I wish the first day of December had been prettier, but it was dark and wet. I joked with my mom that I would need rain boots and a slicker to snap this month’s photo, but there was a break in the rain just as I left our driveway. It was cozy kind of day. I made a pot of coffee and drug our Christmas decorations downstairs. We watched a nail-biter of a football game and went to bed early.
gifting | This is probably the latest I’ve ever started shopping, but I am here to tell you that I’ve only bought a handful of gifts. I’m planning to have a marathon Amazon session this weekend, but we’re going a little lighter on gifts this year. I’m sticking to “something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read” for the girls, plus a small surprise and stockings from Santa. Our brood grew by one this year, but I have no intentions of letting our holiday budget grow.
How do you do gifting with your kiddos? I’m hoping that we can make a few small shifts in our strategy this year and a new addition to our family makes it the perfect time!
baking | I’m not much of a baker, but my mom has already started making cookies! If you need a new recipe for Christmas Eve, this needs to be your go-to.
What are some of your favorite holiday recipes? I want to spend some time in the kitchen with the girls this season, especially since we’ll all be home together for almost two weeks!
singing | Y’all know we’re big music fans around here and the holiday season is no different. Ella texted me in early November to tell me that our local station was already playing Christmas tunes and she hasn’t let us turn the dial since.
What are you favorite holiday albums? Bonus points if they come on vinyl.
mailing | I’m so embarrassed to tell you that I haven’t even thought about Christmas cards… or birth announcements. I usually mail my cards the first week of December, but they are going to be very late this year. I don’t even have any ideas for how to design them?!
Do you have a favorite kind of Christmas card to receive? The Christmas Letter? Photo cards? A funny infographic? Help me make your mailbox (and inbox) happy!
decorating | We are very late to the Christmas decorating game (especially when it comes to bloggers?!), but our week in Disney caused a significant delay in the start of our holiday season. I promised the girls that since we still don’t have our living room tree up, we could keep the house decorated a little longer. I’m working hard to make things less red and green and more wintry, so that we don’t get any side-eye come February. I kid… sort of.
When do you take down your holiday decorations? Are you a “day after Christmas” kind of person or do you wait until after the new year? I’ve been known to take our tree down on MLK Day (insert bashful faced emoji here!).
I realized when I was writing this post that I had as many questions for you as I did things to share! How about we finish the conversation in the comments today?
