Right now, everything is digital, and we send emails and texts back and forth constantly. So this time of year, I love to send paper Christmas cards. It brings me so much joy to receive Christmas cards, so I love sending them too. This year, we ordered our Christmas cards early in November, so the hardest part of the process was deciding what picture we wanted on the card. We went with Minted again and love how they turned out! After work it’s nice to sit on the couch with Jake and write Christmas cards out to our friends and family together. I started to frame a card from each Christmas to have on display, and I love looking back at our previous years. It’s one of my favorite holiday traditions that I make time for each year, and I love having these memories to look back on year after year!
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A few years ago, I started baking large batches of cookies as a simple (and inexpensive) Christmas gift for my coworkers. What began as a gift for a few coworkers has now grown into a full 12-hour day dedicated to baking and packaging enough treats for everyone on my list. This year, I briefly considered skipping it because of how big the project has become—but cookie requests started rolling in as early as October!
On Sunday, I spent the entire day in the kitchen, putting my KitchenAid mixer to work and baking batch after batch of cookies. Every minute was worth it when I got to school and handed out the bags of homemade treats. It takes some preparation, but it’s such an easy and joyful way to spread holiday cheer. There is still time to do some baking for friends, coworkers, or family! Do a variety of cookies or keep it simple with the classic chocolate chip! No matter what you choose, it’s gonna be a hit!
I love kicking off every December with a to-do list. It might seem like an odd way to welcome the holiday season, but with so much packed into one month, a little planning goes a long way. Organizing my schedule helps ensure there’s actually time to slow down—time to sit by the decorated tree and watch Christmas movies. A few years ago, I realized that when I’m intentional about how I spend my days, I can create all the Christmas magic and enjoy the season without feeling overwhelmed. Everyone’s December looks different, and that’s perfectly okay!
Decorate your home, one space at a time. Don’t put pressure on yourself to do the whole thing overnight! I like to pick a space to decorate after work and just do a little bit at a time.
Wear those Christmas pajamas. There is just something cozy about wearing my Christmas red and plaid in December.
Christmas movies. We try to watch one a night, even if it’s on the TV in the background.
Christmas cards. We order a batch from minted.com to send to our families, but I also hand out cute Christmas cards to coworkers and friends!
Christmas Village. Every year, Philly shows off during December with the Christmas Village and the tree in Rittenhouse Park. After work, we will walk around the city, and it feels like a Hallmark movie.
Bake cookies. Each year, I bake a ton of cookies and give them to coworkers. I start to get cookie requests in November, and it’s something we all look forward to!
Volunteer. This year, we donated food to a neighborhood food pantry, and it’s an easy way to give back. We volunteer at a toy drive every year, and it’s so rewarding.
Christmas sheets. It’s something new I have been doing lately, and it totally gets me into the Christmas mood!
Tree in the bedroom. Last year, I put a tree in our bedroom with just lights on and now I love crawling into bed with the tree on at night.
It’s time!!!!!!!! Let’s get our gift shopping done early this year so we can enjoy the holiday season without the last minute running around. Here are some of my favorite gift ideas for everyone on your list. Be sure to come back, as I will be updating this post throughout the holidays with more gift ideas!
Perfect gift for the friends who join you for happy hours or that coworker who you have trauma bonded with all year. Have a holiday party to go to and need a hostess gift? The martini candles are perfect! Pair one of these with a good bottle and you’re good to go!
As I get older, I love to receive gifts for our home that we can both enjoy. The iced coffee maker is a great, inexpensive gift that we use all the time. Everyone in my family gets a tree-scented candle for Christmas, and it’s always a big hit! Make a theme gift with a popcorn bucket, some popcorn, and candy to use all together. Being an adult means you get excited about a new knife set and this one works great and looks chic on our counter. The towel warmer was a wedding present, and now I don’t know how I went without one!
Finding the perfect gift for her is hard because I want one of everything too! Here are some of my go-to gifts that will be great for her and perfect for your wish list too!
Shopping for him means a mix of things he needs and things he wants. As soon as those temperatures hit below 60 degrees, my husband went digging in his closet to dig up the slippers I got him a few years ago and they are a hit every time I swap them out for a new pair. For the guy who loves to call himself an athlete, he will love this light-up football with his friends. I’m constantly stealing my husband’s Theragun massage gun because it is that good. If your guy spends a lot of time outside especially during the winter months, the solo stove fire pit is a must have! It’s easy to start and doesn’t take up that much room in the backyard. If your guy has a passion for cooking, treat him to a kitchen gadget like a pizza oven. The easy peasy gift for those sport fans is a sports team Yeti. Fill it up with a matching team t shirt or a pair of socks and it’s a guaranteed hit!
Sending out our Christmas cards every year was one of my favorite traditions growing up. It was always a process though… get dressed up in coordinating outfits with my brother, find the perfect location, take photos, get cards ordered, write a personalized message on each card, address cards, seal ’em, and put a stamp on it before dropping them off at the Post Office. Did I mention, that my mom did all of this while working a full-time job and she got them out in early December??? Now as I sit down to order our Christmas cards, write a personalized message on each card, and go to the Post Office to buy stamps because who has them these days to then address them and bring them back to the Post Office to mail out — I have a lot more appreciation for what my mom did for decades to get these cards out on time!
A lot of hard work went on behind the scenes to get these cards delivered, but the looks on people’s faces when they got one, were worth every minute I stayed up past midnight to write on each card. Let this be a reminder to bring Christmas cards back because they are a part of the Christmas magic that makes the holiday season so special.
PS – Ordering cards from Minted was the easiest part of this process. Finding time to write on them and get them out was because I needed to plan better LOL
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Baking around Christmas is my favorite tradition! There’s just something magical about making batches of cookies and making the whole house smell like a gingerbread house. Over the years, I started to pack up cookies and give them to friends and family. What began as a few cookies in a plastic ziplock bag, has turned into a very large production that takes hours of baking and taking over the dining room to turn it into a cookie assembly and distribution center.
This year is busier than most and I was thinking of not baking this year or at least not going as big as I usually did. Until people started asking when the cookies were coming and making sure their Snickerdoodle cookies would be included this year. I realized that one long (very long) night on my end where I’m up until the early morning baking, is a small price to pay for the joy when someone receives a cookie package.
If you have a small budget or are looking to spread Christmas cheer to your friends or coworkers, maybe a cookie package is the right gift for you. Below is my list of cookies and sweets that make the list every year. This year I’m being kind to my body and breaking up the baking in two days so be sure to plan ahead! I like to get cute boxes and packaging at Homegoods or TJ Maxx to make the cookie packages a little more special. Or if you want to keep it simple, I have put cookies in a ziplock bag with a cute holiday cocktail napkin.
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