These big, fluffy, homemade cinnamon rolls have been a part of our Christmas morning for years and years.

The dough is made in your bread machine, which makes it super easy!

There are just a couple more days until Christmas! This morning, as I sit by the light of the Christmas tree, with presents wrapped (ahead of time, which NEVER happens) I can’t help but feel so grateful for all of the blessings in my life. Our family is healthy, our friends are plenty, and life is just really, really good right now.

I love Christmas, for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because it is a season full of traditions. I love all of the traditions we have developed around Christmas within my own family, like these homemade cinnamon rolls. The traditions have become so important to my kids as well. Like Nick and I, they look forward to the traditions we’ve created as much as we do. It really warms my heart so much….

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I have a confession to make…I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet. Not one single gift has been purchased. As of when I’m writing this post, I have 13 days to get all of my shopping done, wrapped, and under the tree. Eeeeeks!

I just want to sit around eating Christmas candy, snuggled under blankets, reading books or watching movies. I don’t want to shop. Do you want to come do all my Christmas shopping for me? Please? If you do I’ll make a batch of this Angel Food Christmas Candy for you. Deal?…

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Like many of you, I have spent much of the past year following the KonMari Method of decluttering my home. What I learned from reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up has been a constant theme in my life. “Does this item spark joy?” is a question repeating over and over again as I’ve been faced with the decision to declutter something or even bring something new into my home. It’s a method that has worked wonders in my life…until Christmas.

As I look at the giant stack of boxes that keep coming into my house for Christmas presents, I wonder where I went so wrong. How did I once again get caught up in the value of “things” over “joy”? Simply seeing these boxes and knowing the impact the clutter inside will have on our house makes me anxious. In fact, many of the things I’ve “KonMari’d” from this past year were Christmas presents from past years. Why did I allow myself to get caught up in shopping, shopping, shopping, yet again?

I’ve already made the mistakes I’ve made this year, but I vow right here and now that next holiday season will be different. Instead of choosing things, our family is going to choose experiences. It’s the experiences we share together… from big to small… that brings happiness to our lives. By not allowing more clutter into our house and by bringing more experiences to our life, we will be released from the stress of being suffocated by a house full of things.

As I think to next year, some ideas I have for experience gifts for my family are:…

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The other day I had one of those mornings… you know, where everything seems to go wrong before the day has even really started? Yes, one of THOSE mornings. Leah pulled out a gallon of milk from the fridge and along with it came crashing down a huge glass jar of pickles. Glass shards, pickles and pickle juice went everywhere. Kelly forgot to have me sign a form for school she needed “right now” because her ride was waiting for her. Jacob was texting me asking me to bring his science book and homework up to school because he accidentally forgot it. And Ella… will Ella was just being a moody 8 year old. All this and I hadn’t even had my morning coffee yet!

I don’t love my morning coffee for the caffeine boost. I love it because my morning coffee means I had some morning me time with my favorite hot beverage. The time with my cup of coffee is never rushed…it’s my ritualistic, slowed down, plan, reflect, and dream time. When I don’t get that time in the morning and have a day like I did above, I immediately want a do-over!…

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I love love love being able to shop online!!!

In fact, I’m pretty sure getting out in the bitter, cold temperatures to do Christmas shopping is more “roughing it” than I care to experience. That is why I am so thankful to live in a time where I can do every single last bit of my holiday shopping from the comfort of my own home.

How cool is it that we can sit at home and still get amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals? It kind of makes those people standing in long lines all night long seem like suckers, doesn’t it?

Well, just to make our “we’re so lucky to live in this century” life even more exciting, I’ve partnered with Overstock.com to bring you some of the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals around. Plus, I’m sharing a few of my favorite Kitchen & Home gift ideas in this guide guide…perfect for a variety of people on your list! Party hosts, aunts, sisters, moms, dads, friends… or you can even take a little time to shop for yourself. There are deals here for everyone!

To make things even better, Overstock.com is giving one lucky Dine & Dish reader a $250 gift card to spend on their site! Imagine all the great stuff you can buy with $250 at Overstock.com! Details on the giveaway are at the bottom of this post, but first, check out these awesome gift ideas!…

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I am the youngest of 5 kids, which I thought until recently made me a little more sensitive to Leah’s plight as the baby of the family. Let’s face it…we all know that many times the family baby is the one treated a tad more special and given a little more leniency.

I’m here to tell you that it’s because by the time the baby of the family comes around, the parents are simply tired and worn out. So yes, I say yes to Leah way more often than I may have Jacob because it’s just easier. I would have freaked out if Jacob didn’t have 3 healthy square meals a day… and may or may not turn a blind eye when Leah grabs a bag of chips out of the pantry for breakfast. Sometimes it’s just easier.

The hard part about being the baby of the family is that often times, traditions, celebrations, and more are way less than they were for the first or even subsequent children. For example, we went every single year to breakfast with Santa when Jacob was younger. Leah, in her precious 5 years, has had breakfast with Santa one time. All together now…”poor baby of the family”….

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I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Our family is knee deep in wrapping paper, tasty goodies and lots of coffee!

I’m thankful for each and every one of you and look forward to sharing some wonderful new posts with you in the very near future!

Best Wishes For a blessed and joy filled rest of your holiday.

Kristen & Family

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1) Bakeaholic Mama 2) Pineapple and Coconut 3) Fabtastic Eats 4) Lemon Bowl 5) Foodness Gracious 6) Rachel Cooks 7) Dine & Dish  8) Big Bears Wife 9) Nutmeg Nanny 10) Savory Simple 11) What Megan’s Making 12) Beeroness

Happy December! To kick this month off, the month of giving and sharing, Bakeaholic Mama thought it would be fun to get some food blogger friends together to share some of our favorite things and to have a massive giveaway for our readers! I loved that idea so am joining in! Below the picture, you will find links to each of our giveaways. Make sure to head to everyones blog to see what wonderful things they are offering and enter their giveaways too!

My giveaway today includes a few of my favorite things… an Erin Condren Life Planner ($50 credit to create your own Life Planner at www.erincondren.com), a set of my favorite Sharpie Pens (the perfect writing utensil for my Erin Condren Life Planner), and a set of  6 coffee mugs!…

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