Every year I round up my favorite books for holiday gift giving — they’re inexpensive, thoughtful, and easy to wrap! You can find one for just about everyone on your list (PS: Amazon is offering $5 off a $20 purchase of books for the rest of the month of November — get them while the deal is still going on!).
Our family has become a lot more conscious this year about making an effort to reduce our impact on the environment. As we enter the holiday season we need to be even more diligent about our household’s waste and recycling efforts. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, American household waste increases by more than 25%. Trash cans full of holiday food waste, shopping bags, boxes, packaging, and wrapping paper contribute an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. And according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), approximately 80% of that waste can be recycled or reused. It actually boggles my mind to hear those stats, so I was really excited to get to talk to the team at MassDEP’s Recycle Smart MA initiative, which aims to help Massachusetts families determine what does and doesn’t belong in their household recycling bin. I asked them all of my holiday recycling questions and learned so much that I can’t wait to share with you so we can all do our part this season:
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This is my favorite time of year for setting a beautiful table. I set this table for a fun event I’m hosting with Boston Interiors on December 6that their Natick store where I’ll be sharing some of my best tips for styling a holiday table. You won’t want to miss it, there will be swag bags, giveaways, tasty treats, and I’ll be signing books after my table styling demo. Plus you can get a little holiday shopping done with 20% off all holiday gifts, and pick up some of the pieces I used in this tablescape. You can RSVP at www.bostoninteriors.com/events.
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‘Tis the season for celebrations, and my favorite time of year to entertain! Our calendars are full of events from Thanksgiving to New Years, with friendsgiving, cookies swaps, gift exchanges, and holiday parties in between. I like to get prepared for the season with a few timeless tips that help me entertain effortlessly all season long. I have been relying on lots of the ideas in Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Entertaining Guide and am sharing a few more of my best tips here today:
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My mom asked me recently what I wanted for Christmas, and I jokingly said that as the mom of an infant, all I really want is an afternoon where I could sit on the couch in silence for a few hours. She laughed and asked if there was anything else that I wanted that might fit under the tree better. I got to thinking about it though, and it actually is the perfect gift idea – not just for me, but for any friend that would love a cozy winter day of hibernation and relaxation. I’m not cool enough to use the term Netflix and Chill, but this my friends, is definitely a Netflix and Chill kit. Here’s what I put in it in my hibernation-themed gift:
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This post was created in partnership with Keurig Green Mountain®; all opinions, images, and content are my own.
The days have gotten shorter, the wreaths and lights are going up around the neighborhood, and this week I finally broke down and pulled out our basket of hats and mittens for the cold weather; it feels like winter! In the summer we have tons of friends and family visit us — living by the beach lures them in! When we have friends and family stay for the weekend this time of year though, I find that we spend a lot more time cozied up inside our house enjoying slow mornings full of brunch and pajamas and lounging on the couch. Given that we spend a bit more time at home during these chilly holiday weekends, I’ve been brainstorming fun ways to make our mornings with houseguests a bit more special.
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My friends at Garnet Hill are hosting a wonderful campaign this holiday season to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. To participate, Garnet Hill is asking people to post a photo of a beautifully wrapped gift with #StJudeShareAGift on Instagram (or upload directly to the landing page here) which will trigger a $10 donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, up to $15,000 total donation. In the spirit of the holidays, and participating in this great charitable campaign, I’m sharing a fresh idea here today to make your holiday gifts look beautiful with DIY faux-malachite gift tags.
When it comes to holiday decorating, I work my way through the house and add touches of festive details wherever I can. The mantle and staircase get garlands, the dining room gets updated linens for the season, and the front porch gets adorned with wreaths and greens. My favorite place to add festive touches is a high-traffic spot during the busy holiday entertaining months: my bar cart. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite styling tricks for decking out your bar in the most festive ways for the holidays:
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‘Tis the season for holiday parties, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m grabbing a bottle of wine every weekend this time of year to bring to a friend’s house, a family party, or another seasonal celebration. A bottle of wine or prosecco is everyone’s go-to hostess gift, and for good reason, it’s useful and delicious! I often struggle though with which wine to select, and how to make it stand out among the sea of other bottled hostess offerings.
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Over the weekend the lovely team at Jonathan Adler invited me to host a little Holi-DIY party for some of my best Boston bloggers buddies in their Chestnut Hill store. Our project for the day was a felt-monogram gift tag that doubles as a keepsake ornament once your friends and family open their gifts! I used a simple tutorial to create the monogrammed felt tags and everyone crafted up a bunch in bright jewel toned (and Jonathan Adler-inspired!) colors. Honestly, what’s better than a chilly winter morning working on holiday crafts with your girlfriends? After popping a little champagne, the JA team sent us home with some festive holiday swag — the perfect ending to a Holi-DIY fete! 
