Blog - Graceful Order

Holiday Card Station

December 19, 2014 · by Maria · 4 Comments

No pressure but have you already sent out your holiday cards? When I send out my cards, I set up a holiday card station. It sounds silly but it will make getting the cards in the mail faster and more fun. If you set up a station you will work faster and everything you need will be at hand.

I love receiving and sending out Christmas cards! If they are the ones with the picture I save them to later scrapbook them in my Christmas album (which hasn’t been updated in 4 years but in my mind I am an avid scrapbooker).

These are the items that you need to create a holiday card station:

Holiday Cards (Obvious, I know).
Return Address labels
Address book
Stickers / washi tape / embelishments
Stamps
Pen

Tips before sending holiday cards:

Make sure that your stamp is sufficient for the card that you purchased.
Make Christmas address labels for all of your friends and family and that way you just print out the labels every year. Holiday Card Lists are more extensive than birthday invitation lists, and it is worth it to type all the addresses and save the document for yearly use. This is especially a good idea for those that send out lots of cards.

The good thing about setting up a tray is that if you don’t finish in one sitting, you can put everything away and bring it back out when you are ready.

I hope you all have an awesome Holiday season!

Maria

Holiday Hostess Gift Ideas

December 18, 2014 · by Maria · 2 Comments

The following weeks will surely be fun and hectic! Christmas activities, gift buying, wrapping and holiday parties. It’s the season of giving and I want to share with you some of my favorite hostess gifts for the holiday season.

So hop on over to A Bowl Full of Lemons, where today I am sharing my top picks for hostess gifts! Today, Toni is also sharing how she decorated her front porch for the holidays! I seriously don’t get tired of Christmas-related decorating and gift giving!

I hope you enjoy the holidays! Cheers!

~ Maria

A Bowl Full of Lemons – Holiday Hostess Gift Ideas

A Healthy Mouth Routine and an Awesome Giveaway

December 15, 2014 · by Maria · 138 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the LISTERINE® brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today we are talking about two things: A healthy mouth and a healthy giveaway (stay tuned at the end for instructions)!

You already know that I am hooked on all sorts of routines, whether they are for cleaning the home, organizing schedules, or even simple nighttime routines which of course include brushing your teeth. Well, I hope it includes brushing your teeth…

So we have brushed our teeth and flossed. What’s the point of using a mouthwash, if you already feel like your teeth are clean? Simple brushing of the teeth does not reach the entire mouth. Rinsing with LISTERINE® Antiseptic will help reduce plaque and gingivitis more than brushing and flossing alone, and that’s a pretty good reason, I think.

I like to keep my nighttime routine really simple because by the time that I put the boys to bed and pick up around the house, I am exhausted. I don’t want another to-do list in front of the sink. I simply wash my face, brush my teeth, floss, rinse with LISTERINE® mouthwash and put on some moisturizer, and call it a day – I mean, night.

Tip: If you keep your mouthwash handy, you will be more likely to use it.

LISTERINE® Healthy Mouth:

So what are “The Essentials” that work together to pack this powerful punch to kill these hard to reach germs? Glad you asked:

It’s the four essential oils that originally came from plant sources that have protected your mouth for more than 100 years.

– Eucalyptol – Derived from trees usually found in Australia, this essential oil acts as both an antibacterial and anti-fungal agent.

– Menthol – Identical to menthol found in natural corn mint, this essential oil is known for its germ killing properties.

– Thymol – Identical to the thymol in natural thyme and ajowan herb, research continues to demonstrate this essential oil’s effectiveness against bacteria

– Methyl Salicylate – Identical to the methyl salicylate in natural wintergreen, this essential oil is also often found in chewing gum due to its fresh flavoring properties.

This combination formula kills millions of germs on contact, helping keep your mouth healthy. For more information on LISTERINE® mouthwash, its unique essential oil-based formula, and how you can improve your oral health, visit www.listerine.com/products-essential-oils.

And now for the giveaway! Simply enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below and name the four essential oils found in LISTERINE® mouthwash for your chance to win a $100 VISA Gift Card!

Let’s keep our mouths holiday ready!

Maria

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#Listerine” and “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification e-mail will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher.com e-mail address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 12/16/14 – 1/15/15.

Be sure to visit the LISTERINE® brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

Christmas Home Tour Part 1

December 11, 2014 · by Maria · 13 Comments

Baby it’s cold outside. Not really, it’s Florida and it’s pretty darn hot. But at least it looks like Christmas inside our home!

I had to break up this post into a few parts because of the amount of pictures, and today I am sharing the living room. The entrance of our home is a bit formal and I chose a green, white and gold color scheme for the living room and dining room (which I will share with you in a few days).

Here is what you see when you walk in though the front door.

My family room is somewhat small and I chose a large couch for one side and two chairs for the opposite side. We have re-arranged the furniture in this room so many times over the years but this is the best set up so far and the one that makes the room appear more spacious.

This little pillow (from Target) is one of the few things that I purchased this year to decorate for Christmas and I love it!

I found this little tree at Homegoods and it is battery operated and pre-lit. I love how simple it is.

Burlap adds a warm, casual touch in an otherwise formal room.

This should be called the Target table. The lamp, tray and frame are from Target. Can you tell I love gold?

This cool little mirrored tray is one of my favorites and I display it year-round. Isn’t it tray-chic? Hehe. What?! You didn’t laugh? Sigh.

The centerpiece of the coffee table is the same tray that I usually display with some glittery trees and this cool candle holder with an even cooler (or should I say hotter) candle from The Honest Company.

On the opposite wall, is my buffet which you already saw when I decorated it for Thanksgiving.

I picked up these reindeer last year at Target and I really like how they look on this dark piece of furniture. Wouldn’t you agree, deEr? Hehe. Ok, no more jokes.

This little sparkly tree behind the raindeer is also wrapped in burlap which is a nice contrast on the black marble.

Stay tuned for part two and part three of the holiday open house!

Is your home already decorated for the holidays? Do you decorate every room of the house or just a few?

Maria

Christmas Breakfast for a Crowd

December 5, 2014 · by Maria · 6 Comments

My family loves Christmas. My family loves to eat. My family comes over to my house Christmas morning ~~to eat~~ to spend time together and enjoy each others company. Seriously, my home has become the Christmas morning hub and I love it! My boys are blessed to have so much family that loves them and wants to see them open their presents and laugh together and reflect on how limitless Gods love for us is. But you know what isn’t limitless, time and croissants. We have to value our time together and we have to know how many croissants to buy. Did I just say all that in an effort to introduce a post about how to make Christmas breakfast for a crowd? Yes, I did.

So what do you cook when you don’t even know how many people are stopping by and when they are stopping by? Do you want to be sweating over the stove while everyone is eating fruitcake and singing carols? Ok, maybe you do. Bad example.

What if it was carols and these bad boys… Chocolate croissants. Do I have your attention?

Having lots of family over on Christmas morning is always going to be hectic, know it and own it. However, It can be hectic and fun if you have a plan. Sometimes, it’s as simple as selecting the right dishes and prepping some things the night before, which is exactly what I do.

I only make one item on the spot and last year is was the croissants above. They rose overnight and they went in the oven in the morning. Totally worth it, totally delish.

I made a sour cream bundt cake a few days before and it was off my list. You can also buy one and make it even easier for yourself. It goes great with coffee and even people that are not “breakfast” people will have a slice with coffee.

We buy a ham every year since it can be eaten room temperature.

Choose 2 casseroles, one sweet and one savory and make sure that they can be prepped ahead of time. Casseroles are the best options because you can prep them the night before and put them in the fridge. Christmas morning they go in the oven and you set your timer and sit with the kids. I did buy two warmers so that the casseroles stay warm for a couple of hours. Anything to not have to fuss over food is a good thing.

Set up a drink station the night before, without the beverages of course but with the carafes or pitchers in place. Take out coffee cups, stirrers, sugars, small pitcher for cream (not a tiny one that you will have to refill), and marshmallows if you are serving hot chocolate.

Prep your coffee maker the night before. Grind the beans (if you buy whole bean) and place the water in the container so that you only have to push a button in the morning.

Invest in purchasing one or two thermal pitchers so that you don’t have to worry about warm or cold coffee. These are the ones that I have and the coffee stays really hot for hours so that everyone can serve themselves throughout the morning.

Create a Cold drink station. This is a big bowl with ice and champagne and orange juice for mimosas or peach nectar for bellinis. That milk jug (which I love) is full of homemade egg nog (which I love too) that my husband (who I love most) makes every year. This way no one asks where they can find things in the fridge, it’s all there.

Of course, set out the basics – cups, utensils, napkins, serving utensils for everything you are serving and have extra garbage bags handy for all the wrapping paper.

But whatever you do, don’t throw away these moments, because they are better than chocolate croissants. And that says a lot because those things are good!

Enjoy this beautiful day, with an even more beautiful meaning. Enjoy your beautiful gifts, knowing that the best gift of all is knowing that God’s love is something you can never get enough of. Because even croissants you can tire of. It’s never happened to me, but I hear it happens.

Maria