Who do you think made the Christmas wreath...

before I reveal the answer to this post.

Who is your guess?

Answer the poll on the side, if you'd like!

We're counting down the days...

 until Josh and I get to redeem our Christmas Gift to each other.

 The Gift of Presence and Reconnection...

staying on this beach...

for 4 nights...

Alone.

We've done a Winter Getaway a couple of times before and we've determined - 

This is what we NEED the most -

and this will be our forever Christmas Gift to each other.

The gift of Presence and Reconnection.

It may not always be the beach, but something -

Alone.

Opening Christmas Eve Pajamas...

is such a fun tradition for us.

I try to be mindful of all the Christmas waste we're producing and wrapping paper we're going through.

So, on Christmas Eve - I pulled out a pair of Christmas Pajamas for each child that I had hidden, removed their pillow cases from their pillows, stuffed the pillow cases with the new jammies, tied them up with a bow and announced,

"You each have a gift under the tree!  Find your pillow case."

They all recognized their individual pillowcases, screamed with excitement, opened them up and put on their new Christmas Jammies.

Over the years, this won't be a SURPRISE anymore.

It will be expected.

It will be fun.

I just love Family Traditions.

Do you have any fun Christmas Traditions to share?

Gift Idea - for my wine drinking friends...

 ok, this one was one of my favorites...

I found a brand of wine called "Mad Housewife".
Not that I'm "mad"  :)  just thought it was a cute label!
and the description on the back is funny.

I bought 6 bottles {because I got 15% off},

put a fuzzy sock on the top and a fuzzy sock on the bottom,

tied a handmade note {made from a grocery bag}
that said, "May you relax and remember the true meaning of the season"

and attached the note with raffia.

It was super cute and the receivers loved it!

Gift Ideas - for our teachers...

 I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favorite homemade {hand assembled} Christmas Gifts - even though Christmas is over...

Just because, you may like the ideas for next year.

I know I promised I would share before Christmas, but it felt a little strange sharing, because a lot of my readers would be receivers of the gifts.

So, now you have it.

I purchased a beautiful mug and filled it with fuzzy socks, several tea bags and a cute note pad {teachers always need cute, fresh note pads} for our teacher gifts.

 My handmade note card {from grocery bags} said, 

"May you relax and remember the true meaning of the season."

I wrapped the mug and goodies in tissue, raffia and love.

There's nothing like a gift in which you pour your thoughts, time and love into preparing.

I'm confident they feel that when they open it.

We put the final product into a brown gift bag {decorated by the student} purchased from Michael's.

We received so much happy gratitude from the teachers.