Our Twelve Days of Christmas {A Giveaway}

We love to celebrate Christmas all the way through Candlemas (February 2), but after spending Advent really preparing instead of celebrating early, we like to make sure we celebrate each day of the Twelve Days of Christmas! After we finish our Advent books, we shift the focus a little. Here's what we're doing and reading this year:

47/52: Thanksgiving!

It's the Most Pie-ful Time of the Year! {7qt}

--1--

Good morning and happy pie-for-breakfast day! Because let's be real, that's what the day after Thanksgiving is all about. My breakfast pie of choice? Dutch Apple Pie, the most superior of all pies.

--2--

I'm officially in my 3rd trimester, which means I get to eat two pieces of pie for breakfast, right? Right.

Black Friday is a Week-Long Event

Anybody else notice that big sales for "Black Friday" started on... Monday? I mean, I'm not complaining because I love a bargain! But if you're not the type to scour the internet for deals, I've got some good ones rounded up here!

46/52: November Snow

Peter's Birthday Survey

Oh sweet Peter! You are so silly and bubbly and crazy and energetic, we love you to pieces! Even when you're angrily shy about having visitors, talking our ears off about everything under the sun, asking for yet ANOTHER breakfast, you're a joy. Happy 4th birthday!

Twin Birthday Survey

 Happy birthday to these crazy, sweet, clever, beautiful twins!

Our Book-A-Day Advent Calendar

Every Advent we set aside quite a few of our school books and replace them with books that will help us prepare for the Incarnation. It makes things beautifully low-key, and I love what a wonderful tradition it has become! In an attempt to actually plan things out this year (instead of the usual fly by the seat of my pants that I do), I'm listing our plans here. Maybe you need ideas? I hope this inspires you! These are some of our absolute favorite books! And while I can pretty much guarantee we won't get to every single thing on this list, I think we can manage most of it.

45/52: Gingko Grove

Book Day: My Favorite Accidental Christmas Tradition

Every year starting in, oh, about February, I start acquiring used books to give to the kids for birthdays & Christmas. This can end up being rather a ridiculous number of books, because, well there are just a lot of good books that I find at used book sales, used book stores, or from recommendations. Suddenly I've got a large box of books that I've been hoarding, but all the birthday & Christmas presents have already been bought and I still have all these books!!!

44/52: All Saints Day!

43/52: Fall Cozies

2018 Shop Small Gift Guide & Giveaway

Happy November! We've got nearly two months until Christmas, but if you're like me, you like to have the bulk of your shopping done early so you're not scrambling at the last minute. The best part of shopping early is that you'll end up with the best deals! And shopping *small* means more of your hard-earned money goes directly towards supporting another person's family.

In this guide, you'll find a wide variety of shops and items to peruse as you make your holiday shopping lists. I highly recommend you "favorite" shops on Etsy so that you can find them again easily, and take advantage of the coupon codes many shop owners are generously offering!

Pay attention to order deadlines so you don't miss out, and make sure you enter the awesome giveaway at the end of this post! And the vast majority of these shops offer multiple types of items, so click around and see what else they have; I had to categorize them somehow, but there are so many gorgeous products across the board!