NewAge Mommy, writer and medium
I’m offering 15 percent off my whole shop on Etsy
Https://www.etsy.com/shop/newagedreamchick
I also have reopened my old Etsy
https://www.etsy.com/shop/bethcessoriesdesign
At this time, I have decided to remain focused on primarily decorative pillows and candles/wax melts but I have some plans I’m already about to start for halloween.
I was given 50 to spend on myself right after Thanksgiving.
I had just recieved a catalog from NY and Company, my absolutely favorite clothing company.
I hit their Cyber week sales- 70-80%off plus free shipping and got myself two new sweaters. Later, I returned and grabbed this jacket.
I’ve been wearing it near daily since. Its light enough to keep me from frying when it’s slightly warmer but warm enough for snow.
I also havent really got a new purse for a while and the price was too good to resist so I grabbed one
I also needed gloves and found these. The glove and scarf set ended my 50
The price was so good, I grabbed several sets to give as gifts.
All these were a grand total of under 120 and I got a bit of gift shopping finished as well.
The sweaters are perfect, the coat cost a total of 21- an 80+ value if I had paid full price. I really think NY and Co has some of the best prices
Since starting a family, almost 8 years ago, I’ve been thinking about different holiday traditions.
As a young child, we got together with my mom’s side of the family a lot and not my dad’s that often.
When my grandma died (I was 13), we stopped getting together so much but I have a couple aunts we did get together with a lot- especially one who has always treated me like a daughter.
We still get together with her a lot.
Throughout the years, I have had jobs (especially 1) that had me so busy this time of the year (thank you, retail) so I barely had time to breath during the whole season. With the job change, I’m only working a few days a week so I have time to actually do stuff with my kids and it has me thinking on the lines of Christmas traditions.
I ran across my Facebook memories yesterday, after my 2 year old helped me bake cookies and found last year on the same day, she helped me bake cookies as well.
With our new found food restrictions, she and I can’t partake in events like cookie exchanges like my mom, cousins and aunts did one year- she couldn’t eat anything with butter or milk and I couldn’t eat anything with flour and certain other ingredients.
My mom and I were talking about both of us wanting to do our trees primarily in home made decorations and with a very few exceptions, mine is this year (we have a few football team ornaments and a few the girls really like but other than that, everything else was bought off Etsy or made by us)
We have the main celebration with my family on Christmas eve, his on Christmas day and ours Christmas morning with a few gifts on Christmas eve.
Over the years, I’ve slowly started incorporating some Yule rituals either privately or with my kids included and we’ll do that at home instead of celebrating Christmas in our home- since a lot of Yule traditions overlap with Christmas.
What types of traditions do you have with your kids?
40% off all readings at
https://www.etsy.com/shop/newagedreamchick
Also- free tarot for any astrological reading (equal or lesser value- message me in the store for the free reading)
And use coupon code FREESHIPHOLIDAY
At https://www.etsy.com/shop/bethcessoriesdesign
For free shipping
Both end at the end of this month
Since I have so many DIY ideas, crafts and converted recipes I decided to create a smaller site and Twitter account to share those on. I’m no longer posting recipes and such here and I’ll be doing updates towards Nano and during November on that blog.
I start to feel the spirit of Halloween, then the whole holiday season ending with Christmas.
Maybe it’s because I work in retail or because I do Etsy and most of my stuff revolves around holidays, but I’ve been thinking about Halloween for the past few weeks. (starting to prepare my shop)
Anyone else feel like they think from one holiday to the next? My husband and dad both have birthdays, my and my husband’s anniversary, my mom’s birthday, back to school, Halloween, Nano starts, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, my daughter’s birthday, Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Valentine’s Day, my other daughter’s birthday, Easter, etc
Most of those involve fun decorations and I love the spirit from September through December- not to mention all the shopping, decorating and baking. (be prepared for tons of gluten/dairy free recipes around the holidays and I’ll be posting crafts.
I’m in the process of preparing my shop for the holidays and started Christmas shopping (since we have a birthday 3 weeks before Christmas) and that further got me in the mood.
What puts you in the holiday mood? Anyone else completely fine with seeing decorations and such come out in stores months in advance? I constantly hear people complain about how early stores start getting ready for Christmas, but since having kids I love it.
Right now, my focus is on holiday and daily themed decorative pillows but I’m working on adding. One of these days I’m planning on it being a full decor line complete with blankets, quilts, washcloths, towels, curtains, signs and in the very distant future- wooden furniture. Right now, it’s decorative pillows and candles. I started toying with this a few years ago with hats (still sell), earrings (discontinued), scarves (have a few left for sale but discontinued- will take one order a year due to the amount of time they take to make)
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BethcessoriesDesign
I also have a tarot/dream interretation shop that has my candles and most of my current holiday decorative pillows- but the pillows will be removed from this shop and put back in the old shop when they expire.
This is my main (oldest) shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/newagedreamchick
As the holiday season is starting to wrap up, I have been noticing every thing other people have been buying their kids. I have seen some people spending as much as several hundred on one child with a cart full of big and small items. I have also seen some people buy just one or two items. It’s just one store, but when it’s a full buggy you can get a pretty good feel for how they shop. I do not compare myself to others, but I do try to make sure my kids fit into the area as best I can.
We didn’t have a budget, per se, but did have a rule this year that we would get several small but no big toys. We just don’t have the room in our small house right now for another huge toy and still have one or two play sets boxed up that haven’t been opened yet due to lack of space. We also knew, more than likely, we would get something big from a family member. Last year, we came home from his family’s house (alone) with our full size truck loaded with toys the girls were given so we decided then that we wouldn’t get much since the family gets them so much.
On the other hand, I read the 4 gift “rule”
“Something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.” I think it’s a good principal, but always felt the need to get them more toys than just one.
We both are more materialistic by nature and we do own too much stuff. Since they see it from us, they are also becoming little consumers. I’d like to think we have hit that perfect balance. They opened gifts this evening after I got off work and loved everything they opened. We got them several small items that they will play with and we didn’t max out a single credit card nor did we break our bank. I would still love to know what that perfect balance is- between the year we maxed out two credit cards and the year we didn’t. Did we give them enough? Too much? I know it differs with everyone and I’m trying to remember from my childhood (I was an only child and would typically burn out by a certain number). My two year old seemed to get bored with opening by the fourth gift and we had to coax her to open the rest, my six year old loves the act of opening gifts so she finished the two year old’s for her.
It’s also making me think back a bit- how funny it seems now. Back when I was a child, I loved toys- and I loved having tons of toys at the end of the day. Today, I’m perfectly happy with the Starbucks gift card I got and the two tiny gifts from my kids. As you get older, priorities change. You go from wanting everything you see and giving a huge list to not being able to think of anything until after the holiday ends. My youngest’s birthday is in December and mine is in January- both of us within 3 weeks of Christmas, so that six week period wipes us out- both emotionally and financially. Luckily, since I’m the mom, the birthday isn’t as big a celebration as the child’s is so it’s not as draining.
What do you consider to be the right number of gifts to buy? I don’t necessarily mean a physical number. What is that perfect amount? Do they always have to be big or can they all be smaller? Is there a perfect amount or is it only based on the parents and the kids?
We recently finished our Christmas shopping for 2 kids.
We shopped for 2 girls- age 2 and 6. It is bittersweet. On the one hand, Christmas is a magical time- the kids love seeing the lights, decorations and love the cookies and gifts but it’s really hard knowing you should be shopping for a 2, 4 and 6 year old instead of just the 2 and 6.
I look at the toys and wonder what miss Cassie would have wanted, what she would have been into and what she would have had as her security toy. Would she be a huge doll fan? Would she have wanted to play with Barbies or cars? Would she have been interested in sports? Art? Music? All of the above?
What would her personality have been? Would she have been more laid back like the 6 year old or more hyper like the 2 year old?
Where I work in retail, I meet people with kids my kids’ ages all the time. I’m normally fine, but I met a woman with 2 daughters- 4 and 2 and nearly lost it. I went into work a few days ago crying- had been all afternoon that day and finally calmed myself down enough to do my job.
It hurts, it really reminds you what you’re missing out on. The two living kids we have wear us out but we know we would have been able to handle having 2, 4 and 6. Even if we never rested, we know we’d be doing it.
It’s getting easier to handle these holidays and all that without her but milestones still hit me hard. She would have started school this year (preschool) so we would have had 2 out of 3 in school.
One thing i hate hearing is people using loss as an excuse for people acting like assholes during this season. If someone is an ass during the Christmas season, the only excuse is that they’re assholes the rest of the year as well. Losing someone (grandparent, parent, child- it doesn’t matter) is not an excuse to treat people like crap. The holiday season is stressful for most people- being nice, sweet, charitable and kind is the best way to act during this season (and year round). I’ll never understand why people make excuses for bad behavior but then again, it’s not in my nature. I tried to ship something out for my Etsy and the post office worker was an asshole to me. Instead of causing a scene or acting out, I finished paying and just turned around and walked out. It’s likely going to be my absolute last time using that post office, but it’s not my first bad experience with him and there are literally 4 other post offices to choose from in close vicinity.
I think we’re finally done with our shopping. This weekend, we need to go over everything and make sure we have all bases covered. That’s what I like about working in retail, easy shopping all the way up to the day.
