Crack Open: A Book-A-Day

I keep my eyes on the look-out all year for Christmas books.  I'm looking for sales & used Christmas books for our Book-A-Day Christmas month.  Let me tell you all about it!
Every year we read A LOT of Christmas books, but this year I wanted to make it extra special & fun.  I went through all of the Christmas books I found this year & I wrapped my favorite 24 books in Christmas paper, one for every day of December leading up to Christmas. (Here is a list of our favorite Christmas books.)

One day when the kids were napping, I grabbed some tea & a cheesy Christmas movie and got to wrapping. 

Every night when we have our bedtime story, my kids will go through this basket and select one book to unwrap & read as their bedtime story.
There is one special book that we will save for Christmas Eve that I have placed a star on (spoiler alert here).  We will save this one for the last book that we unwrap on Christmas Eve, to make sure our minds are focused for Christmas Day.
Doesn't that seem like a really fun way to celebrate Christmas each day as we get closer to Christmas?  I hope we can do this every year!  I don't plan on shopping for 24 new books every year; I think we can easily rewrap the books we already have, and every time we unwrap them it will still be a surprise.
What are you doing this year with your family? What Christmas books do you have that you would recommend for our collection?

Christmas Tree Counting {FREE!}

YES! I admit it! I am one of those annoying people who love Christmas and celebrate it year-round;I cannot help it!  While thinking about Christmas in March this year, I made these counting cards. I pulled them out last week during our homeschool week and I feel like now it's socially acceptable to share them with you now.  March would have been weird, right?

The first thing you need to do is go HERE for the FREE download.  Print off these cards, laminate (optional), & grab some clothes pins (I like these mini clothes pins).  Get your child to count the Christmas ornaments on the tree and then attach the clothes pin to the corresponding number on the bottom.  This is great for counting, number recognition, & fine motor skills!  I also get Dutch to place jungle bells on top of the Christmas ornaments to practice our counting.  Super easy, fun, educational, & festive!
I really hope you like these counting cards as much as we have this year!  Tell me what fun activities you're doing with your preschooler this month to celebrate Christmas!

Turkey-Out {2017}

Well friends, the gorging culinary week that we look forward to all year has officially arrived.  We're planning to spend our weekend with our Houston family that we love so dearly, and we're definitely looking forward to it.  The table is set, and the menu is planned (and some is already cooking on the stove!).  So I'm out for the rest of the week, but wishing you all a very festive and delicious Thanksgiving with a table full of your loved ones.  See you on the Christmas side!

Honestly Hawley {October 2017}

I think I should take a bet: how long do you think I’ll stay caught up with monthly pictures? I did pretty good last year and the beginning of this year, but something happened in May and I just could not stay on top of the pictures.  I feel much better that I’m caught up & everything is backed up into the cloud and here.  Maybe I should start thinking about this as my New Year’s Resolution for next year? Too soon to be talking about that?

Here are the honest, unedited, unscripted
scenes of our October life :-)
2016: June ~ July ~ August ~ September ~ October ~ November ~ December
2017: January ~ February ~ March ~ April ~ June ~ July ~ August ~ September