How I Celebrate and Prep for Christmas

Hello! Hello! 

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week and are getting ready for the holidays. We are in the final stretch to the big day. One sure sign that Christmas is coming, is lots of snow….

Here’s a look at my view this weekend. Snow, snow, and more snow!

Besides the holidays, I have also been getting ready for a family wedding this weekend. There’s so much to celebrate over the next few weeks. My fiance visited this past weekend and we had so much fun together, from cooking, and baking and watching holiday classics. It was such a good weekend with each other.

We spent lots of time in the kitchen, this is his famous Sunday sauce!

We are in the midst of Christmas prepping and planning. 

Plus, relaxing too!

If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, I have some advice and tips for how to make the big things smaller and more manageable, plus I’m also sharing how I get into the holiday spirit.

Let’s begin with the fun! How do I get in the holiday spirit?

I always start thinking about Christmas and the holidays after Thanksgiving. I start to incorporate little ways to bring the Christmas spirit alive.

Christmas Bucket List- I start the holiday season off by making my Christmas Bucket List. This is a list of things I want to accomplish or ideas I have to make the holiday season more jolly. I shared my holiday bucket list with you a few weeks ago, but here it is again in case you need some holiday ideas or inspiration for things to do over the next few weeks.

Wear all the Holiday Apparel- Now is the time of year to bring out the Christmas jammies, Ugly Christmas sweaters, and graphic t-shirts. I do my best to wear all my Christmas and festive clothes through the month of December.

Festive shirts

And Jammies

Swap Out Christmas glasses and mugs- Who doesn’t love their warm drinks to be extra festive?! I love to use all my Christmas mugs, my seasonal Starbucks cups, and holiday plates and napkins. Feel festive when enjoying sweet treats and drinks. 

Bring out the seasonal scents- Whether it’s an air freshener or a Christmas candle, take advantage of this time of year and enjoy all the soothing scents of pine, cinnamon, Christmas cookies, and more with your favorite scents. I also like to take this time to swap out my body wash, lotion, and spray for the month of December.

We love a holiday candle

and seasonal scents

Do your Decorating- We always decorate our house the day after Christmas, so our home has been decorated for a while. I love to decorate and go all out for the holidays, but you don’t have to. Decorate as little or as much as you want to.

That’s how I get into the Christmas spirit. Now, when it comes to prepping for the holidays and gift giving.

Here’s my method for gift giving. Hint: It involves a lot of lists!

-Make your list and set your budget- I like to come up with my list of people to buy for and then set amounts for each person and come up with possible ideas. I typically do this on my phone so I always have it handy when I am at home or out and about.

-Organize gifts by how you plan to get them-After I have my list made of who I want to buy for, I will make a separate list of where I can get the gifts from (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, gift cards). This helps with batch shopping so I can use my time wisely when shopping and don’t need to make trips to the same store multiple times. I like to do this on paper, but you can do it on your phone in the same note too. I also make a list of cards I need to write. 

My gifts ready to go!

-Check things off- I use different emojis for the status of the gifts, a check when ordered, a pad once arrived, and a present after it’s wrapped. This helps me keep track of the status of my gifts.

Enjoy the season! The most important thing to remember when getting in the holiday spirit and when gift giving is to remember the reason for the season and to give back. It’s so easy to get caught up in the to-do lists and crazinesses of the holiday season that sometimes, we forget what’s important. I hope this is a good reminder to enjoy the season too. I’m off to do some last minute holiday prep, but I will see you back here on Friday!