So yes, I have been busy lately. Hasn’t everyone? Especially with Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, hiding & wrapping presents, etc…
Matties Medicinals has been doing great! I have made and shipped so many orders and I think this week has been the first week that I actually didn’t ship any new kits. But that’s okay as it gives me time to get some Christmas things done. Probably not as much as I would have liked, but that’s always how it works, isn’t it?
How can Christmas be just 4 days away already!? December has gone by so quickly! We finally got our new computer in a couple weeks ago so blog-writing and business invoices are so much easier now. I’m sad my old computer died but it ended up dying at the perfect time to get a new computer with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. P.S. For some of my favorite places and apps to shop with, visit my “My Favorite Ways to Save” page HERE!
I decided since I have neglected my followers for long enough (almost a month since a blog post-wowza!), I needed to write something with a short update and what we are doing for Christmas this year, so here it is!
So this year, with three kids and to make it more affordable, I decided I was going to try to stick with the popular “Want, Need, Wear, Read” gift giving. For those who don’t know, this means gifts include “something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.” This would keep gifts to a minimum and focus mainly on things they need and not all kinds of random presents. It is also easier for me to keep things organized and figure out what each child is getting.
For instance, for “something they want,” my 4-yr old is getting a bigger blanket for her bed that she wanted. Genevieve loves the silk-edged blankets and her baby blanket has lasted her 4 years already! Don’t worry, she has always had bigger blankets to use but she loves the silk edge. I found THIS at a super affordable price on Amazon and it’s perfect and she will love it. Lil Matthew, our 2 year-old, is getting a tool box and tool set so he can be a mechanic like Daddy, and the baby is getting some bath toys.
“Something they need” include new sandals for Genevieve this year. She desperately needed new sandals for church during the week and kept asking for them. Her old sandals had lasted about two years and were actually duck-taped so I found THESE super cute ones on sale on Amazon. Lil M is getting a little set of Hot Wheels type cars and car hauler so he can put his cars in it. It’s more of a mixture of want/need for him but he didn’t really need anything and my husband is probably going to like it just as much as he does, haha. Gabbie is only 10 months so I think her need is mixed with something to wear since she needed new dresses for church. I don’t think she will care anyway as she would rather play with wrapping paper anyway.
“Something to wear” and “something to read” were the easiest categories for me to figure out. Genevieve and Lil M got new pajamas that they need for when they stay with my parents while we are on vacation in a few months. My kids aren’t normally pajama wearers but they are also good for the freezing cold nights here since they don’t like to keep their blankets on. Like I said before, Gabbie got new, super cute dresses from Amazon. They were super affordable too! They all got new books for the “something to read” category. Some were from Usborne since my sister-in-law sells it and they each also got one from Ross. Genevieve also got some more preschool workbooks since she LOVES doing those!
P.S. Ross is AMAZING for Christmas gifts! I found most of our Christmas gifts there for super affordable prices since they sell all kinds of things at a huge discount compared to department stores. Ross is one of my favorite places to shop for anything and everything for this reason. I got something for my husband for $5.49 that was originally $55! Saving money gets me excited if you can’t tell! If you haven’t checked out Ross before, I would highly recommend checking them out in the future and especially next year for Christmas gifts!
So there are some of the things we are doing for gifts for the kids for Christmas. Of course, we weren’t able to stick with it 100% as my husband bought something else for them like he usually does when he goes into any store, ha. They are also getting a couple presents in their stockings. Some of the stocking stuffers include some Camelback type kid’s water bottles that were $12.97 at normal stores but only $3.99 and $2.99 at Ross! They are also getting alphabet and number cards that were super cheap at Five Below. I rarely, if ever, buy candy so they are getting these type of more useful items instead of sugar. They don’t know most people get candy in their stockings anyway and they won’t care so it works out great for everyone!
Gifts for my husband are a whole other different story. He thinks everything he wants is something he needs so there is no way to stick with the 4 gifts with him. I can’t say what he is getting on here since he “might” read it but I can say he is getting a few hilarious gifts, a few very useful gifts, and a mixture of the two. He is getting things to wear that are also hilarious and he is also getting things he actually needs. But he always deserves many gifts because of all the hard work he does so it is hard to stick with just a few gifts for him. I found good deals on just about all of the presents he got though thanks to Ross, Amazon, and coupons & Christmas deals at a couple other stores so it’s all worth it.
I can’t wait until they open all of their gifts on Christmas morning! Speaking of Christmas, there are a few traditions we do leading up to Christmas. Some of these traditions are new this year and some we don’t have the room for or forgot about…oops.
So if anyone is following me on Instagram and Facebook, you know that I couldn’t find my Christmas box with our Christmas stockings and Advent calendar in it earlier this month! I was stressing out since that box contained some of my favorite Christmas things! Thankfully, I found it earlier this week and it’s been great since the kids love doing the Advent calendar every day. We just got it last year from my sister who found it at the house we grew up in.
That same box included the Christmas stockings I made for my two oldest kids. I was freaking out since I couldn’t find them since it took hundreds of hours to make these stockings! I decided after our first was born that I was going to cross-stitch a Christmas stocking for each child with their name that they can hopefully keep forever. I like cross-stitching and learned to cross-stitch in the 3rd grade with one of my favorite teachers. It’s also one of the only things I’m kinda good at, haha. A lot of work goes into each stocking and although I’m totally not creative enough to come up with a design myself and use a kit, it takes me many months, if not years, to get them finished. Each child has had theirs done by their second Christmas though. (Not sure how long that will be the case, haha.)
So as you can see, I was a bit worried that they had gotten thrown away or something since I couldn’t find them. We asked St. Anthony for help and others even asked him to help us find them as well! I looked in the attic so many times and every other place I could think of to find the box. Finally, last Monday morning I had a dream that they were next to the rail of our second floor. They weren’t there but it made me go in the attic for the 5th time and look again. I looked through each box and finally found them under some trash in a box for the jewelry box I got last year. I don’t know how they ended up there but I’m so glad I found them! St. Anthony came through again!
Usually, we also have an Advent wreath which has candles that get lit during every dinner meal. This year we didn’t have room for it anywhere though since it is kind of big and I decided we will just have to get something smaller for future Christmases. I didn’t even bother getting it out of it’s box this year.
Instead, we started a new tradition. Dawn with All Things Count, my blogger friend and friend in real-life, wrote an awesome POST about all kinds of Christmas activities leading up to Christmas. She had so many great suggestions of simple things to do with kids and one of them was this Jesse Tree from Amazon. The pastor at our church just talked about doing a Jesse Tree with the kids right around the same time so I thought it would be awesome to do. Then Dawn actually ended up accidentally ordering an extra and was kind enough to gift it to us so our kids could enjoy it too. We are grateful and the kid’s love putting their magnet on the tree everyday and reading the passages.
So there you go, there are some of the gifts we are doing this year and some of the Christmas traditions we are trying to keep up with! I find that the traditions seem more important as the children get older so they have something to look forward to during the Advent season leading up to Christmas.
Christmas day is a whirlwind of busy activities. Usually, my husband serves midnight Mass, then we get up in the morning and the kids open their presents. Then this year, I think we are going to my parent’s house since they get everyone presents and then we are going to my husband’s family’s home for Christmas dinner (we did Thanksgiving dinner with my family this year so we switch off) and the gift exchange there. I guess you can say I’ve reached that point in adulthood where I actually enjoy watching others open their gifts and get excited more than opening whatever gifts I might get.
Is there anything you do special for the Advent season or any special Christmas traditions you and your family have?
I hope you have a blessed and joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!
