Hey friends, I thought I’d drop in to chat today. I want to share my Christmas playlist with you as well. I know everyone is busy with the holidays now in full swing and I don’t really want to add to your stress by giving you more things to do. I’m sure not to many of you are thinking about organizing your house at this point although if you have company coming maybe you are. It’s not too late to walk around the house with a garbage bag collecting things for donation. I’ve been purging this month and as new things have come in, I’ve had to let some things go. Here are my December purge piles so far.
Christmas decorations no longer used
A big bag of games no longer played with and a box of kitchen stuff
Fridge/Pantry Challenge:
There is one thing I think everyone should do this week that will take about 15-20 minutes and help you out immensely. Open up your fridge and take some time to clean that baby out in preparation for loading it all back up again for Christmas. Old leftovers, expired condiments, wilting veggies, toss, toss, toss. Give the shelves a nice wipe down and you are going to feel like you are on top of the world. Whoot, you got this! This holiday has nothing on you. You’ll be feeling so motivated, you are going to look around the kitchen looking for something else to attack. The pantry, do the pantry! Oh my goodness, those stale crackers that have been sitting there for ages, the expired hard as a rock granola bars, the old marshmallows from days gone by, toss, toss, toss. Girl, you are on a roll!! Look at that pantry with those empty spaces all ready for the holiday sweets and treats. So that’s my little challenge to you today. If you get it done, be sure to leave a comment telling me how great you feel! 🙂
Letting Go:
We are only 11 days from Christmas and at this point I start letting some of the things on my list go. There really is only so much time on our hands and I don’t want to spend the next two weeks stressed. So I take a hard look at what absolutely has to get done and what I can do to give myself some grace. For instance, since I eat Paleo I have no choice but to make my food from scratch but I don’t have to make the ornaments I was hoping to make for gifts. Yes I really wanted to do it and I’ll be sad not to, especially since I have all the supplies bought, but it’s not critical and there’s always next year. I have to be realistic with my time and prioritizing within that time available so I’m not making myself and my family crazy. What is a priority for me is hanging out with my kids that are coming home from college for the holidays.
As someone who lives with a chronic illness, stress and worry is toxic for me (for everyone in fact!) and has the potential to cause my disease to flare. I definitely don’t want that to happen. And while I can’t always change when stressful situations will arise, I can change the way I react to those situations. For instance, I have no control over the fact that two of my contributors have to step down after this month but worrying about it won’t bring me new contributors, it’ll only bring me stress. So instead of dwelling on it, I will turn it over to God and pray for His direction. I’m open to whatever He has in store for me. And in the meantime, I’m going to savor the season and the beauty that comes when my house is full of laughter once again. Oh I can hardly wait!
Grey Hair Update:
So as many of you know, I’ve been growing out my grey hair. In fact it’s been exactly one year since I last dyed it. And boy is it a process. I’ve had good days and I’ve had bad days but I’ve manged to persevere through the days where I’m feeling less than stellar. I’m actually liking the grey, it’s the half and half that I could live without. I have also discovered that grey hair growth is fascinating to many and the exposure and attention sometimes makes me uncomfortable. It’s a feeling of being less put together somehow, like I’ve left the house with only half of a face of makeup on or something. It’s the strangest adjustment and the longest of transitions when you have hair that grows as slowly as mine does. I’ve kept it fairly short and that has helped. It also helps to keep it soft and shiny and the Aveda Blue Malva Shampoo has been a lifesaver for that. Anyone else in the middle of the grey grow out process?
It’s impossible to take a good selfie, sorry I tried.
Christmas Playlist:
Want to listen to a great collection of Christmas music? I shared earlier this year on my 2017 Christmas Gift Guide post that I have an obsession with Christmas music. For those that don’t know I also have a Spotify Playlist with all my Christmas favorites that I like to share here with you each year. I just added this year’s favorite songs that you might like. Johnny Reid’s, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, still holds top spot though 🙂 You will need Spotify (free) to listen below. Enjoy!
Basket of Fun Giveaway:
And finally just a reminder that you’ve still got time to enter to win this fun basket of goodies that I’ve enjoyed putting together for one of you to win. You can enter RIGHT HERE.
I’d love to hear if you tackled my challenge today and one thing you are letting go of this season.
Merry Christmas everyone!!
MelanieL says
You look great! I love your hair! This is so timely, before I left for work this morning I made myself a note to “clean fridge” when I get home. I’m also working to pare down our pantry stock, it was busting out of the door. Ha!
Laura Wittmann says
Thank you Melanie! Hope you get your fridge done tonight. I’m trying to eat out of the freezer this week, there is no more room for anything, eek.
Erin says
I quit coloring my hair a while ago and have been greying also. I’m 43 and have more grey than not. A 3 yr old told me (when I asked what color my hair was) that my hair is grey. I actually get compliments every day b/c of it. Folks are jealous of it. It cracks me up that they are! I tell them my hair has “God’s highlights”.
Laura Wittmann says
Yes I definitely find that there is a fascination by others, it cracks me up too 🙂
MelM says
I’ve never dyed my hair due to an allergy to the chemicals but my grey hair is a fascination in the opposite way. Mid-50s and still less than 20% grey. On a regular basis the women at work who have dyed hair have to confirm with me that my hair is indeed chemical-free. I just laugh at them, it would be a very bad dye job indeed with 20% grey.
Laura Wittmann says
Wow those are some good genes!!
MelM says
Ironically I had prepared myself to be entirely white in my 30s like my mom. I got mom’s hair but evidently dad’s color genes. Bad trade. I would have preferred to have her color and his thick waves.
Shirley says
I’ve decided to finally allow myself to go grey! I got my hair cut yesterday which helps because right now I have a multi-color thing going on…blonde, gold, grey combo. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t just like you said. I’m turning 50 on Friday, but the thing that has always kept me coloring it is I have 3 teenagers that I still want to look younger for. But, I’m tired of the vicious circle of hair color. I’ve never used permanent, but the temporary just doesn’t cover the grey any more. Here’s to embracing the greys! Your hair and style looks lovely. The Basket of Fun looks awesome!
Laura Wittmann says
Happy birthday Shirley!!!
Amy says
Your hair looks lovely! I love the cut!
Laura Wittmann says
Thanks Amy!
Colleen says
I’m another one who is joining the ranks of going grey. I turned 45 this year and I was just so tired of coloring it. I have young kids 8, 6 and 2. My older two are girls and they keep telling me they want me to color it. Its been a few months so I told them we need to give it a chance first. I can always color it if I really don’t like it. I don’t think mine is showing enough for people to comment yet but I’m just waiting for someone to ask if I’m their grandmother!
Laura Wittmann says
Good for you Colleen! Yes it takes awhile to get used to for sure but now I get quite a lot of compliments on it so that makes me feel better 🙂
tisha @ quiltytherapy says
I definitely need to clean out the pantry and organize it. Thanks for the push to do it! I let go of handmade gifts and just focusing on time with the family.
Lisa H says
I really like your grey coming through. Keep going! This year I have decided to make only a few kinds of Christmas cookies/treats. I live alone and found out last year that after giving cookies to friends and neighbors and having plenty for visiting family, that I ended up eating WAY TOO many sweets. I enjoy baking, but am cutting back for my own sake!
Laura Wittmann says
Yes I have too Lisa. In fact my family much prefers a bag of potato chips over sweets anyway so that’s easy to prepare 🙂
Karen H Lawrence says
Thanks for sharing your Christmas playlist. I enjoy following you on your blog and Instagram. I wish I were brave enough to let my grey grow out 🙂 and I really like your hair cut. Praying for your health.
Blessings
Laura Wittmann says
Thank you Karen, I hope you enjoy listening to the Playlist. And thank you for your prayers, I appreciate it!
Becky L says
Stop reading my mind about washing shelves in the fridge. Needs done. I’ve been keeping tabs on what’s not been used. Out it goes. Still may need to make a trip out to the garbage tonite or morning. Your hair looks nice. Always hard to grow color out. My color was lighter than yours so not too bad. Still I have a hard time getting used to nearly grey..white hair now. Sigh! At least I have hair!! Thanks for the giveaway! Have a good week!
Laura Wittmann says
Thanks Becky! You have a great attitude about it!
Rebecca says
I love your hair style! Very cute on you.
Laura Wittmann says
Thank you Rebecca!!
Tara GAuthier says
My husband cleaned out the fridge of all expired items and wiped it all down inside too just last week so we are good to go there. We also spent the time to go through our Christmas decorations as we got some new ones this year and had some that we found weren’t using anymore like our Christmas lighted villages. We kept one little set each for the kids to keep for when then move out as we loved it when we got stuff like that when we were first on our own. The rest of the decorations will be donated. I am not off work until the week of Christmas but we will be tackling our filing during that time as need to make use of the time off. The rest of the time you will find me lounging about the house!
Laura Wittmann says
Yes lounging time is important too! Merry Christmas Tara 🙂
Lee says
Your silvers look beautiful. I’m at about the same point.
Terri says
Trying to go grey too.i’m short of 65yrs. My mom is short of 87yrs, and my older sister is short of 66yrs. They both dye their hair. I’m worried about looking older than my mom and sister. But trying to hang in there. My hair is dark brown. My hair dresser is trying to change my color lighter and lighter as the gray grows out. Worrisome but still hanging in there so far. Not easy for this transition. I hope I can do it.