Just a quick post today to share a few scenes from around our Christmas home! With the way our house is laid out – one main open room on the first floor, so only a few walls and corners – we just don’t have that many surfaces to decorate. While our nativity may be clustered around our TV instead of luxuriating on a foyer table or piano top, I think this year more than ever we made the most of what we do have. Come on in! Before we step inside, let’s pause on the porch. I envisioned Christmas wreaths on our front gates before they were even built and they live up to all my dreams! Wreaths are from Trader Joe’s and the bows are from Etsy. Our cheery red front door never shines more than at Christmas. Wreath is from Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm and the bow is from Etsy. My beloved Advent calendar! These cardboard gingerbread houses were a very fun after-school project last week! I cut shapes from a delivery box and we all used white paint and white paint pens to add detail. The paint pens made it easy to achieve an elegant look even for our five year old. We didn’t trust Annie with them, but she had fun going to town with the white paint – the kids decided her houses were in the midst of a snowstorm, ha. Popping a few bows in unexpected places was a new addition this year. We had a German Christmas pyramid growing up and it was one of my very favorite decorations. I asked for the exact same one as a gift the first year we were in our house – this is it! The tablecloth is from HomeGoods. All dressed up for Articles Club

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, friends! I wanted to pop in and share our Christmas card before the big day passes us by. As always, we chose a design from Minted, though this is the first year in 9 years (!) that they were not a gift! The PR gal I’ve always worked with has moved on, and I didn’t have it in me to complete the rigamarole (posting, custom codes, stories, reels!) they ask influencers to do these days :) Regardless, I never considered a card from another option – the quality is beautiful and the designs are perfect. Here’s what we chose this year! I’ll confess that I felt a bit scattered when sending our card to print, and didn’t include the names and ages of our children, the year, a piece of scripture, or a few additional photos on the back as I usually do – yeesh. Of course, names and ages are on our accompanying newsletter, but I like to have them on the card, too, in case they get separated in posterity. This year, we opted to use the photo we snapped on Easter in our backyard in lieu of a photo session. It was an expensive year (ahem, kitchen, I’m looking at you), and it just seemed to make sense to go with a beautiful photo we already had! And then, of course, we tucked a copy of our 2022 newsletter into each envelope: I am seriously considering moving to an old-school narrative newsletter on folded, white 8.5×11 printer paper next year. Thoughts?! Would you find it weird if you got one in the mail? These types of missives used to be ubiquitous in the cards my family received growing up, and I loved reading them. And I’d be following in a proud family

Christmas week is here, friends! I hope you’re feeling calm, joyful, and expectant. (And hey – I know the socially-appropriate response to a sentence like that is probably to laugh nervously, as if the idea of being calm and joyful this week is preposterous and what do I even mean with an expectation like that? But I also know that if you’re here, you just might be feeling calm this week! You probably work hard at setting boundaries and choosing what matters most and saying no to the rest. And if you’re not feeling particularly calm nor joyful going into this week, it’s not too late to adjust your plans or expectations. After all, this is a season of exceeding great joy (and peace, and hope, and love). I’m praying all of those things for you right now!) I am feeling good about Christmas prep. My only minor stress right now is coming from blog posts I want to write and a video for one special boy I want to edit before the end of the year, but I am reminding myself those are self-imposed deadlines. Christmas cards have been sent, gifts have been purchased, teacher gifts have been given, wrapping has begun, gingerbread houses have been constructed, lights have been seen. This week, we’re doing more wrapping (with friends, tonight!), we’re making peanut butter balls, we’re giving gifts to our garbage and recycling guys, and we’re packing for our Connecticut trip, among a few other things. And we’re just trying to enjoy each other, always. As they have for the last nine years (!), Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards (even though I am probably the worst influencer they have on the books, seeing as I’m sharing this on December 20th instead of November 15th or whenever

We’ve been home every weekend in November thus far, and after a hectic second half of September and October, it has felt absurdly luxurious. It’s allowed me to take the holidays slow, as I wrote in my November goals post, which is just as I like it. For the most part, I try to keep Christmas in December, but there are a few things I like to do in November to set myself up for a peaceful and joyful Advent. If you’re curious, here they are! Prettiest Christmas decor from one of my favorites, Sweet Shady Lane! 1. I order our Christmas cards. I usually save the stuffing, addressing, and stamping until the first week of December or so (it’s cozy to do in front of the fire with a Christmas movie on!), but I order our cards and send our newsletter to print in November so they’re ready when I am. Can’t wait for you to see this year’s choice! (From Minted, of course — little peek at our family session here!). 2. I plan our calendar. There are several pieces to this: — I confirm any dates we’ll have houseguests, or that we’ll be traveling. I make sure we’re clear on holiday plans for both sides of the family.— We decide where we’re going to go for our end-of-year celebration dinner and make a reservation. Weekends in December book up fast! So do babysitters!!— I look up the dates of any “external” holiday activities we want to do and make sure they’re on our calendar. For us, this includes a concert we go to every year, our town’s Christmas parade, and often a Nutcracker performance. I have also been known to proactively text friends who usually host things in December (like a caroling party) to check on the