The Countdown is On

In my attempt to keep busy this week I am blogging all the randoms and information. So that brings me to my very favorite time of year... holiday prep time. I've got to try to stay ahead of the pack on this one!

C is kind of really into looking at pictures of dogs/cats with pumpkins. It is a very easy request to grant. 

I may have mentioned I've got the Halloween costumes all figured out. Thank goodness because with every passing day Halloween gets closer. At this rate Baby Girl will only be tops a 2 week old. We did start buying some candy for our Halloween bucket but um... it's possible we were robbed and the only thing they took was the Peanut Butter Cups*. So we'll need to buy some candy. But I am not going crazy. Since we had a total of zero trick or treaters last year I am not super concerned about whether we have a whole lot available.

We'll have to squeeze in pumpkin carving but we can wing that. Especially since we already know where the carving tools are and we have a pumpkin already!

The Cornucopia of Carbs.
Recycled picture from Thanksgiving 2012. We hosted that year too. 

Then just a few weeks after that is Thanksgiving. Not my favorite holiday or anything but we will be hosting my family so that we don't have to travel. (NICE! Totally worth hosting!) We'll make some food (TBD) and play some board games and take it easy. Ideally we will coincide Baby Girl's baptism with Thanksgiving weekend but we can't schedule it until we have a birth date for the form so... that's still up in the air.

St. Nicholas is going to bring pajamas and a book for each kiddo. The pajamas are penguin themed because I figure that is all encompassing to winter--they aren't super Christmas-y but they'll work until it's warm outside. These are ordered already because Carter's has their $8 doorbuster pajamas and that's pretty sweet.

We will be keeping our Disney on Ice tradition, of which I am super excited about. And then of course we will also be making our gingerbread house again this year. These are our favorite "Advent Activities." They really have nothing to do with advent of course but they get us in a warm spirit and they are something to look forward to.

2012 Gingerbread House

2013 Gingerbread House
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Then moving on to Christmas! Only 69 days away. Which sounds really really crazy when you put it that way. We are keeping Christmas simple this year: other than an additional stocking I am not sure that I am going to buy any new decorations. For our immediate family we are doing: something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. Then just a few other people are getting gifts this year.

I already ordered the something to read and St. Nicholas books for the kiddos. They'll be here today. Probably every pay check I'll get a few items off the list I made a while back so hopefully Christmas is easy peasy and not stressful.

Bringing us all the way to the beginning of 2015. New Year's has never been a big one for us so as long as we're all together we'll call that a win.

So those are the beginnings of my holiday plans! Should be pretty good as long as I stay on track!

*I may have eaten the Peanut Butter Cups