I saw this meme at Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa and I couldn’t resist! I’m putting up our Christmas tree and some other decorations right now, and this is certainly fitting. If you decide to join in, put your link in the comments below so I can see your responses.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags whenever possible (and I save all that I can reuse) or wrapping paper bought during an after-Christmas sale.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artficial. Real trees are nice, but I can’t stand the pine needle mess or the expense every year. My $15 or whatever tree won’t fool anyone, but it does its job and fits in a relatively small box.
3. When do you put up the tree? After Thanksgiving or the first week of December–whenever I have time.
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day or so.
5. Do you like egg nog? Not really. It tastes like melted vanilla ice cream to me.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A bicycle
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Two little ones
8. Hardest person to buy for? My parents
9. Easiest person to buy for?My sister
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppet Family Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in December
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?No (but that’s because I usually get presents I want to keep!)
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything! Especially cookies
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored
17. Favorite Christmas song? O, Holy Night
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel: 8+ hours in a car
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? Yep
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? When bad weather affects our travel plans
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?They each have special meanings
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Safe travel there and back

Even after one day of participating in Crystal’s “Make your home a haven” challenge, I’m feeling more motivated and inspired.

Here’s Day 2 (why not click over there and join in?):

Today, I brewed a pot of coffee using my free sample of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Woo hoo!

The second step is to hash out a short to-do list for the day.

1. Mail car insurance form
2. Find an eye doctor for DH and make an appointment
3. Put away laundry from yesterday (I hope it’s dry!)
4. Spend 30 minutes de-cluttering and organizing guest room/office
5. Spend 30 minutes on writing work

The third step of today’s challenge is to de-clutter our living rooms. So, I’ll be joining other participants and I’ll get that room in great shape.

One of my favorite bloggers, Crystal, is hosting a new challenge: Making your home a haven. Her timing is perfect! I’ve been trying to get our apartment organized and under control so that I have more time to do things I really want to do…but it hasn’t been easy.

I’m glad to be making my home a haven along with other bloggers. Strength in numbers, ya know?

Click over here to see what’s mentioned in her challenge for today. Here’s my responses:

1. The Psalm I flipped to today was 113. Here’s a verse from it:

He raises the poor out of the dust,  And lifts the needy out of the ash heap. - Psalm 113:7

Even millionaires can be poor, and everyone is needy at different points in their lives.

2. A morning routine. Hmm. This would be good for me to establish.

First, I’d like to get up at about the same time every day. I think that would really help my terrible sleeping situation. My goal is to be up and moving by 8 a.m. every day. So far, that’s not happening.

After using the bathroom, I’ll make the bed, fix breakfast, and eat it. That’s simple enough–and I think I can do it.

3. The third step of the day is to spend 5-15 minutes decluttering the front part of the home. I’m going to need to spend more time doing that today–it’s a mess. But, you’ve got to start somewhere, so why not start with the first 15 minutes of a task? I’m going to get started right now.