Holiday Inspiration: Lifestyle/Fitness, Finances, & Gifts

There’s officially less than one week until Christmas Day, and I have never been more excited!  Christmas, and the entire Holiday season, is easily my favorite time of the year!  While these next six days will be filled with joy and excitement, they can also be filled with a little bit of stress and anxiety as the big day approaches!  I came up with a few stress-free, easy tips to make sure the Holiday season goes smoothly and (hopefully) perfectly, while alleviating some of those last-minute Holiday jitters!

Lifestyle/Fitness

I’ll be the first to admit, the entire Holiday season (and winter in general) causes me to make and eat a ton of sweets!  While I definitely encouraging indulging a little bit, I also highly encourage keeping up with your workout routine, or creating a new one.  This will leave you feeling more energized and upbeat, and less sluggish and unmotivated!  Also, try making healthier desserts/recipes, and reducing portion sizes.  Try substituting soy/almond milk in recipes, or skipping out on red meat or fatty substances!

Where I live, we have at least a foot of snow and it keeps coming down!  Any workout is most likely going to be performed inside, unless I’m going skiing, so I like to focus on cardio, strength training/pilates, and yoga.  I personally do not like to run on a treadmill (I prefer to run outdoors), so I choose to elliptical or spin.  I also love following Blogilates and Tone It Up workouts, and I never miss out on a hot yoga session!  I’ll admit, since the semester ended I’ve been slacking a little bit, but I’m using this post as motivation to get up and get active again! 

Finances

In my opinion, finances are the most stressful part of the Holiday season.  That is why I highly recommend making a budget for gifts, activities, and any other expenses that you may need.  I made a budget back in September for the Holiday season, and I saved specific amounts of money for the budget throughout September-December.  This helped A TON when I was purchasing gifts for friends and family, and when certain bills and expenses came through!

There are also a lot of fun, inexpensive activities that can be done during the Holiday season!  Playing cards/games with friends and family, and watching televised Christmas movies is something fun that everyone will enjoy.  I love playing Christmas music, watching Holiday specials on Food Network with friends, and popping some popcorn with a hot mug of tea while chatting.  I also love driving around looking at Christmas lights, taking a walk downtown, and spending quality time with friends/loved ones at a local coffeehouse!

Gifts

This year, I wanted to make each gift I purchased very special and from the heart!  I set a budget for how many gifts/how much money I was going to spend per person, and I curated a specific list for each person based on that.  For example, one of my best friends is a motivational girlboss and fellow blogger, so I purchased a book, cozy socks, a travel mug, and some cute pencils to give to her (pictured below)!

I wrapped each gift in brown packaging paper, string, and a sprig of pine, and I also dotted some white paint around the edges to look like snow.  I added a “Merry Christmas” tag, and the gifts were good to go!  I love aesthetic wrapping, and it’s something that can easily be done on a budget.  I spent under $1o for the brown paper, string, paint, and tags, and I cut the pine off of one of our pine trees.  Super cute, and super easy!!

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out all of my gift guides!  I created one for the Coffee Lover, the Girlboss, the Fashionista, and a Cozy Gift Guide, and I’m sharing one for the Beauty Guru tomorrow, and one for Stocking Stuffers under $25 on Wednesday!!

Love & Good Vibes

Tessa 

Today’s Inspiration