Friday Faves

Friday Favorites from the most wonderful time of the year...

 1. 

I put together Parker's teacher gifts this week, and I adore them! He has six different teachers at his preschool that we wanted to buy for, so I wanted to keep the price for each one reasonable. I was so excited to see the Spode Christmas Tree oven mitts on sale at Kohl's for half of what I normally see them going for! You can still find them on sale here. I own two of the Spode Christmas tree mitts and love, love, love them. For the presents, I combined the oven mitts with bamboo kitchen utensils from Target. They come in packs of three, which worked out perfectly since I needed six (I purchased two packs and used the utensils as singles). I'm hoping the teachers enjoy the mitts just as much as I do!

Spode Oven Mitt

2. 

Speaking of teachers, we are so thankful for them! Parker's preschool is outdoor based and nontraditional (so we don't get very many papers or projects sent home), but my Mama heart was so happy to get these yesterday!

Here's more from this little guy (Q&A idea swiped from Little Baby Garvin because I thought it was so adorable!)

1. What is on your Christmas list? 

My Christmas list is, I need a big bed and a red dinosaur, I really been wanting that red dinosaur. And a twenty-four-hour clock.

2. What is the best part about Christmas?

Track 18 (which is Frosty the Snowman on the Michael Bublé Christmas CD we have been listening to in the car).

3. Where does Santa live?

In the North Pole.

4. What are the names of Santa's reindeer?

Red nose reindeer. 

5. What do you think Santa's favorite food is?

Chocolate. Chocolate cookies.

6. What will Santa bring Mommy and Daddy for Christmas?

You want an Apple watch!

3.

We've been keeping up with our advent calendar for daily holiday related activities...

Most of these were just saved from last year, so I'm planning on storing them and reusing for as many years as I can!

Since the Q-tip painting was such a hit, we painted more paper Christmas trees but this time with pom poms and clothespins (which made bigger "ornaments").

 4.

 

Each December, I usually display the Christmas cards we receive by pinning them on ribbon that's either wrapped around our staircase or framing a window, but this year I was feeling more minimalist. I blame The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - it's a must-read if you haven't already, and will inspire you to have the cleanest most organized home possible.

Anyway, instead of making a big display, I've been doing what I usually wait until January to do: I've been hole punching our cards as we receive them, and binding them with loose-leaf rings to make a book. Our card goes in the front as the cover. I've been doing this for years now, and I love bringing the books out each December and looking back on years past. Of course each year my stash gets a bit bigger so I'm not sure how sustainable it is, however it's working for now!

I also have a book going just for Parker. Each December, I add our Christmas card from that year, with the idea being that he'll one day have a collection of all our cards. The first card in the book is the one we sent out when I was pregnant, and this year he's just obsessed with it and how he was "in Mommy's tummy!"

5.

Yesterday I wrote about the Ornament Swap party I attended for Junior League. We played Secret Santa style, and you know the gift you brought is a good one when it's stolen the maximum number of times!

My gift was this ornament from Nordstrom, mostly because "y'all" is officially part of my vocabulary now that I'm a Southerner ;) It was stolen in the game the very last time from my Provisional Chair (who has been an amazing help to me with the league this year), so today I ordered her one of her own as a holiday gift. Order here through Ebates right now and you'll get 6% cash back on all Nordstrom items! (On a side note, tons of our Christmas shopping was done via Ebates this year and I feel so efficient! Instead of a random site getting the commission for advertising, it all comes back to me - score!).

Wishing you all the coffee with extra whip this Friday!