Our 2016 Family Christmas Card

Aaaaaand our Christmas cards are (mostly) OUT for delivery to mailboxes of friends and family across the country! I love this time of year when cards pour in with smiling faces of the people we love most!

Whether you've been following my blog for years or pop in occasionally, thank you for reading along and please consider this electronic copy our Christmas card to you too!

We ordered our cards again this year from Minted! I love Minted for their high quality, thick paper, variety of designs and of course their FREE recipient addressing (which saves me a tremendous amount of time)! Also, thanks to the professional proofing process my cards were printed without a few typos!

PS - Thank you all for helping me select our photo!

Our Christmas cards through the years: 2015 Christmas Card 2014 Christmas Card 2013 Christmas Card 2012 Christmas Card 2011 Christmas Card

Wish List Wednesday || Gifts & Stocking Stuffers for Him

What is everyone getting the men in their life this year? Seriously, Matt is so hard to shop for and I'm guessing you may have some hard to shop for men in your life too. So today I'm sharing a gift guide I previously pulled together (and updated) with a list of presents Matt has received (not just from me) over the years that he's really, really loved.

This Christmas Matt and I agreed to keep our gifts to one another simple since we've unexpectedly run into some large expenses recently with our kitchen ceiling falling in from water damage and some larger repairs to my car. So anyway, we set a modest gift limit and I'm pretty excited about what I've picked up for him. I purchased an iGrill Mini (a Bluetooth meat thermometer for the grill), North Carolina socks (he has an obsession with dress socks) and a few other small things. However, I think I am most excited about his stocking this year because I purchased some fake lotto tickets! I'm planning to sprinkle them in with some real tickets and cannot wait to see him react to winning $10,000. HA! I also found a really awesome bottle opener made out of a real 50 caliber bullet!

TV Sound Bar // Dolce & Gabana Light Blue Cologne // Titleist Golf Balls // Yeti Tumbler // Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon // FitBit // Men's Trunk Club // Poker Set // Moccasin Slippers // Grilling Tool Set // Fire Pit & Fireside Fishing Poles // Titleist Hat // Amazon Fire Stick // iGrill Mini // Cards Against Humanity

GIFTS & STOCKING STUFFERS UNDER $20!
Table Topics + Other Games // Survival Kit in a Can // Ties or Bow Ties // Golf Tees // Bluetooth Shower Speaker // Just a Drop // Socks // Hair Styling Pomade // Metal Collar Stays // Pocket Ref // Pocket Knife // Man Soap // Survival Pocket Tool // Portable Charger // Sipping Stones  // Moscow Mule Mug // Fake Lotto Tickets // 50 Caliber Bullet Bottle Opener // Gift Cards // Candy // Gum // Car Wash Coupon

Other Wish Lists:

The Wish List for Her 

The Ultimate Toddler Gift Guide 

Christmas Tradition Gifts 

Gifts for Her under $35 

Toddler Bath Time Gifts 

Summertime Gifts for Kids

Christmassy Things

After several days in bed I was anxious to get out with the kiddies over the weekend. We needed a low key activity that wouldn't involve me lifting or chasing the minis around but would still wear them out, so I invited four other families to join us for a morning of Christmassy things Uptown.

I love how festive Uptown gets around the holidays. On our way to meet up with our friends we stopped to admire several ginormous Christmas trees

Our first activity of the morning was to see the Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra aka 18 singing bears. Caroline was hesitant at first and it took her a bit to warm up to the fuzzy singing animals. However, Thomas had absolutely no fear and couldn't have had more fun dancing, clapping and running around to all the songs.

After the show we walked across the street to experience the colorful (and edible) Winter Wonderland at The Ritz-Carlton. 

I am still undecided on which was more impressive -- the life size gingerbread house or the 12-foot tall Christmas tree made of 8,000 hand-crafted French macarons. 

Our last stop of the day was for lunch at Vida. It was definitely chaos with tons of squirmy toddlers but delicious. It was such a fun day of Christmas activities with friends and the kids crashed hard when we returned home which gave us some recovery time too.