Teresa Giudice is making the most of her time with her family before her prison sentence begins in January, friends say, by cooking and decorating her home for the holidays and spending as much quality time as she can with her children.

The reality star will head to jail on January 5 for 15 months following charges of fraud; her husband Joe will begin his 41-month sentence when she’s done so that one parent will always be with their four children.

“She’s running back and forth with the four kids. She doesn’t even have a nanny. Her life is her kids and maintaining a happy home. Every day she’s trying to make them such a priority…What is to come in the future is going to be hard, there’s no question. Nobody is a substitute for Mom,” a source told People Magazine.

According to The Daily Mail, Giudice recently signed a lucrative deal with Bravo to host her own cooking show once her prison sentence is up and will also still appear on The Real Housewives Of New Jersey on a part-time basis.

Giudice is already the author of three successful cookbooks and is expected to be a big moneymaker for Bravo throughout her incarceration.

“Teresa and BRAVO have been taking this time to plan a big media event when she is released from prison either late next year or early 2016. Teresa has been so popular with the viewers that they know this is going to be an amazing event. They are going to stay in touch with Teresa while she is in prison by taping phone calls and if possible, they will do jailhouse interviews with her,” a source told The Daily Mail.