I’m back with my monthly Let’s Look post. I’ll be sharing ‘How We Prep For The Holiday Season’.
Shay from Mix and Match Mama is doing this monthly link up with her friend Erika and they give you a prompt for each month of the year to “look” at different aspects of your lives, to blog about it and share your blog post on her link up.
So, let’s get started… Let’s Look: How We Prep For The Holiday Season {October Prompt}
Ok, so it is OCTOBER and Shay is having us write a post about How We Prep For The Holidays. That is SO Shay for you! My name is Carrie and I have a coffee creamer addiction. Specifically, a holiday creamer addiction. The funny thing is I bought most of these back in September and then I did a little goal for myself in September where I only had 1 coffee a week and these just sat in my fridge unopened. Sigh. Thankfully, the expiration dates (if you don’t open them) are good for several months. But, I need to start enjoying them! Ha, ha! So, Ashley and I both enjoyed the Coffee Mate Brown Butter (it is seasonal!) SO much last year that we are both already talking about buying multiple bottles. Ha, ha! But, I will say… I prep for the holiday by buying these holiday creamers when they are stocked in September, because the good ones are gone QUICKLY! Grab them while you can! But, coffee creamer aside… the holidays stress me out BIG time. It helps me to write EVERYTHING down that I need to do, shop for, etc. I’m a list expert!
Ok, so we have A LOT of great local coffee places in St. Louis, so many that I’m even planning to do a blog post featuring my favorite local coffee spots in my hometown… but, I do love when Starbucks brings back the holiday drinks!! Ohh, the sugar cookie latte with the sprinkles, the gingerbread loaf, the snowman cookie… what’s not to love? Brian usually goes early (before school/work) and treats us all on the day they bring them back and it is always such a FUN and happy morning!
I really enjoy selecting an advent calendar (or sometimes a few!) to open each day during the month of December. So, I start looking at what is out there early on, because the good ones sell out. I used to LOVE the Glossybox Advent Calendar, I even did a blog post on it HERE. BUT, they are only shipping it in the UK now and it makes me so sad! I tried Revolve last year (it is pictured above) and the suitcase the products were in was so cute. The Revolve Advent Calendar is a pretty popular one and does sell out. The Revolve Advent Calendar for this year has a full size of the DIBS GlowTour Duo in Starlit. I have that product and I LOVE it (it also sells out quite often). So, they def. have some trending products in it this year. I’m almost thinking I may SKIP the advent calendar this year, but we’ll see… I’m feeling like I have a lot of beauty stuff I need to use up currently and I don’t need more of it. But, I do like to try new products, so I’m on the fence about what I’ll do. I’ve done the Trader Joe’s beauty advent calendar in the past, a pet toy one for cats and a coffee advent calendar.
I try to put up our Christmas decor EARLY, as in the first week of November. That way it is all up before my daughter’s birthday and we have longer to enjoy it. I love how it makes our home so cozy and lit up during the dreary months of winter. Last year we had Ollie Bear as a little kitten helping us set up the tree (and Aurora came later in November).
A trip to Hobby Lobby to refresh my decor and to replenish my wrapping paper is always a must. They have the BEST wrapping paper! It’s thick, there is a lot of it on the roll and tons of patterns/colors. I enjoy a trip to HomeGoods too, which is perfect for stocking up on decor and gifts for friends/family.
I do Christmas cards almost every year, even though they are the death of me. Ha, ha! I LOVE them after we get them all done, but man it is stressful to get the teens dressed up for a simple photo. I love receiving them too… but, WHEW. Christmas cards = Extra Holiday Stress.
I make gingerbread and sugar cookies with homemade icing on top every holiday season. They’re so delicious and it is probably the only time I bake, because being in my upper 40’s I can’t really enjoy sweets as much as I’d like these days. I had to share this photo from last year, because Ollie Bear and Aurora (oh, she was just SO tiny there) were really into watching me bake the cookies. I had to be really careful with them being my little shadows that day.
I enjoy setting up a little area in our kitchen with a festive hot cocoa bar. It’s a lot of fun for the teens (and hubby!) and gets a lot of use. I really want to get a SMEG Variable Temperature Tea Kettle for our hot cocoa bar.
Every year we play a stocking game where we roll a dice. It is a lot of fun. I have the original Pottery Barn stockings and man they fit A LOT of stocking stuffers. I almost want to scale down the stockings now that the teens are older (it’s harder to find stuff for them AND it’s more expensive), but I know they’ll be sad if I do that. I make a stocking for Brian too and then he makes one for me. Everything in the stocking is wrapped, so it is A LOT of work. Ha, ha! But, we really enjoy the game! It’s a lot of prep for it tho, because I have to find A LOT of stocking stuffers and wrap, wrap, wrap them all.
We host for Christmas at our house and even though we have a smaller family, it is still a lot of work. I always look forward to relaxing after a full belly on Christmas night. Last Christmas was extra special with the two kittens. I also try to remember in all of the hustle what the true meaning of the holidays is and that is that Christ was born! And what a blessing that is!
How do you ‘prep’ for the holidays? I’d love to hear what you do in the comments.
If you’re interested in following along, the prompt for November is… Gift Ideas For Men. I’d love to see you join in, it’s been a lot of fun!
