Day Three: Tips/Tricks for a Budget Friendly Holiday Season

Y'all know I LOVE to save a dollar. Nine times out of ten, if I don't have a coupon, I'm not going to buy an item. That's just the way it is. The holidays are the best time of year to challenge myself in the saving department. Here are a few ideas on how to save bank during Christmastime:

1. Wait for it. It's like hunting an animal. If you see an item you want to buy, keep and eye on it because odds are, it'll go on sale. If you dare, head out on Black Friday - I hear folks get great deals by shopping that day.

2. Don't hate the paper plate. Again, wait until Chinet goes on sale and you have a coupon, then swipe those bad boys up faster than you can say dishwasher. It'll save you time and the money it would cost to wash all the dishes by hand or in the dishwasher.

3. Carpool. Have family in the area you can carpool with to Grandma's? Go for it!

4. Reuse gift bags. Not gifts, gift BAGS. If you can, reuse tissue paper too. Or, buy the BIG package of tissue paper from WalMart for $1.99 - it lasts forever.

5. Set a budget and stick to it. If the total family budget is $500, don't go over it, no matter how hard it is not to. Use coupons, free shipping codes, and anything else you can think of to save that money!

Married Thanksgiving Numero Uno

This year was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and it went really well! We started the day around 11am at my parents' house preparing the fried turkey to take to my Meme's for lunch. My Daddy makes a KILLER fried turkey, complete with Paula Deen's house seasoning rub on the skin. It's phenomenal. We all took part in picking the turkey and eating the fried skin. We even let Milo enjoy!

John helping my Daddy carve the turkey while Milo begs for more.

After we left Meme's, we ran home to drop Milo off and change clothes before heading to John's parents' house for the evening. The kids were particularly sweet and clingy, and I loved it! Here I am holding Hannah (2) and Jackson (8 months). Clearly, John and I need to have children one at a time - they were heavy! We enjoyed spending time with our families before heading home for the night.

John had to work for a couple of hours on Friday morning, so I slept in while he did that and a little Christmas shopping. I cleaned and did laundry that afternoon, and we went to Lonestar for dinner. It was a very relaxing Black Friday for me with no shopping whatsoever!
Saturday felt like Sunday, which was awesome because it wasn't. We were lazy bums in the morning, then went to pick up Reagan for a couple of hours of fun at our house. Saturday afternoon was a sad time in our house, as we watched our Wolfpack end their awesome season on a sour note to Maryland. This loss prevents us from playing in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on December 4. We're sad but hope we are able to win a bowl game instead.

Overall, it was a great weekend. John has a bad cough that's been nagging him for over a week, so the weekend did include a trip to the doctor. He is home today resting and getting better so we can enjoy the rest of our holiday season! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Day Two: Black Friday/Shopping Tips and Tricks

My best Black Friday tip is DON'T DO IT!

Avoid crowds like this

and lines like these.

Save your sanity instead of a dollar or two.

Shop early. Use coupons. Don't pay for shipping.

And while all you crazy people are shopping in Kohl's and Target at 4am, I'll be doing this.

Blog Challenge

Inspired by the blog "I More Than Like You," I will attempt the blog challenge of the 12 days of Christmas.

Day One: Christmas Traditions
My most favorite Christmas tradition is getting together with my brothers and their families at my parents' house on Christmas Eve. My parents grill bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes and salad. We have dessert and open gifts with one another. It's a sweet time on the night before Christmas to really get in the spirit and celebrate with one another. Here are a few of my favorite photos from Christmas Eves over the years:

2005 - Pre-Reagan, Pre-Milo

2006 - With the two additions to our family: Reagan and Milo!

2007

2008

2009 - With our latest addition - John!

I know that as our marriage continues, I will come to love other traditions, but to date, Christmas Eve is my very favorite one. It's something that we've done for many years, and it's something that we will continue to do for a very long time.

Will you accept the blog challenge? Start today!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I started decorating our home for Christmas this weekend. Sounds crazy, I know, but we caught the Christmas Spirit early so we're going with it.

Our living room is complete with tree, presents, garland, stockings and nutcrackers.

And of course, Milo!

The Nativity displays the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Random Acts of Culture

Evidently, there's a new thing sweeping the nation called "Random Acts of Culture." It's where groups like Knight Arts get together in public places and perform various pieces of art, whether it be through song or dance. I got my first glimpse of it on this week's episode of Modern Family, and when I arrived to work on Friday, someone had sent me THIS:

Religious or not, if that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will. Personally, I think these random acts of culture are awesome, and I'd LOVE to be part of one through dance. Maybe something like THIS:



Or THIS:



Now, I don't know if I'll ever be able to dance in something like this, but how fun!!

Sigh...

Make Mine a Mojito, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3

We are so excited about going to see Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3 on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 7:30pm at The RBC Center in Raleigh! John's seen Disney on Ice before, but I haven't. We both love Toy Story so much, and we're looking forward to seeing it on ICE!

New Christmas Tradition

This weekend, John and I talked about what Christmas tradition we'd like to start as a family that neither of us did as children. We decided to start our very own "25 Days of Christmas"! Now, I know ABC Family does this too, but these will be movies that we've chosen that we both enjoy watching during the holidays. For the 25 nights leading up to Christmas, we will watch a different movie from the list. We will write the names of each movie on a piece of paper, fold it up, put it in a bowl and draw out a different movie each night so it is done randomly.

Here's the run-down of our list, in no particular order:

A Christmas Story

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Elf

Four Christmases

Home Alone

Jingle All the Way

Miracle on 34th Street

The Santa Clause

The rest of our list is as follows:

A Christmas Carol
Christmas Vacation
Home Alone 2
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carey versions)
The Polar Express
Bad Santa
White Christmas
The Bishops Wife
Jack Frost
The Christmas Shoes
Christmas with the Kranks
The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever
Fred Clause
Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas
Prancer
I'll Be Home for Christmas

Have we listed your favorite Christmas movie? If not, what is it? What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

I'm sure you've all seen coverage this week of the"mystery missile launch" off California's coast. John said he knows what is it: IRONMAN! Oh, sweet hubs.

Christmas Shopping

We are done shopping for and wrapping Christmas presents. It's okay to be jealous.

If you know me at all, you know that I am 100% Type A. I like to plan, be organized, think ahead, be prepared and make lists. I also do not like crowds, lines or nightmarish parking situations. The hustle and bustle of Christmas does not excite me - it stresses me out. So as of Veteran's Day 2010, our Christmas shopping is DONE!

We left the house at 9am yesterday and went straight to Southpoint in Durham. I had been given a very generous Nordstrom gift card for my birthday and had yet to use it, so we put it towards a new pair of designer jeans [for me] for Christmas. I love designer jeans, but they are so expensive that I only buy one pair every five years or so and MUST have a gift card. We also went to Belk at Southpoint where we bought gifts for three people on our list. I was so proud that we spent $74 and saved $110!

We left Durham and headed back toward Raleigh where we stopped in Family Christian Bookstore and Olive Garden for gifts. From there, we stopped by the vet to pick up Milo's monthly flea preventative treatment.

Once we were done in Raleigh, we came back to Knightdale and grabbed lunch at Chickfila. Lucky for us, we had a coupon for TWO free chicken sandwiches, so we both ate lunch at Chickfila for $3.85!! We then picked up a quick gift at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Target was our next stop where we bought a few toiletry items for ourselves and ALL the niece's/nephew's (did I mention that we have 3 nieces and 3 nephews) gifts! We left Target with three VERY full bags! To finish out our trip, we picked a little something up at Best Buy (John didn't even go near the TVs this time!) and headed home where I listened to Christmas music and wrapped EVERYTHING before cooking dinner and cleaning both bathrooms.

We have another busy weekend ahead, so I wanted to get as much done and out of the way as possible so I can try to enjoy a little of it. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that cooking and shopping/wrapping are complete. Now, if John will let me start decorating....

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was so productive, yet so laid back at the same time. Thanks to a wonderful Mama and husband, I got SO much done!

I had to work until 6pm on Friday, so we decided to pick up pizza and a movie (ok, a Dane Cook DVD) and just chillax at home. It was wonderful! John fell asleep on the couch at 9:15 and moved to the bed by 9:30. I joined him around 11 and we slept until about 8:30 Saturday morning.

We got up Saturday and discussed that day's plans over a hearty bowl of Frosted Flakes. It was decided that we'd go to Sam's, get a membership, buy what I needed to make a few holidays dishes to freeze and watch football. My Mama ended up going with us and helping me make TWO cheesy potato casseroles and THREE baked spaghettis (all 9x13 pans)!! I could not have done this without her. Since I make homemade spaghetti sauce, this was a daunting task but we got everything done and in the freezer in the garage. Now, I don't have to worry about making a dish for mine and John's Thanksgiving Feasts at work! The baked spaghetti is for John's 25th birthday celebration I'm throwing for him with our families at our house on his January 1 birthday. That's done too! Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, NCSU lost by ONE point, which was a total bummer BUT UNC beat FSU. This is a VERY good thing because it puts us back in the running to go to the ACC Championship game on December 4 in Charlotte. Come on PACK! We watched the UNC game at Chili's while we munched on appetizers and drank margaritas. Thanks to said margaritas, I was the one asleep by 9:15 on Saturday night!

We were bad and didn't go to church on Sunday. Instead, we were at the grocery by 9:30am to get what we needed for the week. Once home, I put together a baked potato soup to bake in the crock pot all day, made pasta salad for lunches, chopped lettuce for dinner salads, baked muffins and packed lunchboxes. John washed both of our cars while I laundered towels and wrapped every Christmas present in the house, including all of his. We had soup and salad for dinner and watched football and our shows until bed.

Such a productive yet relaxing weekend. We both have Thursday off for Veteran's Day, so we're heading to the new Tanger Outlets in Mebane to complete ALL of the Christmas shopping!

Welcome to the Holidays, Married Style!

Check out my new hat. Okay, it's not really my new hat, but it's starting to feel like it. This is my first Christmas as a married woman, and it seems that I can no longer get away with being the "kid" who just shows up to dinners without bringing a dish. Now y'all know I love to cook, but come on...

Here's how my cooking schedule's shaking out so far:

November 14 Dinner with some of John's Family in Rocky Mount
November 16 My Thanksgiving Feast at work
November 23 John's Thanksgiving Feast at work
November 25 Thanksgiving
November 30 Moravian Lovefeast at Meredith (I always have my parents over for dinner beforehand)
December 3 10th Annual MC Christmas Dinner
December 12 Lunch with some of John's Family in Rocky Mount
December 18 Cookie Exchange with some dear friends of mine
January 1 John's Birthday Dinner/Cake and Ice Cream

Seems as if I should go ahead and start preparing dishes and freezing them now! I'm looking forward to spending so much time in the kitchen, but I hope to get a head start so that everything else can get done too like...

• Actually attending said events
• Wrapping Christmas gifts
• Taking down Fall
• Decorating for Christmas
• Keeping my house clean
  
• Staying caught up on laundry
• Making sure Milo heals and is comfortable after his surgery on 12.17

How do YOU do it, married ladies??

Whip It Into Shape!

John and I started running on Monday. Yep. I ran. We took Milo. He ran too. Since I have not exercised in....I don't even know how long...we started by doing a walk/run combo. We'd run a street, walk a street. This was easy for John because he's used to exercising. Milo and I were struggling through the first lap. I wanted to die. Then, the second lap was easier - I kind of got into a groove and it felt good. And I actually decided to run with him again Tuesday night without Milo. This was easier than the first night. I'm so happy to spend time with John this way and encourage him in his journey to being healthier. It's a sweet time together talking about our day and doing something we both enjoy, for the most part.

Hopefully, we'll be rockin' hot bodies when we leave for our Mexico trip in 170 days!!

Weekend

This weekend was rather uneventful, but because I know y'all are reading and curious, here goes:

We had dinner at Lonestar in Knightdale on Friday night and had the best experience of any sit down restaurant we've visited in town thus far. We sat at a high top table at the bar, had awesome food (2 for $20!!) and a wonderful waitress!! After dinner, we visited Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart to scope out the TV John has had his eye on for quite some time. It's a 52" LCD 1080p, 120hz (for you tech folks out there) but dang if it's not $1,300! Needless to say, we do not have a new TV right now. Perhaps we will regroup next year.

We got up Saturday morning and I fixed John 2 bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches before he headed to Rocky Mount to help his brother-in-law lay hardwood floors in their newest home. Once he was gone, I popped in the latest Taylor Swift CD and got to cleaning - vacuumed all floors, dusted entire house, cleaned our bathroom, straightened up, did 4 loads of laundry (sheets, towels, whites, darks). From there, I took a shower, went to my nephew's soccer game with my Mom, ran errands (TJ Maxx, Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Lowe's Food) and got home by 5pm. John arrived home at 6pm and we were having a delicious meal at PF Chang's by 7:30. We had the most wonderful night together!

Sunday was church, and my parents came up for their quarterly LWFC fix - we all had lunch together at K&W afterward where we had lovely family time. John and I spent the rest of our Sunday relaxing by watching football and a movie, cooking dinner and making lunches for the week.

Today's Monday, and the workday is almost over. I have actually been pretty busy today, but in between, I've knocked out a TON of John's Christmas list! I can't tell you what I got because he reads this from time to time, but he's getting lots of goodies. I struggled with what to get him for awhile, but now I know he'll love everything I got! We've decided to hit up the new Tanger Outlet in Mebane on Veteran's Day next Thursday since we're both off work to knock out the rest of our shopping.

How's your Christmas shopping coming along? Have you started?

OH, and we're leaving for Mexico in 172 days!