3 Airport Travelers and a Holiday at Home

Wishing the happiest of holidays to you and yours!

Here’s a glimpse of our favorite things during this joyful time of year, along with our holiday plans:

Megan

• Favorite Holiday Drink: Pomegranate Martini (with homemade pomegranate vodka) or Bailey’s on ice
• Holiday plans: Traveling to Colorado to be with my family
• Holiday Traditions: Christmas brunch – breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and mimosas before opening gifts
• Favorite Part of the Holiday Meal: leftovers
• Best Gift You’ve Ever Received:  My puppy, when I was 5
• Holiday Travel Tip: Put on your patience hat and holiday cheer – most of these people only travel 1-2 times per year.

 Tammy

• Favorite Holiday Drink: Gin and Tonic (the lime reminds me of pine trees)
• Holiday plans: Traveling to Ohio wearing Oregon Duck gear to scare the Ohio State Buckeye fans.
• Holiday Traditions: Spending Christmas Eve with my long time next door neighbors
• Favorite Part of the Holiday Meal: chicken wings
• Best Gift You’ve Ever Received:  an alarm clock with spa sounds
• Holiday Travel Tip: Pack a book

Wendy

• Favorite Holiday Drink: A good red wine or Irish whiskey
• Holiday plans: At home with family and friends
• Holiday Traditions: A day of fondue – cheese, main course and chocolate; playing games
• Favorite Part of the Holiday Meal: Cheese fondue
• Best Gift You’ve Ever Received:  Electronic Detective – when I was 12
• Holiday Travel Tip: Don’t!  It’s too crazy 🙂

Kate

• Favorite Holiday Drink: Champagne or apple cider (with a little apple brandy)
• Holiday plans: Family time in Southern California
• Holiday Traditions: Growing up, it was annual holiday trips to San Francisco – which always included lunch at Neiman Marcus’s  Rotunda and shopping in Union Square
• Favorite Part of the Holiday Meal: Mashed potatoes
• Best Gift You’ve Ever Received: a Holland lop bunny when I was about 7
• Holiday Travel Tip: Noise-cancelling headphones

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Giving with a Grateful Heart

Now that the decorating is done, holiday wish lists come to light. Giving is always just as fun as receiving but can be even more daunting than decorating. It is easy to spend a fortune on gifts only to wonder why later. The holidays, no matter which one, or ones, you celebrate, are truly about family, love and tradition. We often forget that it is really the thought that counts. Make this holiday season special with a few homemade and earth-friendly gifts, straight from the heart!

Cookie platters: Roll out the dough. Transform your kitchen into a cookie oasis and bake several batches of your favorite seasonal sweets. Freeze the cookies to keep them fresh. For a clever presentation, find some old rectangular frames that are not in use, or go to the drugstore and purchase on sale frames. Take out the glass and unscrew the frame back (the piece that helps it stand). Head to your local hardware or craft store and pick up small rectangular mirrors that fit your frames. Grab some handles from the kitchen or bathroom section with fun designs. Then, take your frame, fit the mirror where the glass was and hot glue the handles to each side. Ta-da, a perfect platter! When the cookies have thawed, place the cookies on the platters, wrap in colored cellophane and tie with big ribbon.

Tea for two: There are so many fun ways to save and antic stores offer a great solution. Most antique stores collect classic pieces in good condition, more upscale then a Goodwill but still affordable. Hunt around for unique tea cups and select cup and saucers from different sets. Pick two to four for your new set and fill each cup with a different tea packet for your friend or family member to try. Since the sets are reused, the gift is earth-friendly and also thoughtful because you can select sets that appeal to the recipient’s taste.

Support a cause: Giving in the name of a charity is also a great way to spread holiday cheer. Stainless steel water bottles are usually quite affordable, are good for the environment and promote happy health with no BPA! Many give percentages of sales to causes like breast cancer. Klean-Kanteen and Nathan’s which can be found at luckyvitamin.com  offer chic selections in a variety of colors. “Buy a hat. Change a life.” Krochet Kids, a non-profit started in our very own Spokane, Washington, promotes “giving the gift of love” by gifting colorful hats. When you purchase a hat, the proceeds go directly to villages in Northern Uganda and other projects where they begin to lift communities out of poverty. Giving doesn’t need to be stressful, no matter what your budget is, it should be fun and feel good.

   

This post is by guest blogger Kelsey, special to the Event Services team.