Easy ways to have a peaceful holiday season

As snow falls and lights twinkle, we can all hear Andy Williams singing loudly in our ears that the holiday season is "the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year."

Unfortunately, high expectations - both internal and external - can make the last two months of the year the most stressful time of the year as well, especially for women. Over 40% of American report feeling increased stress about time, money, and relationships during the holiday season.

Avoiding Financial Stress

• Think about what you TRULY value. Setting boundaries is one of the keys to a peaceful holidays and no where is that more important than with regards to spending. What traditions are worth spending money on? What gifts do you give merely out of obligation? Can you trade out the fancy holiday party for a potluck with close friends and be just as happy? 
• Give experiences not gifts. Gift-giving is a huge source of holiday spending - and holiday stress! So, this year avoid giving more stuff and consider experiences. Is there a child on your list you could take to the movies? What about an older relative you could treat to a home-cooked meal? The Simple Dollar has several other great ideas. 
• Do It Yourself. With a few exceptions, making a meal, decoration, or gift yourself is usually cheaper than buying it at the store. Now, trying to make EVERYTHING yourself is a recipe for disaster. However, making a cake instead of picking one up at the grocery store or putting together homemade hostess gifts instead of buying gift cards will add up to real holiday savings over the course of the season. 

Avoiding Relationship Stress

• Setting personal boundaries. Much like financial limits, we have to understand our relationship boundaries to avoid holiday stress. We cannot be responsible for other people's happiness during this time of year. All we can do is understand what situations trigger our own stress and do our best to avoid or defuse them. Self-care goes a long way in this area. Can you take a walk before you react in anger? How about volunteering for dish duty to stay out of fray?
• Give empathy this holiday season. Many times those who are difficult to be around during the holiday season are experiencing their own personal troubles. Maybe an angry relative is lonely themselves? Or a competitive friend is feeling insecure? Remember their reactions are usually about them not you.
• Embrace the chaos. Instead of trying to control everyone or avoid any unexpected changes, embracing a certain amount of the chaos that comes with this time of year can make you happier in the end. Keep an eye on your boundaries but also try think about when your expectations are getting the best of you. Are your kids ruining your perfect Christmas cookies or are you missing the chance for some messy - but happy - new holiday memories?

If you're interested in more ways to avoid holiday stress and create a peaceful holiday season, then check out 21 Days to a Peaceful Holiday consists of 21 days of emails beginning December 1st and running through Winter Solstice on December 21, as well as membership in our 21 Days to a Peaceful Holiday Facebook group. 

This course is basically like an online holiday season life coach and support group.

Imagine starting your day with a dear friend who just wants the happiest holiday season for you. Or how would you like to share your morning coffee with a friend who gently asks "Are you taking good care of yourself?" or has conveniently scoured the Internet for quick and easy Advent ideas to make you feel like a Christmas queen with minimal effort?

That's us!

Nurtured Mama and I have written gentle reminders and inspirational ideas on how to decide what holiday memories are important to YOU, how to capture those Christmas moments that come and go so quickly, how to keep the consumption and indulging to a healthy minimal, how to simplify gift giving, and much, much more!

We tackle everything from the emotional, like how to deal with difficult people during an already stressful time and how to embrace the romance of the season, to the practical, like simple gift DIYs and easy traditions to start tomorrow.

Nothing is required. You can give as little or as much energy to our suggestions as you want. What WE want is to make this holiday season brighter, easier, and yes more peaceful!

To register for the class, please click here!

5 Costume Ideas for Families with all BOYS!

It's October. Summer is officially over and it's time to embrace all things fall from corn mazes to falling leaves to COSTUMES!

That's right. October means Halloween and Halloween means costumes. I love dressing up and every year I look forward to planning out every little detail of what we will wear.

You see, we are family costumers. There is a theme. We all dress accordingly and have since Griffin was born. I love getting dressed up and I love being part of a group and I love these hooligans I call my family so it really is the perfect scenario for me.

It's gotten harder as we have to work around actual children with actual preferences (aka we will be dressed as some types of superheroes again this year) but I never tire of the challenge.

Since family costumes take a bit more preparation, I thought I'd give you a couple ideas early in the month in case you wanted to force - I mean lovingly guide - your family into a theme.

Baby Lobster and Chefs

Griffin's first Halloween he was the lobster and we were the chefs. We literally carried him around in that pot for part of the night and it was a HIT. The lobster costume was adorable and it's an easy theme to coordinate for new parents because all you need is white jackets and chef hats.

Pirates and Baby Parrot

My entire family got in on the act this year. We all dressed as pirates and Griffin was our parrot. Nicholas made Griffin's costume out of felt. It was basically a blue felt poncho with felt feathers glued on. We rented our costumes, which was more expensive, but dang we looked good. The best part was the theme for my favorite house on Jefferson Street was Peter Pan!

The Wizard of Oz

When we added baby Amos to the mix, we suddenly needed four costumes instead of three - opening up a new world of possibilities! The Wizard of Oz is the perfect fit for those with boys and I've got to admit - wearing the ruby slippers was more fun than I expected it to be! Also, my mom got in on the act and it was awesome.

Spiders!

Two years was the first year Griffin had a costume request. It was all Spiderman all the time at our house so we knew that would be our theme. Griffin was Spiderman. Nicholas was J. Jonah Jameson. Amos and I were the radioactive spider and his web. Thanks, Martha! It worked out perfect since Amos still needed to be toted around and people flipped for my skirt!

The Avengers

Boys like superheroes. A lot. Last year, Griffin wanted to be Iron Man and we were able to talk Amos into Thor. Add in a hulk and Black Widow (pre-pregnancy weight gain THANK GOODNESS!) and VOILA! The Avengers! There's room for more little boys so maybe we'll even use this one again some day.

This year our theme is... HARRY POTTER! 

Do you and your family dress up together? I'd LOVE to hear your ideas or see pics on Facebook!

A Harry Potter Inspired Mantle with Trees n Trends

Recently, I partnered with Trees n Trends, a fabulous regional home decor chain based in Paducah. With stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, Trees n Trends is the place to go for everything from outdoor furniture to holiday decor. (P.S. They have online ordering!)

After I joined the team, I mentioned to one of the designers that we were having a big Harry Potter year at the Holland household between our upcoming trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and dressing up as Harry Potter characters for Halloween. He suggested coming to my house and designing a custom Harry Potter mantle. 

I was all ... hmmmm, I don't know.

Oh, I'm sorry what I actually said was YES YES YES PLEASE YES!!!! CAN WE GO NOW!?!?!

So, after a trip to Trees n Trends, Kevin came to my house and designed the most awesome mantle of all time. Don't believe me?

Check out Trees n Trends blog for the full mantle AND video of all the fun we had creating it! (There's also video of Griffin's reaction to the mantle which is NOT to be missed!)

A Music Themed Birthday Party

Invitations

Nothing will make your little guests more excited for your Make Me Music party than an actual musical instrument. I love the idea of handing out little maracas - just print the party info on a little card tied to the handle and you’re ready to go! Oriental Trading will even let you personalize the handle.  

Party Decor

This whimsical paint chip garland designed by little bit funky will bring a pop of color to your party. It also reminds me of the bopping flowers at the bottom of Make Me Music. However, you could also use this punch to make a colorful music note garland instead. Also, this brilliant upcycle of brightly colored paper plates from Parents Magazine could liven up any party table or table backdrop. 

On the Menu

Pop Rocks of course! How can you pass up food that makes music in your mouth!?! I also love the adorable (and EASY!) drum stick pretzel sticks that crazy for design served at her son’s birthday party. Now, no birthday party menu is complete without cake - the drum cake featured on Kara’s Party Ideas looks good enough to play and eat!

Activities and Favors

Make music come alive at your party by having a teacher from the local music school come lead the kids in a song. Martha Stewart also has several tutorials on how to let kids make their own instruments as a fun activity. 

A favor bag filled with musical instrument scribblers in an array of colors would be a fun way to send your tiny guests off with smile on their face (as well as the parents since this toy is silent!). A CD filled with your favorite children’s music (check out some of FeeFiFoFun's new offerings!) or a card with a gift code for Make Me Music would also be a fantastic favor.  

Special Treat for Mom

And because I always like to wear a little nod to all my parties on the big day, I had to include this beautiful treble clef ring from laladesignstudio. 

This post originally appeared on Salt & Nectar.

Happy birthday to bluegrass redhead!

As you might have noticed, there's been a few changes around ye olde bluegrass redhead.

That's because this month marks the blog's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

This past year has been an intense one and I wouldn't have made it without all of you. The community that has built up around bluegrass redhead make me so insanely proud and I can't wait to watch it continue to grow. 

I only hope that I've given as much to you as you have to me over the past year. 

In celebration, I've got a few things planned. First, I've spiffed up the space a bit. I was getting tired of seeing the same picture of my face (and I love my face!) so I've decided to change the masthead from time to time. Right now, it's baby Sarah enjoying the California sunshine at about 7-years-old but I plan on changing the photo regularly from here on out. I've also added popular posts and content categories, as well as my Instagram feed, along the side. 

Next up, I've prepared a reader survey. I REALLY want to hear from y'all. I want to know what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to hear from me, and how I can help. So, if you have a few seconds (it's short I promise!), please fill out this survey! Completing the survey will earn you an extra TEN entires in...

The last part of our celebration A GIVEAWAY! I'm giving away a Kindle in celebration of my one year anniversary! The giveaway will run from today through the actual one year birthday next Friday and you can rack up lots of entries by sharing on Twitter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Finally, I'll be sharing popular content and my favorite posts throughout the next week. If you were looking to get me the perfect gift (which I KNOW you were!), I would be so honored if you'd share your favorite bluegrass redhead posts and tell your friends and family to come by and check it out!

Seriously, thank you for making this first year so incredibly special.

Ninjago Birthday Party

Surprisingly absolutely no one, my two boys love all things Lego® and have grown particularly fond of the Lego® franchise NINJAGO. When I first broached the subject of a shared party, I asked what they wanted as a theme and Griffin immediately shouted, "NINJAGO!"

To which, Amos responded, "YEAH, NINJAGO!"

Unanimous. So, we got a NINJAGO invites (which I designed myself), NINJAGO cake, and I made NINJAGO balloons. Every kid at the party got to decorate their own karate headband and we had a karate instructor come give a quick lesson. Add a bouncy castle and you have all the ingredients of birthday party success!

Why marriage (not weddings) deserves to be celebrated

Our vow renewal was recently featured in Paducah Life's The Wedding Book and, as we approach wedding season, I thought I'd share the reflections I shared in the magazine.

Ten years ago I was a blushing bride. A young girl who knew a lot about weddings and receptions and bridal gowns - but very little about marriage. I spent months on Save the Date cards and out-of-town guest baskets and floral arrangements. I obsessed over song selection and reading selection and appetizer selection.

Ten years later, as my husband and I discussed how to celebrate a decade of marriage, I knew my bridal days were over. Now, instead of a wedding to plan, I had a family to run. Two boys. Two careers. A home. I wanted to skip the obsessing and stress and expectations that had overtaken my life ten years ago.

Still, we wanted a celebration - not another wedding, but a chance to gather with the people we loved in a space that was special to us.

On Saturday, July 13, we came together with our friends and family in our front yard for a sunset vow renewal. We kept all the parts of our original ceremony that were important to us. James Michael Baker, a dear friend from college who had performed at our wedding, sang “When you wish upon a star” as we walked out our front door with our two boys. 

We stood under the maple tree, which had been transformed with blooms by Sara Falder of Flower + Furbish, and recited vows we wrote for one another - more meaningful and emotional than our original vows ten years ago. Annie Kratzsch, my best friend and the most talented writer I know, wrote a poem to commemorate the day just as she had a decade earlier.

After a short ceremony, we led our guests to our backyard which was strung with lights and filled with more flowers. Of course, no party is complete without food. We had asked a few family members and friends to bake their favorite pie and we had a dessert table filled with the most delicious treats baked with love just for us.

We’d also placed all our photo albums from our wedding out for guests to enjoy and it was such a treat to hear memories of that day shared for the first time in years.

As I look back now, I realize our wedding ten years ago was a celebration of what was to come. As I look at photos of my husband and myself dressed like cake-toppers at the front of the church, the emotion I can still feel most strongly is excitement. I was excited to be getting married. I was excited to marrying him. I was excited to be the bride and all that represented.

Ten years later, I was still excited to be facing life with this man by my side but more than anything I felt gratitude. Gratitude for ten years of adventures and triumphs and lessons learned. Gratitude for the two beautiful boys we had created and were raising together. Gratitude for our home and the community that we loved. Gratitude for the commitment we’d made a decade earlier when I was a blushing bride who had no way of knowing that weddings are a wonderful beginning but what comes next is the real celebration.

My Happiest Memory from 2013

Last year Nicholas and I celebrated ten years of marriage. Believe me when I saw a decade of marriage to this man is worth celebrating so we had our family and friends over for a small ceremony in our front yard and a big party in our backyard. It was such an incredibly evening and is one of my happiest memories from 2013.

My amazing friends at Emerging Media Products put together this video for us, which includes the vows Nicholas and I wrote for each other. I can't watch it without crying and I hope you enjoy it (maybe without the tears).

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