1. We are on the cusp of Christmas! Are you ready? We are… not quite ready yet. Still need to grab more wrapping paper (and tape!) and have a few last-minute gifts to finish up. I’ve barely done any baking, but I’m ready to officially kick off the holiday tomorrow!

2. There is a large Christmas light display not too far from our house and we had been thinking it would be fun to take the kids. It opens at 6pm, so on Wednesday night we ate an early dinner, got the kids changed into pajamas, loaded up travel mugs of hot chocolate and decaf coffee, and off we went! Well… Dominic fell asleep before we even got there and Isabelle screamed THE ENTIRE TIME. Literally. Crazy enough, she was sitting right.next to Dominic and he never even stirred (and he’s our light sleeper). But! Joseph love, love, loved the lights, he was mesmerized, which made the trip worth it :)

3. Joseph had his school Christmas party on Wednesday and I volunteered to help. It was so much fun to see him with his friends and all of the kids having a good time. However! Now I completely understand why these kids are sick ALL THE TIME. My goodness, so many kids coughing, sneezing, runny noses, sheesh. I wanted to bathe in hand sanitizer when I left lololol. Also! He had a Christmas concert on Monday at school and we were SO proud of him! He loved learning all of the songs, and he was an awesome shepherd :)

4. Super exciting announcement!! Starting in January I am going to be hosting a monthly Bake-Along! On the first Monday of the month I’m going to share a recipe from my own baking bucket list that I’ve made and gotten juuuuuuuust right, along with tons of step-by-step photos and a video, and I would looooooove for you all to bake it along with me that month! We’ll have a hashtag for social and ways to share your photos with me; I thought it would be so much fun to tackle some new recipes together :) The first one will be posted on Monday, January 7th, so stay tuned!

5. So, I don’t know anything about enneagrams, but I saw someone post this on Instagram the other day and it only took me 3.2 seconds to realize I’m a 1… see: Lists. Routines are life. Organizing for fun. “Why did you load the dishwasher like that?”

6. Do you bake to relieve stress? Enjoyed this article >> The Rise of Anxiety Baking

7. Speaking of stress, really enjoyed this since I have felt behind on EVERYTHING this year, even though I got our Christmas cards ordered earlier than usual! >> Secrets of People Who Don’t Get Stressed During the Holidays

8. I absolutely adore Christmas music, but I was a little bummed when the SiriusXM Billy Joel channel got switched over to holiday music, I was LOVING it. I’ve adored his music since I was in high school, and I love hearing some of the back story to certain song lyrics.

9. Finally, I’d love to hear about your plans for the holidays! What are you going to eat? Are you making anything or just partaking? What’s on your cookie trays?

10. TGIF! I hope you have the best and brightest holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!!