of plain container to make it festive and pretty for your gifts! You can find these often at dollar stores (Dollar Tree) or even cheaply at places like your local or semi-local Ross store.

Tip 4: Saving Up ... presents?

Sometimes you get gifts during holiday's or birthdays that you either can't use, or even don't like (though you'd never say you don't like them to your family.) So a little trick is to regift them, especially if you're regifting it to someone that you know wouldn't remember you getting it from the person who gave it to you. This will help you save some money in your budget, as well.

Tip 5: It's the thought, not the price tag.

You've got to admit that although the above tips can be helpful for holiday shopping and gift giving, some times its the thought that counts, and a better way to find the perfect gift is to DIY. DIY's are great when you're especially good at crafting; Painting, Molding, Sculpting, etc. doing any kind of craft would be lovely for any family member, and the thought is always the most important in gift giving. 

Hazelnut Nutella Truffles

Hazelnut Nutella Truffles

These are easy to make and don't take too much time! Although you do need to know all the supplies you're going to need.

Here's what you need:

Nutella
Hazelnuts
Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips


You'll also need

A couple of plastic containers, with lids (they can be disposable, but make sure the edges are straight on one.)
Non-stick wax paper
Spoons
A sharp knife for chopping.

                              First for the Hazelnuts

Foolproof way to remove hazelnut skins - Credit to Jannie Cooks for the instructions. They really work!

janniecooks Mar 31, 2008 10:54 AM

"For 1/2 cup of nuts, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and the nuts and boil them for 3 minutes. The water will turn black from the nut skins. Rinse the nuts well under cold running water, then use your fingers to remove the skins. The skins slip right off, easy as can be. I put the nuts on a kitchen towel as I removed each skin, rubbed them a bit to make sure they were dry, and then toasted them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.This method works! I've tried the other methods that entail toasting the nuts and rubbing them in various ways to remove the skin, but none remove all the skin like the boiling water and baking soda from Sontheimer. Not one bit of skin remained.
BONUS: When I added the baking soda to the boiling water it spit something furious, spitting a soda/water spray over my ceramic cooktop, which once wiped away left the cooktop sparkling with no effort. Beats all the other cooktop cleaners I've been using to try to get rid of the last little bit of stain."
*** Keep in mind, everyone, that the skins will be messy on your fingers, so if you have well fitting disposable gloves, you might use them, especially if your job requires using your hands maybe on camera or something like that. ***
(For me a few bits of skin stayed on, but I blame it being cold in my home and that I didn't work very fast because I have two puppies that like to get into things.)

                     For the Nutella
  
First take a resealable air tight container and put some wax paper inside. You can choose to staple the edges together, too, if you want. Pipe or spoon your Nutella into the container, smooth it out as best you can on top and put it in the fridge for a little bit to set slightly. Score the top of your nutella using a sharp knife, a small one will do. Then, gently press your hazelnuts into the nutella in each square. If you can try to push it in all the way. If you want to mold your truffles into spheres, just half fill the container with the nutella, let it set in the fridge for a bit to set slightly, then score it ontop and place your hazelnuts in the centers of your squares, and fill it with the other half of your nutella. This may not require an entire jar. Once you've placed the second layer, if you chose to do so, freeze it overnight, and it should be easy to cut your squares using a hot knife.
You can heat your knife up by sticking it inside of a thermos containing hot-boiling water, or by sticking a cup of water inside the microwave for 1 minute, stir, 1 minute again, stir, and then 30-45 seconds. make sure its tall enough to cover most of the knife if you use this method.

                                             To finish the truffles...

Next you'll need to temper some chocolate, and here's how. (Learn about tempering chocolate HERE) Place your chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds, then sir it well, then 20 seconds, then stir it well again, and 10 seconds stir, and just continue these 10 second bursts, stirring each time to avoid burning the chocolate. If you're not familiar with tempering chocolate, or you don't understand what I mean, watch the video on how to temper chocolate which you can find at the end of this blog.

Once you've tempered your chocolate, dip your truffles into it, and if you want you can roll it in chopped hazelnuts (which may take more hazelnuts than you'd expect.) or you can top them with chopped hazelnuts, which is a lot easier, and you don't need as many.

When I chop hazelnuts, since I get them in the shell, crack them and remove their skins, and roast them, I often have hazelnuts that have broken in half, so I start with those, then if I need more hazelnuts I take whole hazelnuts and cut them in half, and make sure all of the halves are laying on the flat side before I chop them.

Credit goes to Ann Reardon - How to Cook That ( Ann Reardon - How to Cook That Website )

Ann Reardon -  Youtube : Ann Reardon - How to Cook That - Youtube

How and Why to Temper & Melt Chocolate - Ann Reardon

** WATCH THIS BEFORE YOU START IF YOU'VE NEVER WORKED WITH TEMPERING, FAKE CHOCOLATE AND REAL CHOCOLATE. DO NOT ADD LIQUID TO THIS CHOCOLATE OR IT WILL SEIZE, SO IF YOU PLAN TO ADD LIQUID FLAVORING OR COLORS TO WHITE CHOCOLATE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HAVE CREAM HANDY. :) **

ANNNDDD The link to the Truffles video. Make sure you watch it all the way through and subscribe to Ann's channel to see more of her amazing creations. :
10 Best Chocolate Truffle Recipes ~ How to Cook That