All Red and All Wrong

I knew something was wrong the moment we arrived at the Christmas party, but I didn’t know much else. I kind of knew the lady through a few common acquaintances, but it was her husband who had invited us to come. He was a client of ours, so Matt and I agreed. We dressed appropriately, and I felt cute in my red sweater. Elegant, not too flashy. Client wear. Matt always looks handsome, but he’d even donned a suit coat for the party. She’d told me not to bring anything, but I didn’t want to arrive empty-handed, so I picked …

Thoughts From Beneath the Tree

I was sitting beneath my beautiful Christmas tree last night, looking at all of the pictures of my kids and little ornaments that represent all kinds of holidays, years, milestones in our lives. And all of a sudden I was struck by the abundance of Christmas and how it flies in the face of the current trend of “frugality”. Everywhere I look and read people are scaling back, cutting back, and trying to figure out how to give less. And though I absolutely applaud being purposeful with your money, there is something so empty in this approach to Christmas. They …

Christmas in November

We almost, almost watched a Christmas movie this weekend. Matt started to turn it on for the kids. “NOOOOOOO”, I pleaded. “Christmas is still 55 days away. I can’t do it.” Now, I love Christmas so much and I am usually the first one diving in. Our tree is up the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 25th for my SA friends) and I just love the whole season. However, the season has come a month early this year. The stores are so desperately hoping that the Christmas season is going to save them that they just decided to go ahead and …

Christmas Cheer… A Few Months Early

“‘Tis the season to be jolly”… and then you sing… “fa la la la la, la la la la”. Seriously, it is so early to even think of Christmas, but that is exactly what my husband and I have been discussing this weekend. Oddly enough, I have spoken to two of my couple friends who are talking about the same thing this weekend. I think we are all looking at the fall, and looking at our financial picture and just trying to take inventory. For Matt and I, this time of year is like a roller coaster that just keeps …