December came and went in a flash just like we knew it would. We were a great kind of busy all month long, and we wouldn't go back and change a thing.
Before I share my goals for January, here's a recap of our 12 Days of Christmas activities that we planned for the month:
1.
Pick out & decorate a tree
2.
The decorating part was a little more eventful than we had planned for it to be (if you missed our almost-trip-to-the-ER tree-decorating story, you can read that here), but it was memorable non-the-less!
2.
Visit Santa
3.
Ride the Pink Pig
4.
It started out like this, but by Ryan's third visit, he was a pro ;) The rest of his Santa pictures can be found here!
3.
Ride the Pink Pig
The line was crazy long whenever we attempted this, so we're going to give it one last try this weekend before it closes for the year.
4.
Visit Snow Mountain @ Stone Mountain Park
Because of Atlanta's crazy wet and warm winter that had us wearing shorts the day after Christmas, Snow Mountain was closed. If it reopens before the end of winter, we hope to still fit this in!
5.
5.
Visit a live Nativity
We got to see two! One when we visited my parents in Monroe, and one at our Christmas Eve service. Here are a few pics from the first one we visited.
This baby camel joined our picture (and smiled! hahah) as we stood in front of the nativity scene!
7.
We got to see two! One when we visited my parents in Monroe, and one at our Christmas Eve service. Here are a few pics from the first one we visited.
7.
Make a gingerbread house
You can see a close-up here of the part Ryan worked on. He loved it!
8.
8.
Decorate a Christmas Ornament
9.
Our first attempt looked like this. I planned to find a plastic ornament that I could stick Ryan's handprint on, but this one little goal just never came together unfortunately. Looks like we'll have to wait and make two- one for Ryan and one for Baby Girl- next year!
9.
Have a Christmas music dance party
11.
We did a whole lot of dancing this Christmas Season, but it looks like I only took a couple of videos!
11.
Watch a Christmas Movie
Charlie Brown Christmas at home
More Charlie Brown Christmas at our Christmas PJ Playdate
The Sound of Music at home- Ryan has LOVED this movie all season! He requests the "pup pup" (puppet) song and "coo-coo" song multiple times/day and will sing and dance along with it. It is too cute!
12.
Charlie Brown Christmas at home
12.
Introduce Ryan to hot chocolate and candy canes
He loved both!!
He loved both!!
We added two to our list:
Visit Chick-Fil-A's Rock Ranch for Christmas Lights:
Make a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and read the Christmas Story:
What a fun month it was!
And now that Christmas is put away, we're ready for the start of a new year and getting things ready for Baby Girl's arrival in February!
So here's a look at what I'm planning for January:
1.
Complete nursery and share pictures on here
There are a few minor things left to finish in her room and then I want to get pictures up to share with you guys!
2.
Read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
I started this book at the beginning of December, but just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to read before falling asleep each night. So January should be the perfect time to finish this book.
3.
Reorganize Ryan's room to make space for new toys
When we put Ryan's nursery together, I bought shelves from IKEA for future storage, but need to take some time to move things around and make the items he uses the most more accessible. Since I can't really do this when he's napping, I need to set aside time one weekend to knock this out while Matt is playing with him. And since I'm one of those crazy love-to-organzie-and-get-rid-of-things people, I'm kind of really excited about this.
4.
NEST
(i.e. more organizing and Good Will-ing)
By the time this month comes to an end, we'll be less than two weeks away from meeting our sweet girl! In my mind, this translates to me cleaning out cabinets and closets, giving away things we don't need, and making space for the baby items that will be coming back into our house. I am definitely a minimalist by nature, but the pre-baby nesting mode sends my minimalist, organizing, and Good Will-ing self into overdrive. And I get pretty giddy about it, haha.
5.
Poll You Readers
That looks like a funny goal, but I've been toying with this idea for awhile now. I've got some fun and exciting ideas for the blog in 2016, but I really want to know what keeps you guys reading what I write. I love connecting with the people who visit this space and really want this community to grow. So this month, I plan to set up a simple poll to help me find out if what I'm planning for 2016 matches what you sweet people enjoy reading. And there will be a giveaway attached to thank you for your time, so stay tuned!
That's it for January!
Yay for the start of a new year and all that it holds!
If you missed my recap of what we did in 2015, you can check that out here.
Hey! I'm a minimalist by nature, too, but January always brings it out even more in me - and before big life events. :) And, is that bag a better life bag?? love the black and white stripes!!
ReplyDeleteYes! Something about a New Year feels like the perfect time to give a bunch of things away ;) And the bag is by Hip Cub- I love all of the pockets! I linked to it in this post: http://notesfromthenelsens.blogspot.com/2015/12/ten-on-10th-what-ryan-and-tally-are.html
Delete1) cannot wait to try that cookie recipe!
ReplyDelete2) I LOVE live nativity scenes. Where I live, a church turns their entire parking lot into the Jerusalem market and you drive through and listen to a provided CD about the birth of Christ, the time period, etc. It's one of my favorite parts of the holiday season!
That live nativity sounds amazing! I would love to find something like that around here next year!
DeleteI love the Jesus cake idea! I may have to steal that. Reorganizing George's toys is on my list too! There are so many things we have accumulated in a year and a half.
ReplyDelete