2025 Christmas Bucket List – Recap

Happy New Year’s Eve! Just like that Christmas was over! This month was much busier than anticipated and some events were not very Christmas-y, so it felt very different this year; but we still made the best of it!

Here’s a little recap of how we did on our bucket list. To see the original bucket list post and for the printable(s), you can click here.

~ Attend a Local Holiday Event

Yes! We went to an event called Christmas Story Book Land. This place had tons of displays from Christmas villages to mini movie and storybook displays.

We also planned on going to Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo, but sad day when we remembered that we needed to pre-purchase tickets. But as a bonus, we took a detour to our friends house and ended up Christmas caroling! Something I honestly didn’t think would ever make it on our bucket list, but it was fun (and very unexpected! :)

~ Decorate for Christmas

Yes!

Yes! I found these cute cookie decorating kits that came with food coloring markers, so we turned on a Christmas movie, made them hot chocolate while they colored their cookies. They loved it!

Yes! We did miss a couple days as we had some pretty late nights and the kids needed to get to bed, but they enjoyed the podcast!

  • “Countdown to Christmas with Zach” podcast

Nope, no points here.

We did! These are peppermint cookies, made with devils food cake mix and Ande’s mints. SOOoo easy and so good!

~ Drive Around to Look at Christmas Lights

We found the best lights! We even found a house that had their Christmas light display synced with a radio station playing Christmas songs. It was the best!

My favorite!

My daughter hi-jacked my phone and took a thousand pictures of the floor, so this is the only post worthy picture I got. It was a wonderful service. :)

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I honestly cannot believe we are at the end of this year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and pray you have a very safe and Happy New Year!

Much Love,

Cami

2025 Christmas Bucket List

I cannot believe the holiday season is here! I am feeling more festive this year than I have in a while, and that is a welcoming feeling! I came up with a Christmas holiday bucket list to make sure we get out and enjoy some fun holiday cheer.

The nice thing about this list is that you can decide how festive you want to be! There are some years I’ve had to give myself grace and allow myself to do the bare minimum. You don’t have to go crazy; every effort, no matter how small, can still make a difference.

So here we go! Scroll to the bottom for the printable list! I also have a blank option for those who would like to create their own. As you will see, my list is not completely filled out. I like leaving space to write in some extra things we think of later, and it’s also a reminder that it’s okay to make space and not do it all.

~ Attend a Local Holiday Event

This can be a going to a holiday market or craft fair, attending Christmas play or The Nutcracker ballet, or whatever is going on around your town. If you have Facebook, the event page is a great place to look to see what is going on locally or visit your city’s web page visitors guide. Our local library puts on quite a few events as well. We have a couple ideas in mind for our family, so stay tuned to see what we decide!

~ Decorate for Christmas

Here’s an easy item to check off your list! We had to get rid of A LOT of Christmas decorations when we moved years ago, so every year since we try to buy one Christmas decoration to restock our home. Every year our home feels a little extra cozy.

This is turning into my one of my favorite traditions. The kids gather their blankets by the tree and we turn off all the lights except for the Christmas tree and we listen. It feels so peaceful and special. <3

Even if you haven’t started, it’s not too late to catch up! Here are some great options:

  • “We Wonder” podcast. I would say this is a great podcast for anyone around age 8 and over. I listened to this last year with my son and we both enjoyed it. This advent series is an older one so you will need to scroll to find the dates.

  • “Countdown to Christmas with Zach” podcast is the one we chose this year. Londyn is still pretty little so it’s been a great option. I love that he shares facts about the meaning of certain Christmas decorations. It gets them thinking about the real meaning of Christmas and they can even get involved by calling to leave a voicemail with their answers to the questions he asks!

“Making Space: An Advent Devotional” by Susan Narjala. I am also going through this advent devotional series this year.

~ Make Hot Chocolate and Watch a Christmas Movie

This is a simple item that you can check off your list without much effort! I personally love the movie “The Holiday” and my kids favorite is a tie between “The Star” and “The Grinch” (2018 cartoon version).

A simple Google search pulls up lots of ideas! Decorating a gingerbread house has also crossed my mind!

This can be as simple as letting Pillsbury do all the work and buy pre-made cookie dough or baking cookies from scratch and elaborately decorating them. I usually land somewhere in the middle, but I’ve had my share of years that I chose the easy route…and no one cried.

~ Drive Around to look at Christmas Lights

Last year we had the kids get in their Christmas jammies, got them hot chocolate, and drove around to the different neighborhoods with the best Christmas light displays. Our daughter was only 2 and a half, but she still remembers it so well and can’t wait to do it again!

The Candlelight Christmas Eve service is my absolute favorite! I would invite each you you reading this to come with me if I could! We have traditionally ordered a pizza and watched a Christmas movie after. I’m looking forward to doing this again!

So there you have it! I would love to know what’s on your Christmas bucket list!

Here are the printable lists:

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I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! I would love to know what favorite holiday traditions are!

Much Love,

Cami

Currently December 2020

December! We made it through the year! What a year this has been. This month was insanely, insanely busy! So busy I wasn’t sure if I was going to get this post up but I didn’t want to break my streak! I’m so thankful I managed to blog throughout the whole year.

Anyway, as previously said, this months was busy! There was picture taking, and baking, and creating, and shopping, and wrapping, and packaging, and mailing. I’m so glad to be done now! All that work paid off and we had a wonderful Christmas :). My husband had to work Christmas night, so Gryffin and I woke up and I watched as he opened his gift from Santa and his stocking (I took a video so Mikey could watch it later). I have to say, age 3, is the absolute best age for Christmas! While I know Gryffin will be excited for Christmas next year, I’m not sure he will ever be as excited as he was this year.

Here’s what else we were up to this month.

Currently Watching

Mikey and I are finally back on watching The Mandalorian! We saw there was only 6 episodes in season 2 so we are starting from the beginning to try and stretch it out.

Family movie nights have consisted of…

  • WonderLand – This was such a cute movie! I highly recommend. It’s on Amazon Prime.
  • Finding Nemo – Finally! I have been trying to get Gryffin to watch this movie for months but he just wasn’t interested. We went through a Disney advent calendar where he got to open a new book every night and one of them was a Finding Nemo Christmas. We were finally able to talk him into watching it. He has asked to watch it just about every weekend ever since.
  • Finding Dory
  • The Grinch
  • The Star – I love this movie! This might even be our annual Christmas Eve movie for the next couple years.

Currently Reading

Nothing aside from my Advent devotional on the YouVersion Bible App. I talked about it a little more in my last post here.

Currently Making/Baking

I went a little crazy and baked 4 different kinds of cookies this year. Why did I think this was a good idea?!?! I baked them all in a matter of 2 days. I’m not sure what I was thinking! I baked Snowball cookies, Chocolate Peppermint cookies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, and Sugar cookies (which turned out looking like a train wreck, but Gryffin loved them)

Next year I’m sticking to two different kinds,1 batch each, and that’s it, haha.

Current Favorite

The quiet, peaceful, and still moments in the middle of the crazy and busiest season of all. The silent nights were comforting and also a reminder of how important it is to quiet and calm my heart and mind.

Also, watching Gryffin’s excitement probably makes it a tie. :)

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I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and here is to a much, much better 2021!

Much love to you all,

Cami

Currently – December 2019

It’s hard to believe we are at the end of the month and end of the year no less. I have another post coming as a re-cap of the year, but let’s just say there are a lot of mixed feelings with this year ending.

This past month has been both chaotic and quiet. Work was chaotic…completely chaotic. Home life felt pretty quiet. For once in our life we were actually ahead of the game for Christmas shopping (thank you Amazon!). I was even in the mood to bake a couple batches of cookies, which is pretty rare. We also welcomed a new little baby nephew to our family. I was so excited to finally meet him last week! I’ve had my share of baby snuggles, which makes me one happy auntie. Christmas came and it’s suddenly over, just like that.

Anyway…here’s what we’ve been up to this month.

Currently Watching

I think we’ve watched a bit of everything this month! Amazon Prime had a Hallmark quality Christmas movie, “Snowed-Inn Christmas”, which I was not at all disappointed to watch. Of course there is a big cheese factor to these Santa Christmas movies, but it was kinda cute.

On Disney Plus, Mikey and I are watching “The Mandalorian” and Gryffin watched Mickey Mouse’s “Once Upon a Christmas” and “Twice Upon a Christmas” a couple times.

Currently Reading

Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Be Noticed by Sara Hagerty

I’m still not done with this one. This is a book that I just can’t listen to for hours at a time because I really want what she’s saying to sink in. I’ve had to re-check it out twice and I’m pretty sure I might have to make it 3 times, but I’m getting there.

Currently Making/Baking

Ooooh I have been making and baking up a storm! Well…a storm for me might be more like a sprinkle to others.

For cookies, I made these Andes Mint Cookies by Six Sisters Stuff

PC: Six Sister Stuff

I found this recipe via Pinterest years ago and I’ve made them almost every year since. It’s probably the easiest cookie recipe ever. They are so soft and minty and yuummmy.

I also made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies by Sally’s Baking Addiction

PC: Sally’s Baking Addiction

I have talked about these cookies a few times on my blog because they are just so darn good! If you love pumpkin and love chocolate, then goooo make these cookies!

In the none-sweet world, I have also made Pozole. I use a recipe that was handed down from a friend – my favorite kind of recipe! We recently won a Ninja Foodie and it’s quickly becoming my best friend. I used it on this recipe and it turned out so, so good! It’s on my to-do list to take a pic and put the recipe on my blog. It’s rich and spicy in flavor and delicious!

Current Obsession

I actually don’t have anything to share this month here. My focus has been on family and spending time with them…everything else has faded in the background and I’m definitely more than okay with that.

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I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the rest of the month…all 2 days of it! :)

Much Love,

Cami

Currently – November 2019

Compared to last month, this month has been quite eventful. The first weekend of the month I went to a small baby shower for my sister-in-law. The second weekend we watched my nephews overnight at their house – 3 small boys in one house and another cousin that came to visit the next day, so make that 4 small boys. It was super fun, but super exhausting!

Mikey and I were also able to go on another date night (woot woot!). No pictures this time, but we went out to our favorite all-you-can-eat Mongolian restaurant and chatted the night away.

Then we went to a Friends-giving this past Tuesday, which was really nice and then there was of course acutal Thanksgiving…which turned out to be kind of a bummer. Gryffin came down with a nasty, awful cold, complete with a 103.5 fever…poor guy! We got his fever down, but stayed home all day and missed out spending time with family. My brother was awesome and brought us over some turkey, stuffing, etc. and we traded them with rolls and a bottle of sparkling cider. The fact we still ended with some turkey and pie made it somewhat better. :)

Anyway…here’s what else we’ve been up to this month.

Currently Watching

Helllooooo Disney +

Image result for disney plus

There has been lots of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (thank goodness we have a break from Blippi!), The Little Mermaid, The Aristocats, Cars, and Monster’s Inc.

Also, Doug! Did anyone else grow up watching this?? Gosh, it’s so nice to see parts of my childhood back! It was kind of exciting.

Currently Reading

Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life by Shauna Niequist

I finished a book! This, in and of itself, deserves to be documented because it has been that long since I have finished a book cover to cover. Granted, this was an audio book, but it still counts!

I enjoyed it overall. It’s not going on my “favorites” book list, but I don’t regret reading it either. This book was full of little snippets of the ups and downs in her life. Some parts were more relate-able than others, but I absolutely loved the way she wrote. Her descriptions were perfectly detailed, making it an enjoyable journey as she took you along with her as she shared each part of her life story and the lessons she learned.

My only “complaint” is that the stories she shared of her life were not in order. She organized them by subject rather than consecutive events. This kind of drove me nuts and made me wonder if I somehow had the book on “shuffle”. With that being said I wouldn’t let that stop you from reading it.

Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Be Noticed by Sara Hagerty

Ok, this is back on my list. I had to re-check it out as an audio book after I finished Cold Tangerines. This is the kind of book you let certain insights sink in and your marinate on it for a bit. I think it would be better if I read this as a book book, so I could underline and highlight and take my time, but for now I’m making progress with the audio book and it will do.

Currently Making/Baking

Dairy Free Potato Corn Chowder – You can click the link to the recipe and photos here.

This is my most favorite fall and winter soup recipe! I’ve mentioned many times that my little 2 1/2 year old is sensitive to dairy so it was so exciting to find the perfect fall soup that we can all enjoy. *happy sigh*

Current Obsession

Deep cleaning!

While spring seems to be the most popular time to deep clean for most people, there is something about the holidays that makes me feel the need to clean like a crazy, mad woman.

After being cooped up inside for so long I start really noticing the grime that settles in over time – anywhere from the extremely dusty blinds in the bathroom, to the laundry room floor that I keep putting off, to the dishwasher base and filter.

I took advantage of daycare this week (before Gryffin got sick) and took some extra time off so I could spend an entire day scrubbing the bathroom from the ceiling to floor.

I created a detailed bathroom deep cleaning list and plan to share that with you in the months to come. I would share it now but I need to make a few tweaks to it. I also want to work on a few more deep cleaning lists as well, including the kitchen, laundry room, and living room…so just something to look forward to in future. ;)

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I honestly can’t believe December is here tomorrow! I hope you all had a wonderful November and a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!!

Much Love,

Cami