Good morning, everyone! I know that mid-October has not even hit, and we still have Halloween and Thanksgiving to celebrate. But believe me, Christmas will be here before you know it. I have been talking a little bit on Snapchat, about being prepared. I have shared suggestions and tips on implementing a budgeting system (NOW), and also some gift-giving ideas you can start thinking about.

When it comes to holidays, one thing about Bloggers and Youtubers is they need to stay ahead of the game. My website launched Dec. 13 of last year. Starting my blog in mid-December didn’t provide me with the time I needed to get blog posts out on budgeting for Christmas and gift giving ideas. I did however snap here and there on gift suggestions. You may recall my snap story on wine recommendations and candle suggestions. I also did a tour of our home once all the trimmings were up, a lot of cooking and baking, and shared party planning ideas.

Sticking with what bloggers do, I want to be ahead of the game and start providing as much content as I can, to help you not only get in the spirit of Christmas, but to save you from spending too much money, as well. I would also like to help with gift-giving suggestions to prevent you from buying last minute gifts that have no real meaning to them.

In our home, it’s full blown Christmas prep, as soon as the Halloween decorations go down on November 1st. I understand those of you that refuse (or rebel) against doing anything related to Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Hey, you have to do what makes you happy. But, I want to challenge you to look back on Christmas past and recall whether or not you were really ‘tissing’ the season‘. Or were you stressed, overwhelmed and broke. If you didn’t find yourself in that situation, then proceed on. Hey, if it’s not broken, why fix it. Right?

My theory and goal is to pretty much have all Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. We may have a couple Black Friday purchases, but those tend to be big purchases for the home or a big ticket Christmas gift that say one of the kids put on their wish list. By Thanksgiving, I want the gifts bought, if at all possible. Having them wrapped would be ideal .. but let’s not get carried away. The house hopefully will be decorated, the baking ingredients stocked on the pantry shelves, and all party supplies for our annual Christmas party purchased.

November is a very tough month on me, trying to get it all done – shopping, decorating and party planning. I’m exhausted thinking about it. But I would rather be doing this during November, when I don’t have parties to attend, and kid’s Christmas programs and recitals to work around. December comes in with a vengeance, and festivities are in full swing. There is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on television, as the family is getting ready to go to Thanksgiving dinner. But what makes this morning so enjoyable is the fact that our home is full of holiday and Christmas cheer, and we are ready to start the season of giving. Don’t get me wrong, celebrating Thanksgiving and being thankful is not overlooked. Not then, or any other time of the year.

Now, bear in mind, this works for our family because we are not the one hosting Thanksgiving. If you are hosting Thanksgiving at your home, you will have to decide if you are comfortable having your home decorated for Christmas. I am hoping that when our five girls are all married some day and have families, that they switch amongst themselves and their sisters, who hosts Thanksgiving in their home. This will allow their dad and I to keep up with our tradition of having our home ready for Christmas, nice and early. The goal being that every year, we host Christmas in our home and the girls cover Thanksgiving. I have no problem coming to their home and cooking the bird and making the dressing … I just prefer not to host. If the girls take turns, they will only be hosting once every five years. Sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it? Good thing their father and I are flexible. Having five children teaches you, real quick, that being flexible will eliminate a lot of heartache later on. But having goals and communicating those goals to your loved ones is very important.

It should be pretty clear by now that my November will be quite busy. Let’s not forget that I have a whole week devoted to Nordstrom’s Beauty Trend week, Show, and my ‘Mini-Audacious Beauty’ Event. To hear the details on that, read this blog post, here. I do intend on getting content out during both November and December. But it will be more specific to Christmas. I want to communicate what that content is going to consist of. And I also always love your feedback on what you want to hear.

October Blog Posts

My Favorite Leggings – hopefully by weeks end. It’s pretty much done, minus a photo shoot.

Nordstrom Beauty Event Reminders – I have already talked about it, in this blog post, here. Get Registered TODAY!

Anti-Aging with Needles – don’t forget ladies … this Thursday, the 10th, I go in for my fillers!

I am sure there will be a couple outfit posts thrown in, as well.

Moving on to November … I am planning on launching my Youtube Channel {Fingers crossed}. The botched ‘self-tanning’ one is coming down! Thank God! We will revisit it again next early spring, with hopefully a much better video. I would like to launch my Youtube with my ‘Christmas Gift Guides’. I love watching these videos on YouTube year-after-year. So many great ideas for gift-giving are provided in these videos. I especially love seeing all the holiday edition beauty launches. So many great product goodies for such great prices. Christmas is the perfect time to indulge on makeup and beauty sets. But trust me, the good ones go fast! And they are already hitting shelves and are being sold online. I know this, because I have some in my cart! If you wait until Black Friday, you’ve waited too long! Unfortunately, a lot of beauty gurus don’t get their ‘Christmas Gift Guides’ out early enough. Many people miss out on these spectacular holiday gift sets, because of this. My goal is to not make that mistake. But that also means I will have to take time away from other areas in order to devote time to making this happen. On top of that, I have to learn Youtube. It’s not as easy as it seems, believe me. What I am proposing for my gift guides are the following..

November Blog Posts + Videos

First week of November, I will be tied up with Nordstrom Trend Week, My Mini-Audacious Beauty Event, and the Trend Show

Sephora VIB and Ulta Friends & Family Wish List (Blog Post)

Christmas Gift Guides (all YouTube) – I plan on doing more than one video. My goal is three, as I believe this will make it easier for you to not get overwhelmed. I have been watching past years videos of youtubers that do ‘Christmas Gift Guides’. I’ve been taking notes on what I like and what I would do differently in my own videos. I am open to suggestions from you, however. Please share with me how you would like these videos divided up. Some Youtubers do a Luxury Gift Guide (over $50), Little Luxuries (under $50) and a Stocking Stuffers Gift Guide. Some break it down into Ladies & Mens, and then another one for Teens/Tweens. I also have my themed gifts to put in there. Or it could be Beauty-only and another video on non-beauty. So many different options, and would love your input.

Budgeting Strategies for Holiday Spending (Blog post)..this will be done with my Husband’s assistance, as effective budgeting requires a husband and wife being on the same page. I did snap on this topic earlier this week. It would be nice if I could get this post out in October, but no promises.

Details of the look above are in this blog post, here and in this blog post

Additional Information that has been requested:

Organization bins mentioned on Snapchat, earlier this week, when I was organizing my bathroom drawers, here

For those of you that are loving the Maybelline Color Jolt in 05 Stripped Down, or are interested in purchasing it … check out this new gift set here

The Coat that I have been eyeing for over two weeks just got re-stocked today. It’s on sale … check it out here

Floral Blouse here (I am wearing Size Medium)