Crystal Escobar
Isn’t it always fun to see how other people decorate their homes? Especially for the holidays. This week I’m giving you a little tour of my home while it’s decorated for Christmas. Here are a bunch of pics, but if you’d like to see the video tour then check out my YouTube channel. Also, here are some Amazon links to some of the things you’ll see in the pics and video.
Hot Water Dispenser for Hot Cocoa
Brooklyn’s cute boots are from NinaShoes.com
Best time of year wouldn’t you agree? We all have magical memories surrounding the holidays, but despite this supposedly joyous season, I’m pretty sure most of us experience some negative emotions as well. Could be a bad memory, worry over money, stress about the millions of things we feel we need to do, anxiety around family parties (perhaps there is some family drama), feelings of homesickness, depression, or loneliness.
I would love to help you let go of some of the stress and negative emotions that come with the “most wonderful time of the year”. My hope is that this blog post series will serve as a great resource for you to first get your thoughts in order, and second, make this year memorable and Christ-centered for you and your family. This week I’ll be sharing our December challenge and next week I’m going to get into some thought work and teach you some things that have really helped me soooo much when it comes to anxiety and those unpleasant feelings.
I’ve planned out the whole month of December for my family. It’s full of Christ-centered lessons and activities adapted from the book, Christmas Without Santa Creating a Christ-Centered Christmas
Last month we did the Wannabe Fearless challenge and this month I’m calling it the Wannabe Christ-Centered challenge. Just like all the monthly “wannabe” challenges, I would love to create a community around this and have you post each day on social media, a picture of what you’re doing together as a family. Use the hashtag #WannabeChristCentered and tag me too. I’d love to see all your fun and creative ways of doing this challenge. Be sure to join the Wannabe Balanced community on Facebook (it’s free) and get to know other women who are participating in these monthly challenges.
(You don’t need the book in order to do these activities, but if you want more ideas and details then having the book would be ideal. I’ve included the page numbers below for easy reference).Check out the YouTube video HERE.
What are some of your favorite family traditions?
I can’t believe Christmas is only 5 weeks away! We put our tree up last week, Christmas music playing, holiday candles burning, now it’s time to get crackin on my shopping. Since I’m always interested in what other people are getting for their kids, spouse, friends and inlaws, I thought it would be fun to share my very own holiday gift guide with you. (Christmas Jammies from LazyOne.com)
Watches are always a hit especially when you can find really cute ones like these Wood Watches from Jord. Check out the one I got for myself.
They actually have an awesome contest going on right now. When you ENTER, you will instantly be emailed a $25 coupon code. You have until 12/18/16 to redeem your code. The code will expire on 2/28/2017.
Ladies Wooden Watches
I love that these are so light weight cause I’m not much of a jewelry person. These are nice because I hardly notice I’m wearing anything.
This is the one I’m going to get Sean. Shhhh, don’t spoil the surprise.
If you’re anything like me, you LOVE getting new phone cases. Almost feels like you’re getting a new phone all together. My favorite place to find custom cell phone cases is from Caseapp.com. They have really cool vinyl covers for your laptops too. Just sticks right on to the top of your computer and look how nice it looks. I’m all about white marble these days. Such a great look don’t you think? Use coupon code: CESCOBAR20 for 20% off.
Candle from ShopEvilQueen.com
New sunglasses are always fun too. My favorite are the Diff Charitable Eyewear. I love the mirrored look and the frames are super cute. Lot’s of different ones to choose from. It’s cool too because for every pair of sunglasses sold they donate a pair of reading glasses to someone in need. My sisters may be getting a pair of these cute things. They are having a huge Black Friday sale, customers can get up to 50% off certain styles!!
You can never go wrong with a Dyson. There’s nothing worse than walking barefoot on my kitchen floor and getting all kinds of dirt and crumbs stuck to my feet?ew!!! Can I just tell you, my Dyson V8 cordless vacuum is one of my favorite household devices! I use it practically every day cause I have 4 kids and they are CONSTANTLY eating, which means I’m constantly cleaning up food messes. So it’s nice to have this cordless vacuum easily accessible for quick clean up. You can use it on practically any surface. I even use the different attachments to vacuum out my car.
Anyway, you can find these at Costco usually and for sure on Amazon. This would make a perfect gift for your mother in law. She will be sure to put you on her nice list for this one.
Dyson V8 Absolute Cord-Free Vacuum
You can never get enough bags and purses right? I’m obsessing over the Jujebe bags these days. I’m blown away with all the cute options they have on their website. You’re sure to find something for everyone. These bags were meant for every occasion, can be used as diaper bags, or like in my case just a nice kid bag. We officially out of diapers, can you believe that!!!! So even though I’m not carrying around bottles and diaper bags anymore I STILL find these very useful because of how organized the inside is. I’m all about organization. I LOVE having a place for everything. Kids snacks, my watter bottle, chapstick, wallet, sunglasses, phone, make-up, keys. You’ll never have to dig and dig and dig to find something with these bags. It’s perfect!!!
They have bags for kids and husbands too.
Aren’t these matching polka dot bags the cutest you’ve ever seen? Brooklyn LOVES to have the same of what ever I have, so I was SO excited when I saw these.
Shoes are a great gift! I’m loving all the shoes the Nest Boutique has. If I had my way I’d own every pair in their shop! Cutest ones I’ve ever seen, and great quality too. Use code: thankful20 for 20% off.
These hoverboard carts are seriously so fun! Sean and I had a blast testing them out for the kids. And we found an amazing deal, only $300 when you use this coupon code: friendsandfamily. We checked them out online at Target and Amazon and found that this combo package is selling for $470-$500, so again this is an awesome deal!
You can order these at www.hoverlikeaking.com.
When you check out make sure to enter the discount code: friendsandfamily
All lower case and no spaces. Pass this on to all of your friends and family like we are, and you are sure to make some child or even some parent’s best Christmas ever! In fact I would totally buy this for Sean and he would think I was the coolest wife ever, well I am!
I just love getting new clothes. I’d wear a new outfit every day if I could. There’s just something about a new outfit that makes me all giddy. So I don’t think you can ever go wrong buying people new clothes and accessories.
And matching clothes are the BEST!!!! These cute matching outfits are all from Ryleighrueclothing.com.
I got this cute blue dress and plaid vest from GrayMonroe.com. They have a lot of cute stuff, you’re sure to find something fun for a sister or sister in law. I got the necklace from there. It’s one of my favorite necklaces.
Candles are ALWAYS a hit, especially this time of year. Everyone loves cozying up inside while it’s so cold out, candles lit, fireplace on, good movie playing. Am I right? My favorite candles are from ShopEvilQueen.com. They smell AMAZING and I love her humor. She comes up with the best names for her candles. Use coupon code: 2lit2quit for 25% off.
She has a great holiday selection and I’m just waiting for mine to come in the mail. I had a great selection for fall now I’m ready for the fun Christmasy ones.
Evil Queen candles are pretty cool because:
“I grew up in a family that’s very health conscious, so, I had to make sure my candles were too. The wax used in the candles is soy wax from American grown soy beans. It’s 100% vegan, clean burning, and environmentally friendly. You don’t have to worry about any toxins getting all up in your house when you burn one of these candles. I also hand pick the fragrances and blend them to create my own unique scents. The candles should also burn for 50+ hours if you follow the instructions (I’m looking at you, rule breakers).” ~Ida Sophia
A TOP CHRISTMAS TOY at an unbelievable price!
Sean and I found what we believe will be the best gift of the year which is the Hoverboard GoCart. Some friends of ours sell these and showed them to us and insisted that we sit down and try it. Well needless to say we were both instantaneously transported to long lost childhood laughter and glee! “We’ll take one, no two, no wait 4, so we can take 2 of them to Saint George with us as well. Oh and btw how much are they?” ?. Well here is the cool part. Because we got four of them our friends said they would offer us a special price and what’s cooler is beyond that they are offering a special discount code price to all of our friends and family. Don’t worry, they have enough of them for all of you. They have invested in them in a major way and I think it was a smart move, the minute you get on this thing you just have to have it! They had one hundred kids buy them in their neighborhood alone!
Well Sean and I go and pick up these carts and as we head home we look at each other and say, “do we really have to wait till Christmas? It is such a beautiful day outside” and we totally broke down and gave them to the kids a month early! ???. “Now kids don’t forget that you got these and this come Christmas Day ok???” You should see how much they and the neighbor kids love them. They pick up on it so fast and the cart is so much more safe. I would guess that most kids 6 and up could do the cart no problem.
So here is a cost breakdown for you. Keep in mind that 2 years ago good Hoverboards by themselves were going for $400-$600. Well they are selling these boards now by the hundreds for $400 for the entire bundle! You get the hoverboard and the cart to attach it to. We love this concept because the cart is much safer than having young kids like Oliver’s age or even uncoordinated adults like us standing up on those futuristic things?. With this friends and family discount code of an additional 25% off you can get a hoverboard and cart for just $300!!! No kidding. That’s why we got 4. I mean come on this is an amazing deal and we didn’t want to lose money by not taking advantage! ?
If you already have a board, you can order the carts by themselves on the site and they offer some other accessories too. The hoverboards have a 1 year warranty and are not going to burst on fire like the cheap knock off ones did when these first came out. That’s why we didn’t jump on the craze several years ago, wanted to give time for them to iron out the kinks.
This site can ship all over the country for those of you who are not local. We checked it out online at Target and Amazon and found that this combo package is selling for $470-$500, so again this is an awesome deal!
If you are local see below for will call arrangements in order to save on shipping.
Everyone else can order them at www.hoverlikeaking.com.
When you check out make sure to enter the discount code: friendsandfamily
All lower case and no spaces. Pass this on to all of your friends and family like we are, and you are sure to make some child or even some parent’s best Christmas ever! In fact I would totally buy this for Sean and he would think I was the coolest wife ever, well I am!
For local Utah Residents
Once you have checked out the site and decided to order you can direct your orders and pickup arrangements by emailing the following address and once again be sure you and all of your friends/family utilize the discount code “friendsandfamily“. You’ll need to add that right in the subject line of the email. Here it is: sales@hoverlikeaking.com.
Let us know if you have as much fun with them as we are!
Check out this short video I put together.
I feel like each year just gets better and better as the kids get older and really begin to understand that Santa Clause is coming to deliver presents. This year Lily was more excited than ever, she was awake until 1am. tossing and turning. We kept checking on her, waiting for her to fall asleep so we could go down stairs and start setting up. She kept saying that she couldn’t fall asleep because was just too excited! So we finally finished everything up and went to bed at 3am, only to be woken up at 7:30 by cute little Lily telling us that Santa came 🙂
My sister in law told us about this fun website called Capture The Magic. We got some pictures of the REAL Santa in our house 🙂 and printed off the pics for Lily to see them first thing in the morning. She was so excited about it!!!
Be sure to enter my giveaway I have going on right now for your chance to win one of my binders complete with 3 months of laminated meal plans, grocery lists and activities. GO HERE FOR DETAILS. It ends Jan. 5th!!! If you’d like to buy one you better hurry, I’ve only got TWO left. I’m already working on making another 50, but it will be another couple of weeks before they are all finished.
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!
Here’s what else I’ve been up to.
Decking the house with more Christmas decor,
And the dog too 🙂
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And a few more ornaments for the tree.
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This is about as far as we go when it comes to Christmas lights.
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I’ve been working on my neighbor gifts and getting them delivered.
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Finishing up the Christmas cards I got from Shutterfly.com
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Tryin to be festive by wearing my elf socks I got from Target for $5.
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I really like big rings 🙂
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We just sold these couches that were in our basement to make room for THIS!
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We got it from Sams Club and we’re going to set it up for the kids on Christmas Eve. We figured since the winters are so long here that this would be a perfect indoor trampoline. It’s not too big and not too small, such a great size for smaller children. We got it for $140, they have it online too.
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