'tis the season.

It never ceases to amaze me how I always begin the month of December with plans of quiet evenings at home and end it with something written on every evening of the month.


I’m a mess right now….

As of today there are only 10 shopping days left till Christmas and I have bought ZIP (except for a few minor things online). I really don’t even know where to begin because my children’s wish lists read something like this…

1. Please help our family have a wonderful Christmas together.
2. Please have snow on Christmas morning.
3. For you (Santa) to have a safe trip around the world.
4. A good X-mas for my BFF’s Callie, Livi, Jackie, and Allison.
5. A puppy.
6. A Laptop.
7. Clothes (Both kids included their size)

Thank-You, we like your reindeer and will leave carrots on the back porch. Please sign here after reading this X___________

Their letters read like they’re written to a Fairy God-Mother. I’ve gotten to the point that I am asking all their friends’ parents what they asked for, hoping that it gives me some ideas. It serves me right…I remember the frustration my parents had with me never being able to write a wish list. I have a feeling I will be standing in the middle of Target hyperventilating on Christmas eve…still not knowing what my children could possibly want. I also still need to shop for the extended family and friends….I had really good intentions of making all kinds of homemade gifts for my people this year, we'll see…I’ll share what I did later if I can get it all done!

We did get a day of baking in, this past weekend. It was so much fun and well worth the mess of having to sweep up flour multiple times…Is it possible to have an icing high?! The only problem was I didn’t get to make my favorites (peanut-butter kisses) because I forgot the kisses and wasn’t heading out again. I picked some up yesterday and am hoping to get in one more day of baking.

This time of year is just crazy…sometimes I just have to stop myself and ask if what I am working so hard to get done is really that important? I heard once that you should ask yourself if what is important right now will still be important to you in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years from now. So many times I have found that those “important” things aren’t even important 5 minutes from now.

What do you do to keep yourself balanced and composed during the crazy holiday season?