I love a good holiday celebration, but I can quickly be discouraged by the way it promotes more clutter in our home, unmet expectations, and unnecessary spending. Maybe you can relate?
This year we celebrated Valentine’s Day early for two reasons:
- I bought gifts and cannot keep them a secret. Ever.
- To be authentic, I sometimes get my hopes up and then feel a let-down when my expectations aren’t met. I wanted to protect my nervous system in this area. A good way to do this is to celebrate before the media tells us HOW we should do it. Control what you can, let go of what you can’t, right? YES!
Anyway, we celebrated early and here’s what we did. First up, our gifts, then the kids’ gifts!
I bought Chad and I coordinating jackets from Aldi. I have wanted another jacket for the last 5 years, as I only have a long winter coat that I bought when I was pregnant in 2016. I just hadn’t pulled the trigger on one yet. At the time, I had planned to wear that maternity-style coat for one season and then donate it. Ha! Yep, I’m still wearing it. Chad’s always down for an addition to his wardrobe so I knew he’d appreciate this gift.
These were $20 each, and they had a coordinating dog coat that I resisted getting for our sweet golden girl, Nora. These seemed practical, yet as cute as they were, adding one for her would’ve pushed us into the clutter category.
For the kids, we bought Dash Mini Makers. I could, and maybe will, write a whole post on these. I am always trying to keep our possessions to a minimum, and kitchen gadgets can get outta control quickly, yet these things are worth the 16″x6″x6″ that they take up! I bought a cute basket from Target to hold them after seeing it on an Instagram Reel. Oh, those suggestions are spot on!
I love that the 3 big kids can 100% make their own meals with these from start to finish. Our 4 year old obviously cannot use this on his own, however, he loves helping, and mostly eating them.
We started with a Pizzelle Maker, which makes crispy cookies, or flat pancakes. The texture is good, and the design is cute on both sides. Then we added a waffle maker, a flat griddle, and a heart-shaped waffle maker.
Any of these would make a great gift on their own. I especially think that the heart-shaped waffle maker is adorable.
With the flat grill our 14-year-old son made pancakes that have more of a cake-like texture. Chad used it with a single scrambled egg and it turned out so well. I simply cracked an egg in it and it turned out fair. It’s a good way to make an egg without any added butter or oil, which means easier cleanup!
If you’re looking for a way to introduce more independence in the kitchen, definitely give these a try. I also ordered a case of Gluten-Free Baking Mix from King Arthur that is the BEST I’ve had in 10 years.
So we opened our gifts and then spent the whole afternoon seeing what we could cook on these little makers. It was delightful! Pure joy! The kitchen showed evidence of little hands learning new skills and it made my heart sp happy!
How will you celebrate this year?
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