Defrost Michael Buble – GAME FACES ON!

Y’all it is our Super Bowl! Christmas time :)!

I am going to be sharing a ton of my Christmas tips, tricks, traditions, ideas, tutorials, etc. over the next few months – walking y’all through my mindset – crazy as it is!  Right now is time to get a few things knocked off our to do list before all the good stuff is sold out, K? Let’s go through my list!

• The good wrapping and ribbon are some of the first things to sell out each year. I mean, can you relate to hitting up Walmart the week of Christmas and only having Elmo or some random sports team paper to choose from?  Well let’s get ahead of that!  I wrap the same every year – just changing a few things up.  Back when Bree was a baby, I decided to only use brown kraft paper every year for Christmas.  I accidentally ordered a HUGE JUMBO roll of paper – like the size they use in the mall!  SO I have not bought wrapping paper since then – it is awesome. I just change up ribbon and tags every year, sometimes even just writing cute on the paper itself.  It has saved me money and the kids remember it every year.  When we go to our family celebrations, they know which presents are from us :).  This tradition has actually become quite the relief off my Christmas to do list – every year I know that I have my paper and can check that box. I have fun finding a few new ribbons and perusing Etsy for cheap custom tags.  Maybe you love wrapping paper or maybe you need to streamline something – totally up to you :). Ribbon is everywhere right now, but it won’t be for long – at least the really cute and fun ones.  So I try to find my ribbon for presents as well as decor early in November so I have the best selection.  Ribbon is something you can use year to year too! My mother in law taught me that many years ago when I watched her picking up all the ribbon from the wrapping piles aftermath and she would just roll them up nicely to use again – BRILLIANT! The same for decor – just take care of it and it can last you for a LONG time. Most of my ribbon is older than Bree :). If you like to shop in person – start keeping your eyes open for ribbon that you love.  I also found tons on Amazon that I will share at the bottom of this post – I also included a couple links for brown paper too!

• I am all about the small things when it comes to holidays.  The small things that we don’t realize at the time that make a big impact.  One thing I have always done is holiday paper goods.  I have a family of 5 and we are going all the time – I use paper plates, plastic forks and spoons, and plastic cups for pretty much every thing. SO for Christmas I always buy a bunch of fun Christmas themed products for us to use the last two months of the year :). It is just a small change but the kids love it – and so do I!  I buy to go coffee cups too – the kids LOVE hot chocolate in them.  It takes a few minute to order some online or stop at Walmart or Target and pick them up.  Homegoods and TJ Maxx always has fun stuff too – especially napkins.  In the link below, I saved lots of options – I can’t decide what I am going to do just yet!
• One thing my mom passed on to me was her love for Christmas movies.  THE BROWNS LOVE THEM. That is probably one of the things the kids most look forward to is me letting them finally bust out the movies! I have a special trunk I keep them in – it even smells a certain way :).  From pretty much November 1st on – Christmas movies are the only thing we play on our TVs.  And don’t even get me started on my love for Hallmark movies!!!! I stay up way too late every night watching – I can’t help it :).  I saved many of our favorites in the link below.  I can’t tell you the joy we have in watching movies together with popcorn and cocoa with cozy blankets – even the boys love it.  Totally worth the spend and you will have them forever!

Here is a link to my Amazon “Holiday Prep” list – check it out for these items I mentioned :). These are all small things, that don’t cost too much, that your family will remember forever – check those boxes and enjoy yourself too!!!