want | need | wear | read: HOLIDAY 2014

Finally!  The time has come when all of us who are afflicted with closet Christmas-mania all year long are finally allowed to be honest about our addiction and live out in the open with all of our holiday-inspired obsessions on display.  No more secretly watching Christmas movies when the Mr. is working the night shift.  No more listening to Christmas music in the car and making sure to change the CD before I get out just in case the Mr. gets in and sees what I was listening to.  No more huffing the pine scented candles in the closet.  Now I can burn that candle in the wide open and sniff sniff sniff to my heart's content.  Take that, Scrooges of the world!  Christmas time is here, bitches.

Ahem.

Since this will be the first year that our daughter might actually have some grasp on what is going on with all the gift giving and receiving, we really want to make sure that we start to instill a sense of humility and gratitude in her right away.  We also want to make sure that the joy and excitement of the gift giving season isn't drowned by quantity, but instead highlighted by a few select things that will be gifts to remember.

So, the Mr. and I decided to follow the lead of one of my favorite bloggers, James from Bleubird, and follow a prescribed formula for gift giving:  

1- Something you want.

2- Something you need.

3- Something to wear.

4- Something to read.

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting a few different gift guides that ascribe to the above gift giving rules.  As the Mr. and I have been putting together our own lists, we've found that the rules really help us appreciate everything that we have and see how little we actually need.  We've realized that Christmas is not a season for who's spending the most money, or who has the biggest pile under the tree.  This year, we're keeping it small, and we invite you to do the same.

Start your list-making!  (Supporting Noonday Collection would be a great place to start!)  Make sure to come back in a couple days for our first gift guide geared toward the special women in your lives.

Happy Holidays!

--mel 

P.S.  Here are a few inspiration posts from Bleubird's "want/need/wear/read" series to help you get your head in the game:  A gift guide for James' baby, Sailor; A gift guide for James' dreamy hubby, Aubrey; James' gift guide for herself

(image via here)