The moment my birthday ends the hubby is allowed to play Christmas music beginning the Christmas madness in my house and I love it. I love all the cheer. And I totally LOVE the shopping. Except this year we’re looking for Christmas ideas that are more experience than gifts. It was inspired by something I did with some friends last year. We rented out Kerrigan Gymnastics in Coquitlam, BC for a party right before Christmas. We had fun together, the kids got to play and it was a nice way to spend the holidays. So hopefully this year, we’ll be able to do something like this again.
We might even be super adventurous Christmas seekers and try to cut down our own tree in a forest somewhere. Apparently this is how you get a permit for a semi-free cut your own tree in the Seattle area. I’m not sure I quite understand it. I’m a little wary that it might be like fishing where you might head out in the forest and come back with NOTHING. But there might be a ton of fun in it too and we can always end up at our favorite spot: Christmas Creek where we know we’ve had a lot of success in the past.
And just because I’m looking for experiences doesn’t mean I’m not going to shop. I will. I even did this morning because the Gap/Piperlime/Banana Republic conglomerate is having a major sale (30-5% off EVERYTHING with code: MERRY until 11/19/2013!!) I just want to do it a little more carefully. I think if I venture to go out shopping on my favorite day of the year, I might head to some local shops and see what they’re up to. I know Capitol Hill usually has some kind of Black Friday sale and I’m waiting to hear what happens over there. I also like shopping in Uvillage just because its festive and parking is easy too and I’ve been wanting this Wilfred Sweater from Aritizia forever, and this is going to be the year I buy it and hopefully on sale.
And if you’re looking for an easy meat-free option for your turkey dinner, we recently tried the Turkey-less Stuffed Roast from Trader Joe’s. I’m all for saving a few animal friends and this one wasn’t horrible.
So I hope you’re beginning you’re holiday festivities wherever you are. And if you have any ideas for festive holiday sweaters, I’d love to hear. I had some on my mind last week but I’m still looking! Thanks!
(PS. if your mind is still on Thanksgiving and not Christmas yet, I wrote a post for Name Bubbles with a cute Thank you card idea, and if you still have some pretty leaves outside, you might have a little fun with it! Name Bubbles makes labels for kidstuff and right now they have a pretty good deal on for a sampler set if you need to put names on your kids clothes and stuff for school so you might want to check that out too!)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)