A Simple Gift Guide (And Holiday Q & A)

Falling snow, Oh Holy Night, and a few of my favorite things

Wrapping paper bows

How fun would it be to offer you a gift guide of sorts (a simple list of some of my favorite things), but preface it with a holiday Q & A? (Inspired by Grace, I have to say). Shall we? (And I would love to have you join in, too! Pick one and leave your answers in the comments below.)

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What puts you in the Christmas spirit?

There are so many things that contribute to the festive feeling for me, like decorating for the holidays (with a live tree and boughs - foraged with a permit from national forest), baking holiday treats, listening to Christmas music, and wrapping gifts, but the biggest one for me is falling snow. I'll forever love a white Christmas. 

How are you spending Christmas this year?

Everyone will be home! Although we'll be celebrating our Christmas over New Year's. If you've been following here for a while, you'll know that picking our own dates for holidays isn't new for us. With an aviator in the family, you do what you have to do. I'm just so thrilled we'll all be together!

Share your best Christmas memory.

When I think back on my childhood, the best memories of Christmas involve making things. I remember making embroidered ornaments, crocheted snowflakes, and "stained glass" ornaments that you baked in the oven (I even remember the smell!). And, of course the feeling of excitement and anticipation, of lying under the tree and looking up at the colored football shaped bulbs and our dime store ornaments, of putting on Christmas performances with my siblings and cousins for our parents.

As an adult, my best Christmas memory is the year we were waiting to have our house built and we didn't really have a home, so we surprised the boys by renting a little cabin in the woods for the holiday. I arrived there earlier in the day on Christmas Eve and brought all of Christmas with me - the decorated tree, garland for the mantle, a swag for the door, candles for lining the snowy path to the front door, the wrapped gifts, the festively laid table, and Christmas dinner (plus the food for the rest of our stay). At dusk, my guys arrived and the boys were SO excited when they realized this was our cabin for Christmas. I'll never forget the looks on their faces when they came in the door.

Describe a Christmas tradition in your family.

We decided early on that we would celebrate Christmas as a family in our own home (instead of traveling to relatives' or grandparents' houses). We've always had our big dinner on Christmas Eve so we could relax and eat leftovers on Christmas Day. The boys always opened one gift each on Christmas Eve, which were matching pajama pants when they were little, and are matching joggers since they've been big. On Christmas morning, we open gifts and stockings (always in that order, it seems), then devour our once-a-year Norwegian pancakes for breakfast! 

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

I'll Be Home For Christmas
The Christmas Song
White Christmas
Mary, Did You Know?
Winter Wonderland
Oh Holy Night

What are you hoping for this Christmas?

I'm hoping to love unconditionally. To give more. To hold the moments dear and savor every one. 

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Now, here for you, loves, is a round-up of things that I use nearly every day, a useful gift guide, of sorts.

• Book light (There’s an amber light version as well.)

• Sakagen flower shears (My friend surprised me with a pair last summer - my, they’re wonderful!)

• Aveda Hand Relief (I have one on my night stand, one in my car, one in my purse…)

• Dr Teal’s lavendar epsom salts (I keep them in a glass clamp-lid jar with a wooden scoop inside (similar), right beside the bathtub.)

• Renault stoneware bottle (My indoor water bottle of choice. Here’s a similar option. Or, in glass.)

• The Workbook by Appointed (I’ve used these for years now - one as a daily planner and another as a journal)

• Merino wool footless tights (I’m wearing a pair now! My favorite for providing a thin base layer of warmth under jeans or leggings.)

• Icebreaker Merino wool cami (Another favorite base layer of mine in winter.)

• Porcelain berry baskets (I had the middle size one on my counter all summer filled with cherry tomatoes.)

• Silverplate flatware & polish (It’s so much fun picking a vintage pattern, then combing eBay over the years and finding more pieces to add - or asking friends and family for them as a gift!)

• Zippo flex neck utility lighter (I appreciate that it’s not made of bright plastic, and that it can be refilled!)

• Horn hair pin (I wear mine all the time! Love that it’s not plastic!)

• East Fork Pottery bitty bowl (I’m always reaching for mine in the kitchen.)

• Milton Brook mortar & pestle (This one is on my wishlist, a replacement for the soapstone one I’d had for years that split in two on Thanksgiving Day.)

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