{"id":2299,"date":"2015-12-01T17:14:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T17:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/?p=2299"},"modified":"2015-12-01T17:14:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T17:14:21","slug":"2299","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/2299\/","title":{"rendered":"December Has Arrived!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">December Is Upon Us!<\/h2>\n<p>With the first day of December comes the first day of Advent. The first day of Elf on the Shelf. There&#8217;s only a few flakes of snow on the ground and the temperature is on the plus side. Life is pretty sweet!<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t really have a plan to conquer the madness of December, but I do have a gift giving and baking list on the go. I&#8217;m also trying to keep my calendar up to date. And, as always, I&#8217;m determined not to let the idea of holiday perfection rule my days.<\/p>\n<p>There are many things I love about December. The holidays, of course. The first snow fall. Using the fireplace. Drinking hot chocolate. Reading books while cuddled under a blanket. Sweaters. Boots. Holiday music. Holiday movies! And generally settling in for the long winter ahead.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few ways I&#8217;ve simplified over the years. Less decorations. I used to think it wasn&#8217;t Christmas without a few somethings in every room. Less gifts. This year my husband&#8217;s side of the family decided to pick names. On my side of the family we decided to buy gifts for the kids only.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My Tips For A Guilt-Free December:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Decide which traditions still work and which ones to ditch and keep in the memory banks.<\/li>\n<li>Find a way to give and\/or volunteer.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s okay to say NO to an event, a gift exchange, baking exchange, dinner party, or whatever it is you do not have time for or do not want to attend.<\/li>\n<li>Giving up the notion of buying the perfect gift. Put some thought into it, but don&#8217;t stress over being the one to buy THE gift.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>My holiday mantra: \u00a0It&#8217;s supposed to be fun, it doesn&#8217;t have to be perfect.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2301\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1502.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2301\" class=\"wp-image-2301 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1502-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1502\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1502-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1502-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1502-1024x1024.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2301\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">December Planning<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;m also doing a December photo challenge. Today&#8217;s theme is Your View Today. The above is mine.<\/p>\n<p>What are your tips for organizing the month of December?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December Is Upon Us! With the first day of December comes the first day of Advent. The first day of Elf on the Shelf. There&#8217;s only a few flakes of snow on the ground and the temperature is on the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/2299\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[303,1],"tags":[624,626,625,102,520],"class_list":["post-2299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photos","category-uncategorized","tag-december","tag-december-lists","tag-december-photo-challenge","tag-karyn-good","tag-romantic-suspense-author"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>December Has Arrived! - karyngood.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/karyngood.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/2299\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"December Has Arrived!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the first day of December come the first day of Advent. 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