Sears Holiday Cheer + $15 Sears Giftcard Giveaway

This is the first year that my two boys are really getting into the holidays. I think last year my youngest was too little and my oldest just wasn't that interested. This year is a total 180. The moment that the Christmas stuff started appearing in stores (which I swear was August this year!) my two boys began a non-stop Christmas marathon. Everything is about Christmas. So much so that they were ready to put up decorations before we had even finished eating Thanksgiving dinner. After countless begging episodes at the store I finally gave in and let them buy their own Christmas tree and decorations. They had a great time putting up the tree and decorations after Thanksgiving dinner .

Since I am a food blogger my holidays always revolve around food. I come by this obsession from my mother who as the oldest of twelve kids taught me to serve huge dinners to large groups of people. I still to this day make enough food for an army. I do have a few quick tips to make your holiday food prep easier:

• Cut as many vegetables the day before as possible. This not only saves time, but your sanity as well. 
• Wash all your special plates and platters in the days leading up to the holiday. Waiting until the last minute will just add to your busy day. 
• It's okay to use paper plates when serving appetizers. I always use nice china at the dinner table, but when serving appetizers I love to use holiday themed paper plates. It saves a lot of time on dishes. 
• Make lists. Lists are your friends. The more things you write down the less you will forget. 
• Let people help you. I used to be horrible about this tip, but as I have gotten older I have realized that letting others help is such a blessing. 
• Prep anything that can be done the day before. Many dishes can be partly or fully cooked and then re-heated such as casseroles etc.
• Most important of all, remember to enjoy the day. Your kids will grow-up quickly and no one will remember if your pie was perfect. You will regret if you don't enjoy the time, so remember to make yourself sit down and relax after all the cooking is done. 

In addition to the food I love decorating for the holidays. Recently I was given the opprotunity through Sears and Smiley360 to enjoy a $15 dollar giftcard to Sears to use to make my home ready for the holidays. I wasn't sure what the selection at my local Sears store would be like, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many great things there were to offer.

There were multiple types of artificial trees:

And Christmas ornaments in great reds and blues such as those below:

They also had some cute Hello Kitty Christmas decorations that my youngest thought were adorable:

After looking through the large selection I chose this great set of ornaments for my tree. I love the great silver color and my two boys simply fell in love with them. Plus they work great on the tree and really stand out.

Interested in finding out more about Sears holiday selection? Here are some great links:

Sears Online Christmas Shop, the Sears Cheer Headquarters and the Shop Your Way Rewards

Now for the fun part. I have been given the opprotunity to give away a $15 dollar giftcard to Sears. Enter through the Rafflecopter form below.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer: I received a $15 dollar giftcard from Sears and Smiley360 in order to facilitate this review. As always all opinions expressed are my own.