Had a wonderful Thanksgiving and then got horribly ill the next day. All I can say is, I am soooo thankful I got sick the next day because I was still able to taste all the yummy food I made on Thanksgiving. Yay! and I have tons of leftovers in the freezer for when I can taste again.
I had huge plans for this past weekend, but I spent most of it curled up on the couch having hot flashes and then shivering when I threw off the blankets.
But, still determined to be awesome (even when I’m sick) I managed to pull together some new Christmas traditions. I’m sharing two of them today.
First…Elf on the Shelf. Do it. It’s awesome. I’ve been seeing that little elf all year on Pinterest. It takes zero effort. You can google or search Pinterest for ideas. Hundreds of ideas! Most take like a minute or two to do. Five minutes if you want to “go all out”.
Our little elf showed up November 30, and we promptly named him Jingles. He’s a naughty little elf. You can follow me on Instagram if you want to see Jingles’ hijinks. My kids are so excited to wake up and find out what he did while they were sleeping. They run into my room and tell me what he did. It’s the cutest thing in the world.
I love seeing the excitement and wonder in their eyes. Childhood should be fun. I’m happy I can help make it special for them, even though they have no idea that I have a hand in it.
Second…wrap up 24 holiday books. I would say 24 Christmas books, but we don’t own that many so I included some wintery ones, and some that just remind us of the holiday season. This is where those “collection of stories” books really come in handy. I tagged the holiday stories with little post-its. And two rolls of wrapping paper from the Dollar Tree were enough to wrap all of them. Since bedtime is sometimes a struggle, whoever gets ready first (teeth brushed, jammies, etc) gets to pick the wrapped book we’ll open and read that night. It’s really helped with the night routine.
Bam! Total cost: 15 minutes and $2. And my kids now race to get ready for bedtime. Worth every penny. 😉
I almost forget to wrap up all the books, but I saw photos from MellySews and DeliaCreates on Instagram that totally reminded me a few nights ago to do this. Those gals are awesome. 🙂
So, here’s my question for you. What new or old traditions are you doing this year?