Hey friends! If you've noticed I've been throttling back a little on the posts lately, I'm sorry! Truth be told I haven't been feeling all that well, plus I have this bout of exhaustion that I just can't kick no matter how much sleep I get. (For those that don't know, I'm waiting on a diagnosis confirmation of celiac disease and in the mean time I'm continuing to ingest gluten despite its ill effects on my health. Needless to say it's a real barrel o' monkeys.) At this point I'm way past the mourning of gluten phase, and I'm ready to just kick that pesky witch out of my life forever and never look back. It's not worth feeling crummy all the time. (And you have no idea how much that pains me to say, given my unhealthy obsession with Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits.)
My appointment with the doc is on Tuesday so hopefully soon after that there won't be much more of this weak, whiny crap. It doesn't suit me well AT ALL. I prefer to have copious, borderline-annoying amounts of positive pep and energy. THAT is my jam. So if you guys can just bear with me until then, I promise to get back to the fun stuff!
Speaking of fun stuff, I'm refusing to let my tiredness impede upon my holiday plans. This year I'm attempting no small feat - to actually make our home a festive cornucopia of Christmas cheer. This weekend marks the official start to Christmas-ifying our house. Below is what's on the list for us this holiday season. Keep in mind last year I think I did literally NO decorating and I waited until the last minute to buy everyone gifts. So... despite its seemingly standard appearance, this list should amount to a full merit badge in my imaginary quest to become a domestic goddess. (You know, learn to roast a chicken? Merit badge. Unpack from a trip within 24 hours of returning? Merit badge. Buy special hand towels that coordinate with some sort of festive occasion? DOUBLE MERIT MADGE. I'm the only one that plays, but it's a pretty fun game. Also, so as not to be misleading, I haven't earned ANY of the aforementioned merit badges. It's a marathon, not a sprint, okay?)
I have to admit, seeing all these cute DIYs and Instagram photos of holiday decor floating around the internet had me pretty stressed out about decorating. There must be a theme! What color scheme do I want? Everything must match! And then I remembered that all of you know what a scatterbrained magoo I am so I might as well just make my theme "A Lack of Theme." And suddenly... Voila! No pressure!
Here's a run down of what's on the docket before Christmas.
// 1. Buy a tree. It's our first Christmas taking the plunge and buying a tree. We don't even have the room in our house, nor do I have any experience keeping a tree alive BUT it's more about principle so I decided we're gonna wing it. This should be fun.
// 2. Bake Christmas cookies. Last year, my darling friend Alli (check out her delectable blog, Foodie Heart this very moment!) made these cookies. I ended up covered in flour and some of them got smushed but we had a blast so I want to make special cookies again. Maybe I'll make those out of tradition, maybe I'll make something different. Or MAYBE I'll make something gluten-free AND delicious and really blow your minds. Who knows.
// 3. Holiday movie marathon. First we make the list, then we watch the list. Likely to include favorites like Elf, The Santa Clause, The Nightmare Before Christmas (because I'm weird), Love Actually (Shhhh... don't tell Jason), Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey version.) It will NOT include Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or A Christmas Story because claymation and that leg lamp both weird me out. (Also, it appears by writing this I've essentially made the list. Still I have a feeling negotiations will have to be made.) Also also, I've never seen It's A Wonderful Life. Feel free to yell at me.... go!
// 4. Make DIY ornaments. This has less to do with me being creative and more to do with me being poor. Okay, fine, it's a little bit of both. I also really like the idea of having ornaments that no else in the world has. We'll see what I come up with!
// 5. Decorate the tree with our ornaments. Perhaps this one went without saying.
// 6. Buy yummy Christmas candles. By yummy I do not mean edible, I mean delicious smelling. Smells are such a powerful trigger for me when it comes to the holidays. I'm talking classics like peppermint, pine, cinnamon... the works. Not all at once, though. I don't want our house smelling like Yankee Candle set up shop there.
// 7. Make/hang stockings. We always do stockings at Jason's mom's house but I think there's something so warm about seeing stockings hung in the living room. Even if we don't put anything but candy canes and chocolate kisses in them, I still think these are a must for getting into the holiday spirit.
// 8. Take Christmas card photo and mail them out. Okay, I have to admit, I'm ridiculously excited about this one. I've never sent Christmas cards out and this year for some reason I really want to. Maybe because it's the first year I feel like we're really a family - Jason, Plax and I. Is that weird? When did that happen? Anyway, I'm looking forward to making it silly and fun and sending it to our friends and family with cute little envelopes. Already predicting I'll be less keen on the idea when I'm addressing a gazillion envelopes, though.
// 9. Put up lights (inside!) We don't do outside lights. If we did, they'd stay up until next Christmas. (As I speak right now we STILL have our two baby pumpkins sitting outside our front door.) Instead, Jason has a light garland that we'll wrap around our banister, and I also have another strand I might add to our bedroom or to my studio. We shall see.
// 10. Christmas wreath. I still want to switch out our fall wreath. I'm thinking something a lot less time consuming than last time, but still festive. Any ideas?
// 11. Finish shopping and wrap the gifts. I actually already have our wrapping paper, hooray! I have about half my list tackled but still need to finish up the rest. Hoping to do that this weekend. If I manage to do it, it'll be the first time EVER that I'm done before December 23rd. That alone gets a merit badge.
And that's the plan! The fun begins this weekend with DIY ornaments and stockings. Don't know if I'll do my own thing or get some inspiration online, but hopefully it won't be a bust and I can share photos next week. Honorable mention on this list goes to lots of hot chocolate, Christmas Pandora stations and some sort of outing to see Christmas lights.
So now the question is... What's on your list for this holiday season? Do you have any traditions? Do you have your tree already? What's the appropriate timeframe on Christmas cards being sent out? (I realize that was a lot of questions, but I'm new to this!)
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