ugly Christmas Game Night + Nutcracker

How in the h e double l are we just a few days away from Christmas? It does not even seem possible. I am so glad I am ready so I can enjoy the coming days stress free. Well as stress free as I can get lol. I am always stressing about one thing or another. But I want to soak up these coming days with the kids. I wish I wasn't working all week to enjoy it a little bit more but momma's gotta make that money. haha. To celebrate Christmas we had our first party with our game night crew. Ya'll we had another amazing time. I can't tell you enough how blessed we are to have these people . I would be lost without these ladies especially. Being a wife let alone a fire wife is no joke and isn't for the faint of heart. It's nice to have close friends who get it. Any who,  We amped it up again this year with wearing ugly Christmas attire! I found the cutest ugly Christmas dress at Target. We did a gift exchange. Each couple brought 2 gifts..... one bad and one good! Oh my some of the bad gifts haha. Loved it. We ended up playing Speak out. Go get this game. It is awesome and so hilarious. If you haven't seen this game you can find it here! Had the best snaps from it too! I thought I was going to wet my pants lol!! Let's just say momma had a little too much fun because our dang elf forgot to move! I woke up Sunday in a panic and was hoping kids weren't up! Well, Mere was already downstairs! (Girl throws a fit during week to get out of bed but on weekends she is still up no later than 7 😩)! She asked why the elf didn't move. Option a was - momma had a little too much to drink or b- maybe the elf knew you and your brother's behavior hasn't been very good so she didn't want to tell Santa and is giving you a chance to do better! I went with B ! 😉

Sunday afternoon Mere and I had a much needed girl's day. We went and saw the Cincinnati Ballet's Nutcracker. We got there about a half hour prior to it starting. Nick dropped us off right out front. We got to our seats and had an amazing view of the stage. We could not have picked better seats. Mere told me at least 3 times thank you for taking her and could we do this again next year. I can't wait. I think this will be a yearly tradition for us. I was a little worried she would think it was boring. I was pleasantly surprised that she loved it. I did as well. It was my first time seeing the Nutcracker as well.

last minute Homemade Christmas ornaments

On Saturday (which was my bday) all I wanted to do during the day was make ornaments and cookies with the kids. I guess when you get older your choices change on how to celebrate lol. Anyway, I found these pretty handmade beaded ornaments here. To make things less stressful this Christmas season I even ordered the supplies from amazon! No having to fight the traffic and crowds at Michaels or Hobby Lobby!! It was super easy to do and the kids had fun.

Supplies:

4 mm x 7mm small pony beads  OR a bucket of these perler beads 

6mm x 9mm large pony beads  OR a bucket of these perler beads 

metal Christmas themed cookie cutters 

hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

bakers twine 

cookie sheet

parchment paper 

All we had to do was lay the beads inside the cookie cutters and bake for 15 minutes in the oven. Easy peasy!

After making the ornaments we baked our Christmas cookies. If you remember from this post I bought pre cut Christmas cookies from GFS! Holy crap was I super impressed and so glad we went this route. To bake you simply took the cookies from freezer to cookie sheet. Only had to bake for 10 minutes and once cool we decorated. These cookies are so yummy!! I will probably do this every Christmas.

I love doing things like making cookies and ornaments with the kids each year. I hope this is what they remember as they get older. Hope everyone has a merry and bright week leading up to Christmas!! It's a busy one 'round here. Mere has her Christmas program this week and lots of little things to do to get ready for the big day. We are celebrating Christmas Eve on Thursday and Christmas Day on Christmas Eve. The joys of being a fire family. Nick has to work Christmas day. I can't wait until Friday. We are going to surprise the kids with Polar Express tickets!! Nick and I are super excited for this too!!

xoxo,

Tracey

Christmas cookies and more

This is your friendly PSA! Run do not walk to you local GFS. You're asking why would I go there . Well upon asking friends and duh,  google, I found sugar cookies that are already pre cut in Christmas shapes . That's right friends these cookies only need popped in the oven to bake. Then they will be ready to decorate with your kids. I have tried buying the dough and using cookie cutters but they just never turn out right. Plus I am saving so much time and energy ya'll!! I can't believe I am just now discovering this!! I am super pumped to bake cookies Saturday with Mere and Max ! I told nick that's what I wanted to do for my birthday .... make cookies and ornaments in the } ! Oh and maybe have a coffee from Starbucks (hint hint Nick)! Then probably the hardest request I have for a gift from nick and the kids are good moods all weekend!! Hmm buying a gift may be easier ! What do ya'll think ?!

Does any one else have dreams of a slowed down Christmas season? One where you aren't running all over creation for this and that ? One where you can enjoy your kids more and not feel so stressed out ? It sounds like a Christmas miracle haha. But I am trying to be more intentional during the coming days leading up until Christmas . I don't want to lose my cool 10 times a day and yell at my kids constantly. I really do this when I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed . So to cut down on this my goal was to have all of my Christmas shopping done by my birthday . This is a yearly goal. Most of the time I come close. This year I will have it all done except getting a gift card and trying to still find the hubby a Nintendo Nes along with everyone else who wants one ! I still need to wrap . I have plans of doing this in spurts . Wrap a few here and there . I also want to make ornaments with the kiddos so instead of running to a crowded Hobby Lobby or Michaels I ordered my supplies from Amazon ! Time saved! No driving in the horrid traffic to Florence or Newport. I know I am behind the times when it comes to clickList from Kroger where you can order you groceries online and schedule a pick up time. I think Christmas week sounds like the perfect time to test this baby out. I have already made my list. Just waiting to schedule since it is over a week out. The last thing I want to do after working all week next week is spend hours at the grocery. No thanks! Problem solved.

I mean talk about the perfect way to grocery shop!!

So tell me what are some of your ways to make this time less stressful and put more cheer in your eggnog ?