I woke up this morning asking my husband how on earth is it already December?! I cannot believe how quickly the years pass the older we get. This holiday season I teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers and am joining their #12DaysOfBlogmas challenge hosted by Julie at Girl On The Move and Joanna at Motherhood and Merlot. OK, I have to admit, I’m probably not going to get through all 12 days, I’m just too damn busy! But the beauty of this challenge is I’m not required to do all 12 days (phew!), but I am excited to partake in a few of them and keep on blogging track during the busy holiday season.
The first prompt on the list is my holiday bucket list. I gotta say I’m loving this one because I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about a bucket list for the holidays. So this has helped me hone in on what’s really important to me personally and professionally as I wrap up 2015. So without further adieu, here’s my 2015 holiday bucket list.
Share My Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaway
Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to partner up with some amazing companies, and for the past month I’ve been working with several of them to offer my followers a list of ideas, deals and giveaways for the holiday season. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it was tough to narrow down my list from being a mile long, but when it came down to it, I wanted to highlight brands and companies that I truly feel confident about. So stayed tuned because I’ve been waiting to share this gem for day 3 of the 12 days of blogmas!
Joyful Jubiliations
I’m all about Christmas all the time, and now that I have a toddler it gives me the perfect excuse to attend as many holiday festivities as possible. After all, it’s only December 1st and we’ve already visited Santa (three times!), attended a Christmas tree lighting and watched Frosty the Snowman a solid 7 or 8 times. OK we’ve also watched Charlie’s Brown’s Christmas, The Grinch and the Polar Express, but who’s really keeping track here?! My point is that I want to enjoy as many events, holiday specials and magical moments with my daughter as humanly possible. I have an entire list of joyful jubilations I’m excited to attend over the next month and I truly can’t wait to watch the excitement in my daughters eyes for each and every one.
Unplug
Believe it or not, I’ve been unplugging from social media more frequently over the past couple of months. Sometimes for a full day and sometimes for just a few hours. But regardless of how long I’m disconnected, I find the time away is liberating, refreshing and incredibly important for me and my family. It can be hard for a socialite like myself not to get caught up in the buzz of every post in my Facebook newsfeed and broadcast on Periscope, but the only thing that truly matters is what I’m doing, not what everyone else is doing. I want to truly be present with everything I do, so when family time rolls around – off goes the devices. These moments and years are precious, and they’re fleeting, so I don’t want to miss a thing because my face was too stuffed in my cell phone!
Fitness Everyday
The holidays are a busy time of year, and it poses its challenges to stay focused with fitness and healthy eating. Being a fitness instructor and having 3 more road races on my calendar between now and January first, my goal is to make sure those things keep me on track to get in all my training runs and workouts. It’s one thing to preach, but it’s entirely different to practice what you preach, so this holiday season I’m making sure that I’m not just telling all of you to stay on track, but to stay on track myself!
Traditions
I’m a sucker for old family traditions, but lately, I’m really loving creating new ones. There’s something really special about starting your own family and traditions, especially during the holidays. Cutting down our Christmas tree and making a gingerbread house are things I look forward to during the holidays. Now that my daughter is officially a toddler, I’m enjoying including her in old traditions and starting new ones that we can look forward to in the years to come. So far this year we’ve started Elf on the Shelf, and my daughter seems to really like it.
Family
Need I say more here? The most important thing in my life is my family. So this holiday season, like all the rest, all I really want is to spend quality time with the people who mean the most to me. The people who truly support me, love me and who are there for me no matter what. The holidays aren’t at all about the gifts for me, they’re about being thankful for my blessings and celebrating with the people I love. The most important thing on my bucket list this holiday season and all year long is my family ♥
Do you have any holiday traditions or things you want to do this holiday season? Comment below and tell me about some of your favorite family traditions or what’s on your holiday bucket list this year!
Want to know what’s on the #12DaysOfBlogmas? Check out the infographic below!