Christmas is only seven short weeks away! This year, I want to take a page from Natasha's book and spend the season of advent preparing my heart to really celebrate Jesus' birthday. Advent starts on the last Sunday of November, which means that I'd like to get most of my Christmas tasks out of the way before then. Here's how I'm doing so far:
Presents. I am 95% done with all of our Christmas shopping. Starting in September, every time I came up with a good gift idea, I'd jot it down. Before I knew it, I had gift ideas for everyone and decided to turn all those ideas into reality. Everything was bought online and shipped to Adam's parents' house, where we shall get everything wrapped over Thanksgiving. I just have a few things I'm waiting to get at Tar-jay on Black Friday.
Decorations. We're planning on picking up a tree and some trimmings on our next monthly grocery shopping trip. Since we live in a tiny apartment and have zero storage space, we're keeping things pretty simple.
Baking. I'd like to bake treats for my Sunday School class and the priests at the Newman Center, as well as some for Adam and I to enjoy. I've already chosen our cookie recipes - chocolate mint cookies, shortbread, and dark chocolate covered gingersnaps - but I'm waiting until December to get started, since I have a weekly baking time anyway. I think it would be so fun to get the girls from bible study together for a cookie swap party! If Facebook events didn't exist, I would totally send them these adorable invitations.
Cards. I am so excited about mailing out Christmas cards for the first time! It's definitely one of the {many} awesome perks of being married. At first, I wanted to have a little photo shoot and send out this type of card.
But then I realized that we could highlight our whirlwind of a year better with one of these babies. I love that we can include pictures of our semester in Europe, our wedding, and fall happenings in Pittsburgh, so that card itself is like a newsletter! I also love the bright colors and cute fonts of these cards - they just seem appropriate for a realllllllly young married couple, right? The cherry on top is that they say "Merry Christmas" not "Happy Holidays" - exactly the message we'd like to express to our family and friends.
Now I've just got to narrow down my choices, order some coordinating envelopes, and get to work. The other day, I tricked Adam into thinking we would be writing hand-written letters in each card. Mwahaha!
P.S. Any bloggers out there who would like to get fifty free Christmas cards?
