Thank you to Macy’s and ShopStyle for sponsoring today’s post!
I think most of us love the holidays, but the season doesn’t come without it’s share of stresses and trigger points. This time of year is festive, joyful and fun at best, but at worst, it can be lonely, stressful or downright depressing. I’m not immune from experiencing every one of those feelings at some point. I credit my faith, family, and keeping a positive attitude for not letting the ‘down’ moments ruin the holiday season.
If you need a bottle of wine, few tips to get you through the holidays without losing your mind,
Good morning friends! Can you believe we’re already into December?! Only 2o days ’til Christmas!! We got a late start on our Christmas decor this year (by blogger standards;), but that’s okay because I went with a much simpler approach this year. Before putting out our decor, I went through all the bins and donated several things and kept the stair garland in the bin for another year.
For the last few years, I’ve enjoyed putting our tree up before Thanksgiving, but this year, when we went to put up the tree, there was no tree there! We forgot that we donated last year’s tree that had bit the dust,
Are you already in Thanksgiving vacation mode? We are! It’s only two days away! I’m looking forward to an agenda full of nothing but being with family, eating, relaxing and eating some more!
HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
This time of year, I’m especially mindful of the important things in life and as I get older, the holidays are more and more about simplifying and doing less with more meaning.
It used to be more about all the fun activities I’d want us to do, but we could never seem to fit them all in! Then, I’d feel slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to go/see/do everything I had planned.
Tomorrow at noon officially starts our Thanksgiving break and we’ll be so excited to have James home with us all week! He and Jordan are the lights of my life and I’m so honored to be their mom! Raising little kids (and big ones) is a responsibility I don’t take lightly and I always hope I’m doing the best I can with them. It’s been so interesting to see how similar and yet so very different they are and to try to parent to each of their specific needs.
Good morning friends! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind condolences about my dear Grandma Nola. It’s a tough loss and we miss her terribly, but I’m comforted knowing she lived a long, wonderful life. She had friends all over the world, many of which she’s being reunited with in heaven. I can only imagine what that must be like. I also feel her presence with me and she will always be a part of me, no matter where she is.
We actually took some mommy/daughter Christmas photos recently, and I know she’s gonna LOVE how they came out!
From our family to yours, we’re wishing you the merriest Christmas and sending you loads of love! I can’t even begin to explain what your friendship and support over the years has meant to me. I appreciate you so much and think the world of you! May your Christmas be the brightest and merriest ever!
Hello, friends! I’m excited to welcome you into our holiday home again! Last week, you saw the first floor of our 2-story home all decked out for Christmas, and today I’m bringing you upstairs! This tour is especially close to my heart because I’m joining my old school friends for this one! These are the women I first admired and met when I began my own blog almost 8 years ago! Since then, so many things have changed about blogging and as is often the case with changes, some things are good, and some make me long for those old days!
Last week we hosted our second annual Favorite Things party! If you follow along on Instagram or Instastories, you got some behind-the-scenes action of setting up and preparing for the party as well as some live-shots during the exchange! We had a great time, it’s a fun girls night (#noboysallowed #untilweneededagrouppic) and a great opportunity to get to know your friends a little better by learning what their favorite things are!
If you’ve never heard of it, a Favorite Things party is SIMILAR to a White Elephant gift exchange –
Hello friends! How was your weekend? We had a special one with Jordan’s first visit with Santa! I can’t believe I didn’t take her to see Santa last year, but for whatever reason, we never got around to it. So, this year, when our friends invited us to a brunch with Santa, I was all in! But, as perfectly imperfect as life is, the boys had a hair appointment scheduled for that morning, thus we were late and missed the brunch part! Ahhh! BUT, we still got to take pics and go on a hayride with Santa, run around the tree farm and play outside in the fresh air.
Are y’all in full swing holiday mode yet? I spent yesterday morning volunteering at the school, helping the kids get their picture taken with Santa and it was the cutest thing! At age 7, the magic of Santa and Buddy the Elf are very much alive and bring so much joy, but James also understands the reason we celebrate and is all about that too. It’s a precious time in a kid’s’ life and I want to soak up ALL of it.
For this month’s December Loves, instead of focusing on the physical items I love, I’m thinking about all the things I cherish about the season and the things I enjoy doing with my family.
Happy Friday friends! Didn’t it feel like this week flew by?! And now it’s officially December! I love this time of year, but I don’t feel ready for it to start and then be ‘over’ in just 25 days! And the crazy thing this year is that our son’s holiday break doesn’t start until the Friday before Christmas, then goes until January 9! Soooo, I guess we’ll end up being in slow and lazy mode until the beginning of the new year! Is your Christmas break late too?
Did y’all have a good weekend? I mostly fought with our Christmas tree and I’m not sure who won! I guess I did, because I salvaged it from the broken-down-tree-graveyard, but I couldn’t get the burned out lights lit, even with this tool. It showed the lights working, but not when they were on the strand. Soooo frustrating! So, I bought several new strings of lights and got busy restringing! In the end, it looks pretty good- I can’t wait to show you the pics soon, but if you want a sneak peek before then, see Stories this afternoon!
Hi friends! It’s been almost 10 days since I’ve gotten to chat with you and I’ve missed you! How was your Christmas?! We had such a fun time with both Jordan and James this year. A baby’s first Christmas is always a special occasion and our son is at the very tender age of 6 where he understands that we are celebrating Jesus’ birth and also still believes in all the magic that Christmas brings. I had to pause several times over this Christmas break just to take it all in and savor every adorable moment. My heart almost burst out of my chest with love for my family and I’d say it was one of my favorite Christmas’
Christmas vacation has officially started and we couldn’t be happier! All weekend we lazed around and cooked and ate and ate some more! I’ve already gained 5 pounds, but we’ll attack that in the new year. For now, it’s all about relaxing and enjoying the holidays, our family, our home, the food and this very first Christmas with baby Jordan! She turned 10 months on Sunday and is walking!!! Bananas! It’s the cutest thing to see such a tiny baby taking all those steps and going wherever she wants to! Until she goes where you don’t want her to! ?
Thank you so much popping in and walking through our Holiday Home Tour yesterday! I’m glad I started decorating in early November or there wouldn’t have been much to see! I love it that you can relate to pushing messes aside and realizing that in everyday life there are legos and cheerios being stepped on daily! Sure there’s beauty in the everyday messes, but we all still enjoy seeing pretty pictures too!Today, we’re getting a better look at our Holiday Front Porch, with my dear friend Chris’ Welcome Home Tour! Chris is one of those people that when you meet in person,
Good morning friends! Today is a special day where I’m joining several of my blog friends for the Decked & Styled Holiday Tour and I’m extending a warm hello and big hug to those of you that are new to my blog, or stopped by from my friend Abby, Just A Girl and Her Blog!
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting everyone in this tour, except for the special one who actually organized it- Bree from ZDesign at Home! I can’t wait to finally meet her in person too, hopefully this summer! I’m honored to be included with this group and can’t wait to show you a peek inside our holiday home!
I was feeling pretty good about the amount of time we have left before Christmas until I realized that this weekend and next are the only ones left until Christmas on a Sunday this year! We’ll only get Jordan a couple of things (this and this) that I think she’ll love and I still have lots of people on my list to shop for and don’t even remind me that I haven’t ordered Christmas cards yet! ?
Oh well, I vow to get on it this.weekend! I don’t want to be all stressed out,
I swear the weekends go faster and faster and just like that, we’re back to Monday! But, in just two short weeks, it will be Christmas break and we’ll have our son home for a couple weeks, so we’re looking forward to that! We also celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary over the weekend and I can’t believe next year will be 10 years. I love this little family of ours and of course Jordan brings so much joy!
Her nursery is still one of my favorite rooms in our house and we recently added a touch of Christmas decor in honor of her very first Christmas.
