CHRISTMAS FAVORITES 2022

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Aren't we all so excited about the holiday season! Yes, there's always the slight panic of forgetting a gift for that teacher or cousin, the last minute run to the grocery store for ice, or maybe the homemade cranberry sauce burned and it's another trip to the grocery store for canned cranberry sauce... but all of that becomes a blur as you see a child's face light up and later remember the wonderful memories made with family.

We can all agree that sometimes celebrations can get out of hand, threatening some of the simple joys of Christmas. I love Christmas time so much and grew up celebrating big time! My husband loves it too, but maybe not to the extent that I do. Last year I made him a Buddy the Elf costume to wear on Christmas day, and the prior year I did a couple of paintings for our house (so much fun!). We've tried to hit a happy medium with celebrations since being married. That sounds funny after my last sentence about the Elf costume, but this really is holding back a little for me! We both love a live tree; I love decorating the house and he likes helping me and watching my excitement build as it gets closer to Christmas.

Our families are large, like very large! Michael is one of nine children and I am one of four. Most are married with children of their own, so family get togethers are a little wild and always so fun! Combined there are over 35 people between our two families, so we've had to become a bit more creative in gifting over the years.

One of our favorite ways of helping to simplify the holidays is drawing names for Christmas gifts. Each of our families sets up a drawing between the kids and all the nieces and nephews. Parents are left out since we all like to pick out gifts for them and they love to get all of their grandchildren gifts. By doing it this way we're able to get a few people nicer gifts instead of spreading our budget across gifts for all family members. If you're interested, we use the DrawNames app. It allows you to create wish lists and set rules for the drawing so that people in the same household can't draw each other.

So I thought some of you might like to see what's on my wish list this year!

Click the pictures below for links

And of course there's the one item that is on my list every year without fail... my Lilly Pulitzer agenda. I know it's old school, but I just love a good handwritten note and schedule, and these are my favorite way to keep track of it all! I love the colors, the layout of each week and the overall format, which makes them a win for me!