January Christmas Prep: Advent Ahead of Time

If you are like me, you are just kind of over Christmas by the time you get yourself off the couch from New Years.  

Are ya with me?  

This weekend we took down all of the tree and festivities around the house.  

I guess having a son born the first week of January was a good thing because it really makes me get my rear in gear with getting the house back to normal because we seem to blink and then have a Birthday party to plan and decorate for.  

So here we are...shaking it to get Christmas back into the attic.  

As I did it this year I organized and planned while I was putting away.  I know, I know, what a royally amazing idea, right?  

You see this year we started the advent calendar about December 10th.  10 days behind schedule, that's normal, right?  

Don't judge me :)

Well maybe do...a little.

But I digress.  Anywho, this past Christmas we did this amazing advent calendar from Focus on the Family called "Journey to the Manger".  Here it is, check it out!  This year, as I mentioned we started December 10ish and so, being fashionably late, we would do like 3 days in one day to catch up.  So not a lame mom am I, right?  Ugh.  

So this next Christmas I am going to be ahead of the game.  I already went this weekend and printed out everything I need to start this ON TIME!  So excited that I was able to tuck this all into our Christmas stuff and I will have it ready to go when December 1st rolls around!  

Now, I'm not affiliated with them I just used this advent program. I'm not sure if they are going to have this available all year or not but in case they aren't go print it all off now or soon!  It will be another thing you don't have to do in the madness of Christmas in December.  And it is so stinking cute to do!  There are fun activities to do and fun game type things to play during the readings...so easy on Mom and Dad and so fun for the kiddos...even if you cram three days into one :)  

See how clever I am?  :)  

Stick around for some more posts in the series on how I am getting ready now for this next Christmas!  

Welcome!

Welcome to my new home!  So excited you've come for a visit!  Whether you're here from old or new connections, I'm so excited that you made your way to my little corner of the internet.  :)  

I just want to say a gigantic huge thanks to my talented, lovely friend and cousin, Arielle.  She's the architect of this little abode here and I love, love, love it.  It's so nice to have someone who really get's you.  Whom you can send a million and one blogs that you have found certain aspects palatable and have them be able to combine them into something dreamy.  Ah.  Thanks a million, little sis, love ya.  

And thanks to my friend Nicole.  She's one of my close friends.  She homeschools and I think she's accepted that I'm a weird, geeky, nerd :) She's a blogging assistant extraordinaire.  But she has had my back to deal with meanies and things so I didn't have to and for that I am very grateful.  It's been her words and encouragement that maybe I don't suck quite as much as I thought I did that started my wheels a' turnin' to think about the dream of a little website I could call my own.  For that I am so very grateful for her support and help...you know, what's grounds for a restraining order and the like :)  

I hope you'll come back again and again as I blog about our every day.  What does our everyday include, you may ask?  Well...off the top of my head: Autism, Homeschooling, my love of Jesus and His Grace that has totally saved me, crafts, cooking, budgeting, saving money, looking cool and not smelling bad, being in love after being married for a long time, and being too cool for school, man.  That's the long and short of it :)  Thanks for being my friend!  

Letting It Go: Re-prioritizing to Enjoy the Gift of Christmas

Way back in say, September, when I start to go a little crazy and just can't wait for Christmas, I started envisioning sugar plums and everything fabulous I would do to decorate our house for Christmas.  

It involved something like this...

 I found it on Pinterest.  By the way you can check out my pinterest boards here.   Vastly exciting, I know.  Anyway, so I purchased giant Christmas ornaments, mesh, springing glittered things, festive picks, you name it.  I was a regular shopping Ninja, watching for the 50% off at Hobby Lobby to occur...able to get in and get out to check it out and then when it happened, out of nowhere I pounced :)

So as I was saying back in September I decided on this and in October I bought all of the supplies.  I was ready.

 But here the ornaments sit today...on a bench in our foyer.  Ready to be hung, already.  Hello?

And here is only ONE of the bags of mesh and supplies from Hobby Lobby, still just waiting to be dragged out of the closet and hung up.  Still waiting...

And so here it is the 15th of December and I've made a decision.  There are only 10 days left until Christmas, folks.  And with gifts to wrap, a guest room to ready, menus to plan, and children to love on by the light of the tree, I am saying enough already.

Because whether I've realized it or not the stress of a to-do list still needing to be to-done is hanging over  my head like an albatross.  So no more.  Tonight I am returning all of the materials.  I could keep them, yes, but I am really trying to minimize the amount of crap I have laying around for projects I may one day get around to. And so, quite frankly, I just don't need it hanging around or over my head for another year.

I encourage you to do the same.  Maybe you don't have all of the Christmas decorations up yet.  Maybe you have this and that and that and this to do before the big day.

Let. it. go.

Go snuggle with your children.

Pour yourself a glass of milk chocolate coconut milk (available at Whole Foods and AMAZING!!) and address some cards to loved ones.

But cut yourself some slack, remember the true meaning of Christmas and try to simply enjoy the moments while you can.

You have my permission to blow it off.  Until next year :)