How To Prepare Your Home for the Christmas Season

Christmas is on the way – Let’s get ready to clean, bake and cook for the lovely holiday season

How to Get Your House Ready for the Christmas Season

You know that Christmas is coming. It’s right around the corner as my brother would say when we were kids growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

My family and I lived across the street from my famous high school, Overbrook, also home of the spectacular Wilt Chamberlain. My Christmases were blessed and my childhood memories of Christmas are lovely. 

I find myself preparing for the holiday season the same way my parents did. My siblings and I enjoyed an immaculate home with all of the whimsy and trimmings that Christmas brought into our home. 

I’ll never forget the food that my mother cooked and the desserts she baked. Looking back to those amazing days I realize that my mother could have been a chef.  Seven days a week she prepared loving and I mean delicious meals for us all year round. 

I remember watching her make her special crust for her famous sweet potato cobbler. Our neighbors, family and friends raved about the deliciousness of all of her food. She was gifted with a loving heart, soft caring hands and we tasted that love with each and every meal that she lovingly prepared for us.

My mother kept our house spotless everyday of the year. My father and oldest brother washed windows twice a year and my sister and I dusted the coffee table and end tables every Saturday morning. Our family home was a loving environment. 

And now that I have my own home and family I thoroughly love cleaning and keeping my home clean just like my mother. 

Here’s How to clean your home for the holiday season

With Christmas being my favorite time of the year, I make sure that my home is properly ready to receive Christmas joy. 

Would you like to know how I do this. Well, grab a cup of your favorite happy and keep reading for this is how I get my house Christmas ready. 

To begin, I have to tell you what I use to clean my home. I recently saw a youtube video about using healthy cleaning supplies for the home. 

One of the best cleaning solutions that I discovered is alcohol. Well, I had a few bottles of it in my home already and decided to give it a go. I won’t be using anything else. 

Turn On The Christmas Music and Clean Your Home 

I went on Walmart’s website and found exactly what I need. I purchased ten bottles of alcohol to clean my sinks and the private areas in my bathroom. All of my bathroons and sinks now sparkle with a fresh scent.

Starting in my living room, I wash all windows and walls. I also clean the wood trim throughout my house and I sponge down all the doors in my home. 

I dust all of the furniture in my home, but I do that once a week already. Laundering bed linen and clean comforters is something that I love to do because I love the smell of fresh linen in all of my bedrooms of which there are four.

I also clean out my fridge and freezer to make room for my Christmas desserts, treats and mouth-watering goodies. Storing some of my cookies, cakes and brownies makes it easy on me. Baking treats early and storing them in the freezer gives me more time to relax during the holidays. 

Another thing that I do is I throw out old spices to welcome in new spices. Everything in my kitchen gets a refresh. 

I add clean fresh tablecloths on my dining room and kitchen tables making sure that each tablecloth has a  Christmas theme. 

The four bedrooms in my home get a refresh and all of my bathrooms too. I place Christmas hand towels for guests in a lovely basket with a candle next to it. 

After all of the cleaning that I do, my house is ready for Christmas. My home is clean from top to bottom and I love it.

And I think that’s everything. What about you. Do you deep clean your home from top to bottom when the Ber months arrive or do you do a light cleaning?

Well, I’ll be back with more cleaning tips next month.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Sincerely,

Cyn,

www.achampagnechristmas.com

www.christmasevermore.com

 

How To Create A Wonderful Holiday Season

You Can Create An Amazing Christmas Season by Doing This One Thing

Have a Merry Christmas

Do you want to make Christmas 2025 a Christmas you will forever cherish? Fill it with more love.

Get out the Christmas trinkets that you’ve treasured year after year.

Reflect on those special holiday traditions that has and still does bring abundant happiness and joy in your life.

Open up your Christmas treasure chest and gift that one Christmas tree heirloom to a loved one that your mother gave you years ago. 

May it be the first that all eyes see when they enter into your home.

Get Ready To Create Christmas Wonder In Your Home

Allow the sounds of the holiday season to flow through the rooms of your home while Christmas decor lights up the walls of your home.

Prepare to receive family and friends with loving arms and may your hands warm their hearts when love blankets them.

Offer them a seat on the cozy comfy couch and cover them with the handcrafted quilt your grandmother crocheted decades ago.

Serve mouth watering canapes for your guests. They will ask you for the recipe.

Take out your finest wine glasses and pour a glass of champagne to celebrate your relationships and friendships.

And now sit, relax and enjoy heartwarming conversations all about the Christmas season.

Wait while I put on Celebrate Me Home.

This Christmas song is more than beautiful.

It lends inspiration throughout the joyful holiday season. Originally written and sang by Kenny Loggins, I have fallen in love with Josh Groban so it is only appropriate that I play his version.

This Christmas song, I must say, is aww-inspiring.

When you hear your doorbell ring and you see your neighbors standing at your front door because they hear songs of the season echoing from your living room window,  invite them into your home to enjoy some of your Christmas traditions.

May the Christmas Spirit rests on your rooftops and into every room of your home. 

Have yourself a very amazing Merry Christmas everyone.

Cyn

Help Me To Plan My Christmas Menu

Planning A Christmas Dinner Family and Friends Will Love and Eat Up!

Help me plan my Christmas menu

Help me to plan my Christmas menu, please.

Hello Christmas Luminaries,

How are you?

Today is Wednesday, May 21, 2025.

Christmas is coming.

It’s coming so fast that I said to myself, let me plan my Christmas menu today. It will be one less thing that I will have to do before the holiday season arrives.

First, I’ll close my eyes and dream of a Christmas theme for my holiday menu. Blue silver and gold sounds beautiful. What do you think?

Now let’s get right to the beauty of things.

Starting with my tablescape, I’m thinking of an elegant, blue silver and gold display that will compliment my dinnerware and silverware. 

I see pretty napkins beautifully complimenting my Christmas plates. The napkins shall be a pale blue and at the bottom of each napkin there will be a stunning gold border. 

There will also be calligraphy name plates at each setting. 

A bottle of the best wine will be poured into every glass for us to toast to good cheer, wealth and prosperity.

Help me to plan my Christmas menu and dinner will be served with love, joy and thanksgiving

This year the following items will be listed on my Christmas menu.

Dinner

  • Crab cakes
  • Barbeque Chicken
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli
  • Diced potatoes with green peppers and onions
  • Macaroni and Cheese
  • Hot biscuits

Beverages

  • Plain water
  • Lemon water

Desserts:

  • Brownies
  • Sour Cream Pound Cake

As soon as dinner is over I will clear the table and serve coffee and tea.

Furthermore, I anticipate welcoming lovely conversations with family and close friends.

Finally, Christmas music will fill the air. My dear family will dance to midnight. The one song on my playlist will always be, That’s What Christmas Means To Me. 

By the time the song is over we will sit and give thanks for the most amazing time of the year.

Above all this I will you all a very Merry Christmas. May you, too, enjoy your Christmas dinner. 

Have yourself a holly jolly and Merry Christmas everyone.

Cyndi

www.christmasevermore.com

www.beautyandtheface.com

www.achampagnechristmas.com

 

 

The Reddest Ruby Christmas Gift

A Colorful Christmas story filled with friendships, family and treasures

The Reddest Ruby for Christmas

The reddest ruby for Christmas is a story for all to read and enjoy. 

My two best friends and I made plans to go Christmas shopping. It was Christmas Eve and I wanted to spend the day with Jenny and Amanda. We have been best friends ever since my husband and I moved into the neighborhood 7 years ago. They both had two children, but I was pregnant with my first child and we were all excited. I felt like this was going to be one of my greatest Christmas gifts I could receive. Having a baby in the holiday season.

So off to Neiman Marcus we went. It was cold and clouds covered the sky. It was my kind of day. I absolutely love the cold weather. 

We gave the keys to the kind gentleman working the valet station and made a beeline into Neiman. Amanda, Jenny and I went shopping confident that we were going to find the most thoughtful Christmas gifts that we set out to buy. 

Jenny immediately found her mom’s gift and Amanda bought two gifts for her hubby. I, on the other hand, took my time looking for a special gift for myself. 

Walking through Neiman I decided to head on over to the Louis Vuitton store because I knew I would find that very special Christmas gift to go under my beautifully decorated tree.  

Amanda, Jenny and I walked around LV until I found the perfect pocketbook. It had my name written all over it. I purchased it with love.

As the three of us sat waiting for my handbag to be monogrammed with my three initials, GTB, we sat eating macarons and drinking sparkling water that the store manager kindly offered us. The presentation of the macarons and sparkling water was lovely and we felt like Christmas queens.

After all, it was Christmas and we wanted to enjoy every second of the season.  

When the manager brought my beautifully packaged gift we went to a few other stores window browsing. 

We walked through the mall window shopping and had a ball talking and laughing. The mall was merry and bright and filled with Christmas shoppers from one end of the mall to the other. I loved seeing how happy the people were. Christmas has a wonderful way of pouring out love from the hearts of people everywhere. 

Now time was quickly passing and winding down as it always does when you are in the company of love.

Jenny, Amanda and I were hungry and it was time for us to have an early dinner and make our way home afterwards. I was tired and felt I needed to nap. 

We left the mall and went to Capital Grille for dinner. The food was incredible. I had lobster Mac and Cheese. Talk about delicious. Jenny and Amanda shared a plate of large crab cakes and their sides. They said it was more than delish. 

Right after my best friends and I engaged in an awesome conversation and amazing food we headed home. We had a fantastic time. Three close friends sharing, spending and showing love one to another is simply an awesome way to spend part of the holiday season and we appreciate one another and our friendship more than we could ever express with words. 

Amanda, Jenny and I hugged and they headed home. 

Now that we were all home safe and sound it was time for me to relax and enjoy a warm cup of chamomile tea. My husband was on his way home and I wanted his company for the rest of the evening. 

As I sat comfy and cozy awaiting my husband’s arrival I fell asleep. It wasn’t too long after I fell asleep that my husband came home and planted a warm kiss from his lips to my rosy red cheek. What a lovely way to wake up.

Not long after my husband’s sweet warm kiss woke me up we sat talking for a few minutes before we turned on Home Alone and fell asleep not long thereafter.

When we woke up I gave my husband his Christmas gifts and I opened mine from him. 

I still had another gift to open which was my Christmas present to myself.

Looking for my lovely gift I noticed that the packaging was completely different. However, I didn’t say a word, but I must say that I was scratching my head puzzled. I opened my gift that I bought from the LV store to show my husband. 

As I opened the gift I even noticed that the pocketbook had a little more weight to it than it did at the store. I opened my beautiful bag and found another gift inside. There was the most stunning red gift box inside my handbag. I nervously, but excitedly removed the gift box from my LV bag.

My husband said, Merry Christmas beautiful! Open your gift. When I opened the gift box my eyes saw the reddest Ruby ring I had ever seen in my life.  It was, indeed, the reddest Ruby to shine in my eyes. 

The day had dawned and Christmas was shining through the window of our comfortable living room. My husband and I enjoyed the day. I made brunch and then we had Christmas dinner. By the end of the night we were on our way to the hospital.

Little Baby Cyn was born. She was fine and healthy. My husband and I looked at each and said Merry Christmas. Love has come into the world. We are still smiling.

May the reddest ruby for Christmas warm your spirit and bless your heart.

Story Written by Cyn

www.wreathonmydoor.com

www.beautyandtheface.com

www.achampagnechristmas.com

 

 

 

How To Have a Delightful Christmas Brunch

It’s Christmas Morning and Time To Enjoy a Wonderful Christmas Brunch

A Festive and Delicious Christmas Brunch

How to have a festive and delicious Christmas Brunch.

Looking for a festive and delicious way to celebrate Christmas morning? Skip the presents for a bit and gather around a delightful Christmas brunch!

From sweet treats to savory delights, there’s a perfect recipe to satisfy every palate. Imagine fluffy cinnamon rolls dripping with icing, alongside a cheesy strata packed with sausage and vegetables.

Or perhaps a lighter option like a vibrant fruit salad served with homemade granola and yogurt parfaits.

With a little planning and preparation, you can create a memorable and stress-free brunch that will become a cherished holiday tradition.

Enjoy a festive and delicious Christmas Brunch and have a Merry Christmas!

Cyndi

A Champagne Christmas

Love for the Skin

How to Live a Phenomenal Life

Christmas Is Still Lingering In My Home and I Love It

Christmastime is a Feeling That Never Leaves My Heart

Christmas Is Still Lingering In My Home and I Love It

Christmas is still lingering in my home and I love it!

I know it’s February and Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but forever Christmas remains with me.

Whenever I think about Christmas and all the joy that comes along with this special time of the year I smile. I smile because I love how the holiday season hugs me.

Furthermore, I love the shopping, baking, caroling and singing. 

For me, Christmastime brings hope to my heart and home. There is a special sensation that enfolds every inch of my being during the holidays and I embrace this feeling every year with gratitude.

Unwrapping gifts of hope, peace, joy and good cheer keep me uplifted and amazed. 

Christmas 2025 will be celebrated with more family traditions, thankfulness and a whole lot of wonder accompanied by beauty and splendor.

Whatever your plans are for the Christmas holidays plan accordingly and get ready early. This way you can sit back, rest and relax and enjoy the celebration!

The Christmas season will be upon us before long and we want to make sure that we enjoy every second of the most wonderful time of the year.  

Christmas is still lingering in my home and I love it. I always have and will.

Here’s to planning for a very amazing Merry Christmas.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, holly and happy.

With peace and love,

Cyn

www.wreathonmydoor.com

Christmas in my Home

How I Welcomed the Holiday Season into my Home

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions for 2025 and beyond.

Christmas 2024 was very special to me. All of my Christmases are dear to my heart.

Last year I started a new Christmas tradition and I am happy that I did. You see, Christmas comes around quickly and I want to enjoy every second leading up to the most wonderful time of the year.

So when the Spirit of Christmas spoke to my heart I leaped for joy and began decorating my home in October.

Instead of waiting until November 1st to decorate my home for the holiday season, I got started super early. I was so excited to get the Christmas festivities underway I began decorating October 1st. Yes, I sure did. Talk about elated I couldn’t wait to fill every inch of my beautiful home with wonder and splendor.

New Christmas Traditions for My Heart, Home and My Family

Welcoming New Christmas Holiday Traditions

I put up my Christmas tree and placed three ornaments on it; one purple and two red baubles. I didn’t feel the need to cover my tree with an array of ornaments because the lights on the tree were more than enough to make me and my family smile. It was beautiful just as it was. Those bright-enough white lights gave my living room a soft warm glow that said welcome to all who enter.

After I was finished with the tree I decorated my coffee and sofa tables with my usual stunning red and gold decor. I never tire of using these same decorations year after year. They glitter and sparkle which makes them so very beautiful.

I Love Celebrating the Christmas Season While Creating Special Memories with Family

Every night around 5 pm I’d sit in the midst of inspiration enjoying whimsy and wonder as they blanketed every area of my first floor.

With the lamps turned off and my deep red Christmas hurricanes all lit up, a warm sensation would clothe me in love and I embraced each and every moment of the beauty.

Even though Christmas has come it never leaves. I still see Christmas miracles all around me and I’m grateful for them all. The holiday season has always been and always will be filled with unspeakable joy that warms my heart and home forever.

Welcoming new Christmas holiday traditions is a great to keep the holiday season special.

I hope you had a phenomenal Christmas celebrating the love, joy and good cheer.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Cyn

Home

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Best Time of the Year

Christmas is the Best Time of the Year and Here’s Why

 

Best time of the year

Not only is Christmas the best time of the year it is also the most wonderful time of the year. Here’s why.

During the Christmas season we get to experience the presence of more love. This special kind of sincere love seems to appear more than any other time of this e year because it does. The love is real.

In the midst of this joyful season hearts are warmer. People are more loving. Hearts more giving. Spirits are sweeter and good cheer spreads from one heart and home to another. We are merrier and brighter.

Every year at Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year, we look forward to the joys, sounds and songs of this sensational season.

Hearing the jingle of the b-e-double-l-s we smile. Shopping for family, baking cookies, making candy and cooking the most delicious mouth-watering dishes to scape our tables are those activities that we look forward to every year during the most loving time of the year.

Do you hear what I hear. Love is coming around again. Christmas 2025 is coming to a home near you.

Tis the season to be jolly, happy and thankful.

Cyndi

Gifts for Christmas

Best Store for Christmas Trees

The Missing Christmas Gift

A Christmas Evening I Will Always Remember and Cherish Forever

The Missing Christmas Gift

It was Christmas Eve and it was time to wrap gifts. I had 7 pretty gifts that needed wrapping and I wanted to get them all finished by 3 pm because I also had to make butter cookies and a sour cream pound cake in addition to making my annual Christmas Eve dinner.

I headed to my bedroom and when I got there I went straight to my closet where my gift were stored. I took all 7 gifts out from the closet, laid them on my bed and spread them out to make sure that they were all there.

As I browsed over each gift I noticed that there were only six Christmas presents and I had bought 7. I immediately headed back to my closet to find the other gift, but to my dismay I did not see it nor could i find it. The most important gift of all was missing.

Carefully and slowly thinking back I went back to my bedroom closet and searched frantically to find the 7th gift, but it was nowhere to be found. I sat on my bed for a moment thinking back on the day that I put my presents away. Had I hidden the gift from myself and simply can’t remember where I placed it. My oh my. I was upset that I couldn’t think with a clear mind.

i keep asking myself – Where could the other Christmas gift be?

The Missing Christmas Gift

Since I was unable to find the missing gift I decided to wrap the other six Christmas presents hoping that I would remember where the other gift may have been. After I was finished wrapping all of my gifts I spent a few more quiet seconds in my mind and in my closet trying to understand what could have happened to the missing Christmas gift. I was still baffled at this point because there was still no thought or trace of that seventh gift.

Time was quickly moving on and I still had to cook Christmas Eve dinner for my family and a few dear friends. Preparing for the Eve of Christmas and all its warmth and wonder I hurried along with my dinner plans for my family.


It’s time to celebrate the love of Christmas while the missing gift is still in my thoughts

The Missing Christmas Gift

We were all super excited and could not wait for the Christmas festivities to begin in our home. I made a delicious dinner, baked a batch of moist butter cookies and a sour cream pound cake. I also made a basket of homemade dinner rolls to compliment all the flavors that helped make my dinner a Christmas feast my family would never forget..

It was six o’clock and the festivities were under way!  We happily started the festivities adorning our bright and beautiful red and green attire. We were surprised to see that it was snowing too!

The tree in our living room was brightly lit. Gifts were tucked underneath the tree, dinner was hot and ready to be served. Songs of the season were the perfect backdrop for a joyous holiday celebration. Dessert was lovingly spread out on the elegantly decorated serving table and of course we were elated for the sparkle of the night which has always been that special moment of our yearly tradition that the kids look forward to on Christmas Eve which is the one-gift opening moment!


After celebrating such a wonderful evening our home became a silent night

The Missing Christmas Gift

I must say that it was a miraculous evening as it always is. Even though I still hadn’t figured out what happened to my other I had a joyous time with my family.

By the time the night was done, my kids were in bed dreaming of Santa coming down the chimney, eating a warm plate of homemade butter cookies and a chilled tall glass of milk.

Feeling blessed, warm and renewed my husband joined me as I sat in silence with peace in my spirit. We had a conversation with thanksgiving in our hearts for each other, our children, our warm and loving home and most importantly Jesus. He has always been and always will be the Reason for the Joy in the Season.

Talking to my husband I mentioned the missing gift to him. I asked him had he seen it and of course I knew the answer before he spoke. He had not seen nor did he know anything about any of the gifts and honestly I didn’t expect him to.

Close to midnight, it was now time for hubby and me to go to bed and let Santa come in and do what he does best, delivering smiles to homes on this cold winter night.


We snuggled into bed and quickly fell sound asleep

Before I knew it our precious pearls, our sweet little kids came running into our room at the break of dawn.  I somehow managed to get up and embrace Christmas morning while my kids opened their presents. My husband and I also exchanged gifts.

After we all had opened all of our Christmas gifts I noticed that there was one gift under the tree that no one had opened. My husband went under the tree and grabbed the gift. He said, honey, this gift is for you. He handed it to me and said, open it. I surprisingly opened the colorful radiant red Christmas wrapping paper and was in awe of what I found in the small little gold box.

You see every year I treat myself to a special trinket at Christmastime. This year I decided to treat my husband to a special trinket which was the missing gift that I could not find in my closet. My husband took the special trinket that I bought for him and replaced it with a diamond necklace for me. Was I surprised? I was shocked to say the least. What a beautiful Christmas gift he had given me and he softly spoke and said, because you deserve it. Merry Christmas my darling were the loving words that he spoke to me. I’m still smiling.

Merry Christmas Luminaries

Cynthia

www.beautyandtheface.com

www.wreathonmydoor.com

 

The Best Sweet Potato Pie Ever

A Recipe of Sweet, Sweeter, Sweetness Called Sweet Potato Pie

 

The Best Sweet Potato Pie

The best sweet potato pie recipe is here!

My mother, God bless her, made a sweet potato pie that was too good to be true. She was the greatest cook and baker.

I watched her every move in the kitchen and remember every ingredient that lovingly went into that thick strong glass bowl each and every time she created deliciousness all throughout the year. 

At Thanksgiving I could smell those tasty pies permeating throughout our home. When they touched my tongue my tummy smiled.

Now I bake these same pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband and children love them.

Here’s the recipe.

  • Five large sweet potatoes
  • Butter
  • Carnation Milk
  • White sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Nutmeg
  • Ginger
  • Cinnamon 
  • 3 frozen pie shells

Christmas Friends I do not measure any of my ingredients. All I can suggest is that you use them to your liking, your own taste. 

One thing I can tell you is that I do bake my pies for about an hour. They turn out perfectly amazing every time. Brown and tan in color with rich velvety goodness define this heavenly warm slice of love.

Have yourself a very amazing Merry Christmas,

Cyndi

www.achampagnechristmas.com