A Simple Christmas: decor & gifting...

Hey y'all! Are you enjoying the holiday season as much as I am? Well, a certain adorable baby is making it a whole lot more fun around here. Even though she's still tiny, somehow the holiday has so much more meaning to me... I can't wait to make memories and start new traditions with our little family! I'm also super excited to be back in the Midwest this time of year! It was so very odd to be celebrating the holidays in flip-flops the last two years.

I'm not sure if it's an "I have a 5mo old" thing or not, but time is flyyyyying by! I can't even believe that Christmas is only 10 days away! I finally got a few bits of decor up around here. Since most of our stuff is in storage in my parent's basement since the move back from Cali, we're keeping it low-key this year. I also got a few gifts wrapped last night and a craft or two done... whew.

The biggest thing on my mind as I plan our new little family's Christmas this year, is the meaning we really want to give it for Lovebug and for our future children. I don't want it to be this big materialistic, comercialized holiday, void of the REAL reasons we celebrate. I also don't want to ignore the fun that can be had with 'ol St. Nick and what goes along with that. So, finding a balance early on in our traditions is really important to me. Bri and I have decided that since baby Jesus recieved 3 gifts, that's a good place to start for our kiddos too. There's plenty of Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles to spoil our kids, and in this house we really want it to be simple and special.

In keeping with that theme, I strived to do mostly homemade gifts for our family this year too. They were either made by me, a small shop owner, or had significant meaning to the person receiving the gift. We even ordered our Christmas card from a Mom-blogger's shop, who sent the proceeds to a family adopting a sweet little boy. It feels good to keep it simple, and I'm praying that it will continue this way.

Take some time and enjoy the season y'all!