Life Lately + A Last Minute Gift Guide //

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I’ve had grand plans of all of these amazing things I want to share with you before the holidays. But, realistically, my time management has not been great lately. Combine that with a sleep regression (thanks, Remy Bea) and the stomach bug? Well, that’s a recipe for dirty dishes and takeout every night.

So many-a posts have gone neglected.

That being said, there are a few things I want to share with you before we all get completely overwhelmed with the holidays.

• Ari had his first Christmas program at school and it was every bit as adorable as you might imagine. He knew we were taking video and photos, so instead of singing, he was saying “cheese!”
  Melt my cold as stone heart!

 

• If you’re frantically looking for last-minute gift ideas, I leave you with these:
  • Book of the Month. A subscription book service that ships amazing hardcover books straight to your door.
    
  • Wine of the Month club subscription — or, a few bottles for the wine-lover in your life.
  • ABC Mouse. Ari used this over the Summer and it was the perfect learning tool!
• We were given a #JustBecauseCard at Chick-fil-A the other day. It was an awesome experience. And I still have butterflies from the whole experience! It turns out the movement was started by a local church. Even though we are not church people (at all), I’ve already had mega respect for this church. And this just elevated them even more.

 

After Ari’s Christmas program at preschool, Chad + I took the kiddos to lunch at Chick-fil-A. When we sat down and got the kids all settled, an employee hesitantly walked over to us and said “Someone asked me to come give this to you.” #justbecausecard • • It says “I hope this random act of kindness reminds you that someone notices and cares about you. It’s not because of anything you did or didn’t do, it’s just because you were created with incredible value and worth.” • • What an amazing message. ❤️

A photo posted by Rachel (@itsahero) on Dec 20, 2016 at 11:01am PST

• For those of you trying to find the perfect wine to bring to your upcoming holiday party, run — fast — to Aldi. You heard me right. Aldi. Grab a bottle of their Flirty Bird Red Blend. It is incredible. No joke. And it’s less than $6 a bottle. Yep. You read that right. Less than $6 a bottle and an amazing wine!

 

• I’m still totally okay with cancelling Christmas obligations. Right now the only thing on my radar is getting through the next two work days, shopping for last minute gifts, and taking Ari to the movies Saturday morning. From there? We’re staying in. That’s it. Nothing else. Nada.