Motivation Monday - Keep it stress free!

We're on the final countdown to Christmas, less than a week left to be ready for the big day. Have you remembered to keep your holiday season simple and stress free this year?

The whole month for me has been a whirlwind of activity between work, volunteering and the many concerts and shows the boys have performed in. I told myself that making memories with them by working along side them and hearing their wonderful Christmas music was the focus of my holiday season no matter what else gets done or doesn't get done, and I although I worked very hard, I truly enjoyed every single moment!

I really did just let the rest go and didn't worry about it.

We are all off school and work as of Saturday, the concerts and volunteering also came to an end on Saturday evening for the rest of the holiday season. Now we can all finally relax - notice I said relax, not spend the next week frantically getting ready for Christmas. We are keeping things super simple this year, and so far it's the most enjoyable holiday season I can remember in a long time.

This year the finances are tight with my husband being on unpaid medical leave and the economy in general. I had been introduced to a great site, Restaurant.com, though a blog giveaway I won several months back. I knew it would be a great place to purchase very reasonable gift cards for gift giving this year, especially for my teens who $20 dollar me into debt every weekend to go out to eat with their friends. Funny how things work out. After purchasing the gift cards I got an email from Restaurant.com for Feed it Forward.

Feed it Forward allows you to send an email Christmas greeting to friends and family and they include a free $10 gift card for the recipient. You can send up to 40 greetings with gift card included per day from now until Christmas Day. Here's the best part - there is also an option to send random acts of kindness if you to donate your unsent cards each day back to the restaurant.com community which includes their partners The American Lung Foundation, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and The Make A Wish Foundation.

It's a win/win all the way around. We can send a little gift to our friends and we can make a donation to a good cause - and all without spending a cent. It's almost too good to be true!



Wishing all of you a wonderful stress free week. Remember to keep it simple! Happy holidays!