Happy Things Friday: 13 Friday

I’m not a superstitious person, but I will admit I always do a bit of a double take when I see Friday the 13th on the calendar.

What better way to counteract any potential “bad luck” than with a GIVEAWAY?!

Let’s jump right into that… and then I’ll carry on with all sorts of Happy Things from my week.

SPROUTED PLANNER GIVEAWAY WINNERS

I truly wish I could gift every single one of you a 2027 planner, but for this round, there could only be two winners (selected using a random number generator).

From Canada/Europe: Congratulations, Trish.

I’ll have your planner in the mail early next week! (And I will get to work filling in my Moonlit Dots!)

From the United States: Congrats, Jennifer! You actually get to choose from four different planner covers (but I have a feeling you’ll end up going with Morning Bloom!)

I’ll be in touch to arrange for your planner to be shipped directly from Heather at Sprouted Planners.

*Didn’t win the giveaway? You can use code ELISABETH15 for 15% off your first Sprouted Planner order. This is an affiliate link, which means I may earn a commission if you purchase through it.*

PHOTOCARDS + CALENDARS ORDERED!!!

Last year was the first since having kids that I didn’t prepare a Christmas photocard. I just didn’t have any enthusiasm for the faff of getting photos taken and a photocard prepped.

But this year I had zero excuses when it came to family photos (we have 5,000+ from Europe). Still, I was dreading the process of choosing a photocard design.

This makes little to no sense. It’s not actually that hard of a job. But for some reason, I dread it EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

I’d added it to my MUST DO list for last week, but then Indy was home sick and I didn’t get around to it. (I was also looking for excuses to avoid it.)

But on Thursday, I put on my big girl panties and decided to at least start. Eating the elephant one bite at a time, and all.

Then I noticed there was a sale—there’s always a sale this time of year—for 40% off photocards and holiday gifts. That gave me a deadline (November 8th), but in the end, I just GOT IT DONE that day.

This year, I decided to make only one calendar design for both my parents and in-laws. So there’s a bit of overlap (photos from my father-in-law’s fall visit will be inside my parents’ calendar).

But it’s DONE. And I got 40% off AND free shipping. Apologies for the excessive use of capitalization, but it feels like such a weight lifted.

Hallelujah!

HAPPY THINGS FRIDAY GETS FESTIVE

When I was selecting the Happy Things Friday header graphic, I made the clutch decision that it’s time to bring out the holiday version.

This made me very happy!!

CHRISTMAS PROGRESS

Every year Christmas feels daunting, and every year things start coming together in November.

John has outdone himself this year. We’ve shared a Google Doc with gift ideas and delegated who’s getting what for the kids. He’s been doing all sorts of work tracking down fun, quirky gifts.

The tree is up (without lights or ornaments, but it’s UP!) and most of the decor is out.

Overall, I’m a Christmas minimalist when it comes to decorations. Each year I feel like I add a few new items (mostly found at thrift stores) and remove a few others.

We have to move some things around (plants off the mantel, for one thing), so I popped one in the main bathroom, added a metal house I bought a decade ago for $2 at a thrift store, shoved in a set of battery-operated lights (gifted to me a few years ago), and in a couple of minutes, had this cute little glowing corner.

I have no Christmas towels and DO plan to fix that error.

I bought the lighted house last year after Christmas on a hugely discounted sale (I think it ended up being about $10).

I feel like I need to add something that glows to the willow branches. Those have been in place year-round (minus the raffia stars—from IKEA years ago—which I add over the holidays).

As per usual, Belle decorated the mantel. It’s so pretty and I love it so much that I leave it up for months.

I bought a $2 plastic red berry runner, and I’ve had the same $5 evergreen swag for YEARS. The individual pieces were $2.50 apiece but very thin, so I just wrapped two around each other.

The white houses are scraps of wood my dad cut into basic house shapes and painted white. Then I used a gold Sharpie to make little doors.

GIANT DECLUTTERING + CONSIGNMENT

This time of year I always start feeling a bit antsy about needing to declutter ahead of the Christmas season, which brings all sorts of extra mess (decorations!) and stuff (gifts).

We went through our winter clothing bin and cleared out things that no longer fit.

And I packaged up SO MANY things, sorting them into piles for:

• Kids’ consignment
• Women’s consignment
• Men’s consignment
• Donation for a local thrift store
• Donations for our local school’s holiday “shopping” bazaar

I love the feeling of having bags of stuff LEAVING the house before the inevitable influx of Christmas gifts.

GUITAR LESSONS

For a few reasons, Indy opted out of club soccer this winter… which has paved the way for GUITAR LESSONS.

The instructor happens to live in our neighbourhood, which is incredibly convenient.

I’m excited!

Volleyball Guy happens to be Guitar Guy, too, and very sweetly loaned Indy a beginner guitar with nylon strings (which are easier on the fingers when you’re learning).

OPEN WEEKEND

Last Friday I wrote about how thrilled I was to look at an OPEN WEEKEND. The joy! The bliss! The novelty!

I slept in until 8 am on Saturday morning, and then John took the kids to Halifax to run some errands (mostly thrifting), giving me a whole day of alone time.

It was delightful.

I did laundry (two loads).

I watched silly YouTube videos (behind-the-scenes F1 footage, hidden talents of random Hollywood celebrities).

I did some batch cooking (a giant batch of homemade turkey fettuccine, roasted broccoli).

Joy came over and we hung out and chatted and even managed a short walk in the rain (go us).

It was exactly the kind of Saturday I needed.

FRIEND MEET-UPS

After several months of not visiting my favourite cafe, I met up with two friends, including one I hadn’t seen since March (my writer friend Jan!!).

I tried going to Charts with Joy after a walk, but every table was full. Another time.

I also fit in the aforementioned walk with Joy.

The kids have had various and sundry hangouts with friends, too.

Belle went to watch Volleyball Guy in a volleyball tournament. Indy was away basically the entire day on Wednesday with friends.

We hosted kids on Sunday and Wednesday, and there’s a sleepover happening at our house on Saturday.

Lots of happy socializing!

I SURVIVED THE CORN MAZE

We had about 100 tweens and teens barrelling through a giant corn maze after dark. It was cold (4°C) and wet and muddy.

And… I went in with 9 kids and came out with 9 kids (having temporarily lost 4 of the 9 at various points).

I am SO RELIEVED it’s over and hope it doesn’t happen again next year. But if it does… it will be fine

Not going to lie, at the very end of it all, we knew we were close to the exit but could not find the actual path, so we took a little shortcut through the cornstalks.

At one point, we sang Christmas carols at the top of our lungs, and that was fun.

I felt very old and wise in my Bogs, snow pants (one of the teens commented on how smart a decision this was of me), gloves, and hat.

Some of the kids were wearing WHITE SNEAKERS (despite knowing we were going to a dirt-path corn maze AFTER rain). Others had nothing but sweatshirts on.

Oh, the folly of youth.

BONUS HAPPY THINGS

• Another F1 weekend! This time, the Brazilian Grand Prix, so once again, everything was at a favourable time.

• This text exchange cracked me up. We share a Spotify account as a family, and 95% of the time that works great. But the other 5%… not so much. I kept “stealing” Belle’s Christmas tunes (she was home getting ready) while I was driving to meet Joy for a walk.

• Holiday cups are here! For context: I don’t visit Starbucks often, but I have a certain teenager living in my house who would go daily if I let her (we don’t; it’s only about once a month). Anyhoo, generally she’s on her own for buying stuff, but I bribed her to do a much-dreaded thing by promising to pay for her Starbucks drink. She wasn’t happy about the situation, but powered through and very much enjoyed her Iced Gingerbread Spice Latte.

• Heather from Sprouted Planners gifted me a notebook, and I got to use it for the very first time at church on Sunday (I MUST take notes during a sermon to stay focused).

• My Christmas mug is back in circulation! I found this for about $3 at a thrift store last year, and it’s so cute!

Your turn:

• What’s one task you’ve been dreading that you finally crossed off your list?
• Have you started decorating for Christmas, or is November 13th way too early?
• And, of course, what’s one Happy Thing from your week?