Regardless of how I feel about menu planning…

1. It takes too much time to do.
2. I know I’m going to change my mind about what I want to eat before the month is over.
3. I’m sure it saves money, but back to #1.
4. I work better under pressure.

I must face the facts…

1. Once you get started and have menus in place, it gets a lot easier and grocery shopping is a breeze.
2. I decided that planning one month at a time was too intense for me because I do change my mind a lot. So I have been planning one week at a time and if I decide to change my mind, I make the changes for the upcoming week. It gives me something to look forward to.
3. We save money and waste less food when I plan our weekly meals.
4. Despite what laziness, procrastination, and poor planning may try to make me believe, I really don’t like “flying by the seat of my pants” when it comes to meals. Plus, if I can go with hearing “Mom, what’s for dinner?” and not break out into a cold sweat, then I’ve had a really good day.

Menu planning is not a resolution (lofty ideas – I don’t make those), but rather it is one of my many goals (I have a plan and I will implement it) for the New Year.

Some other things I’ve noticed is that we eat healthier when I plan. I actually do enjoy cooking, but not having a plan in place has made cooking an unpleasant chore. Over the past two months, I have gained five pounds (a lot for me), my children have eaten more cold cereal for breakfast and potato chips during lunch than I care to admit to*, and I have not been eating as healthy as I used to. Did you know that one box of Nabisco Nilla Wafers can be consumed in one night while using a computer? I wouldn’t advise you trying it, but now you could have a winning answer on Jeopardy one day.

If you would like to see What’s on the Menu for us this week, then take a look.

*I have nothing against weight gain, cold cereal, or potato/tortilla chips. I just don’t like it on my belly when I’m not pregnant…Kashi brand and Wheaties cereals are winners here…and On the Border and Kirkland (Costco) brands of tortilla chips are the best.

If you thought it was too late to celebrate Advent with your child, then YOU WOULD BE WRONG! If you are anything like me, then you had big plans for the month of December. As the middle of the month approaches, those plans may seem less likely to happen with the rush of shopping, squeezing school in somewhere, and just getting a handle on fitting in everything you still want to do.

One commitment I made was to acknowledge Advent in some way and I went as far as to purchase Amanda White’s Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands which is a wonderful way to bring Jesus back into the season and celebrate Him with your children. The Truth in the Tinsel is a combination of five activities that you do daily with your child which include:

1. The Clue – 24 picture and word clues of the study for the day which are offered either as cutouts to put into your own Advent calendar or to make a printable paper chain.
2. The Scripture – The chosen Scripture passage for the day mentions the daily clue as well as offer words of meditation for your child.
3. The Ornament – The ornament is something from the passage read and offers your child a chance to be creative and bring to life something they heard about in the Scripture read for the day.
4. The Talk – While making the ornament, this is a great time to discuss what your child learned from the passage of the day.
5. More – Amanda includes some extras (DVD selections, additional Bible Scripture, etc.) to use if you want to pursue the daily study further with your child.

Although the study is written with 24 days of activities, Amanda knows there are mothers out there like me who needed another option because the month would get on top of us, so she also includes alternate schedules of six (Just the Basics or By Book of the Bible), seven (Prophecy), or ten (Characters) days of study that allow you to still accomplish celebrating the season the way you intended with your child.

Truth in the Tinsel is normally $4.99, but through midnight (ET) tonight, you can receive 20% off of the E-book using the promo code 12DAYS to celebrate her 12 Days till Christmas Sale. Amanda has also added a new 12-day schedule to count you down to December 24th.