Christmas Tree Hunting || Hell Bunny Plaid Dress

Yesterday, we went Christmas Tree shopping. It’s the first real holiday thing we have done since moving into our new house, and to be honest it wasn’t the best experience. The kids had meltdowns, and it was a lot of trekking through mud, and the lines were insane. The tree farm we visited was VERY popular – so popular cars overflowed from the parking lot and onto the streets. I hope next year we can find a quieter tree farm, maybe one with a little more of that countryside charm I’ve always loved where we used to live. There was no hot chocolate or candy canes there, just lots of people, a gift shop packed to the brim with fragile ornaments and other trinkets, and very little to compare to my favorite tree farm of old.

But it’s okay, we have a cute tree at home, the kids loved decorating, and to make up for the lack of hot chocolate at the tree farm we made a cozy cup at home and watched some Christmas movies.

Dress, HellBunny (same here in an XL and here in a M!) | Top, thrifted (similar) | boots, Breckelles Alabama style | hat, vintage (similar) | brooch, grandma’s (same) | earrings, c/o CHC Vintage

I’ve been struggling to update the blog or upload any videos since we moved. Life has been overwhelmingly busy, and with pregnancy I’ve been extra exhausted. I’ll be 13 weeks along next week, and just barely into the second trimester. I’m hoping some energy will return soon – I feel as though I can’t properly organize and unpack our house because I’ve been dragging all day long. I slept for nearly 12 hours the other night and still woke up feeling exhausted. Such is life in the first trimester, though.

I’m glad to be living in our house now. Though it’s still crazy messy, and only half unpacked, and I’m itching to really purge things and declutter, at least on exhausted days I am in my own home. We were blessed to be able to live with friends while we renovated, but it was hard as a mom living with other people and constantly worrying that my kids were too invasive, or being embarrassed about the mess I couldn’t solve (having all of our clothes but no dressers meant… mess. All the time.), or just plain not having the kind of personal space and privacy one becomes used to in their own home… was stressful. Despite loving who we stayed with and being so thankful for their friendship and willingness to help, there’s always that sense of displacement when you are living somewhere that isn’t your own.
I’ve also started to realize more and more that my responsibilities are vastly changing – owning a home, pregnant with a fourth baby – and while I always wanted to update my blog 2-3 times a week and post a video a week… I’m realizing it’s more realistic to maybe update once in both areas. I have some time to film, a little time to edit, but now that I am starting to homeschool my kids life is hectic, and will only become more so.

I need to find ways to be more savvy with my time – less time spent browsing pinterest and watching youtube, more time spent being creative – and put less pressure on what I post.

I’ve always felt as though I have to write some big long interesting blog post but honestly that’s what takes the most time and some days I just don’t have the brain power for it.

So, here’s to lowering expectations, and changing priorities, and realizing it’s okay to share some photos of an outfit I liked and not have anything deeper to the post than “hey, this is what I’m wearing, I’m alive, life is ok.”

I hope you are all having a lovely start to your Christmas season! Dress, HellBunny (same here in an XL and here in a M!) | Top, thrifted (similar) | boots, Breckelles Alabama style | hat, vintage (similar) | brooch, grandma’s (same) | earrings, c/o CHC Vintage