Unique Gifts and Ornaments: Dixie Midwest

DixieMidwest.com generously allowed me to create a
personalized Christmas ornament free of charge.
The opinions expressed are my own.

While I was in Orlando, FL I found these super cute Mickey Mouse Christmas stockings for our boys! Which got me thinking about Christmas, and Christmas traditions. For the last few years, I've sent out a family Christmas card and|or letter, but I had never thought of making an ornament of our boys! I was quite excited to receive an invitation to personalize a Christmas photo ornament from DixieMidwest.com. They offer a wide range of Military, Wedding, Memorial, Disney Inspired, and Sports Teams Gifts you can personalize as a unique gift.

I had a hard time settling on an ornament! There were several really cute themes to choose from, like THIS Luke Skywalker Theme, THIS Pluto Theme, and THIS Pirates Theme! In the end I chose THIS Red Chevron Photo Ornament.

I'm confident you can rely on Dixie Midwest to package your item(s) carefully. Our unbreakable Aluminum ornament came very carefully packaged, and had it been their Bridesmaid Engraved Glass Jewelry Box instead I trust it would have arrived in one piece.

I was impressed Bennetta Elliott, Owner of Dixie Midwest, saw to it a hand-signed Thank You card was included with the simplest of orders.

Available in Lime, Orange, and Red the Chevron Personalized Photo Ornament is a fairly simple ornament---a 2"x3" rectangular ornament with rounded corners. I like that it's a very light, Aluminum ornament. I have a few ornaments that are so heavy I have to hang them from the thicker branches of the tree, often making them difficult to see.  

For the patterned side, I chose an initial and a year for the ornate frame. For the opposite side, I uploaded one of my favorite photos from Christmas 2012! I was pleased the photo on our ornament was true to the original I uploaded. I would have liked our photo to fill the photo side of the ornament. If I had the option, personally I would prefer to not see the Aluminum. With that said, I'm excited to hang this cute ornament on our tree this year!

Consider a gift you can personalize for Christmas, or a Fall|Winter wedding. Browse Dixie Midwest's products and designs HERE. If you're counting down the days to a Disney vacation, get yourself a cute Free Countdown Printable HERE!

Now, I'm certain you can think of 6 people who would love a Christmas ornament

with a photo of your cuties on it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you have a fun Christmas ornament tradition?

Twelve Weeks To Christmas Begins

Welcome, welcome! I'm glad you're here! If you can believe it, as of today there are only twelve weeks before the month of December. It's time to cut the ribbon on our Disney inspired Twelve Weeks To Christmas Countdown Event!

Follow The Event HERE.

For more contest details, click HERE.

Twelve Weeks To Christmas Countdown Event

Nearly a month ago, I reviewed Julie de Azevedo Hanks' book The Burnout Cure HERE on our blog, and I am loving it.

One of my favorite chapters has been "Take Responsibility For Your Own Happiness." One of the paragraphs within the chapter, called "Reclaiming Childhood Joy," made me to pause and consider what brought me joy as a child. I made a list and scribbled down

As far back as I can remember Disney has brought joy, and a hint of magic and wonder into my life. As a sleep-deprived mom without a guide for how to care for and raise a person, mastering motherhood was all I had time for. And at some point I realized, an important part of motherhood is not losing sight of other things I love, and that bring me joy. Of all that makes me ME. 

I've accepted the challenge to bring an item from my list back into my life.

Our new Disney-inspired blog combines our passion for set decoration,
and our love of holiday celebrations and Disney. 

To celebrate, I'm joining with some wonderful bloggers for

Inspired by a dozen of Disney's popular toys for Christmas 2013!

Visit our blog Reality To Dreams every Monday, beginning September 9th. We'll reveal one of twelve prizes inspired by 'Disney's Dozen' most popular toys for Christmas 2013, and give you a chance to win! Our sponsoring bloggers will also be sharing a Disney or Christmas-inspired post with us! I can hardly wait!

For more giveaway details, click HERE. 

This is a blogger-sponsored giveaway and is in no way affiliated with

The Walt Disney Company, or any other brand or retailer.

Holiday Budgeting Simplified

Tomorrow we ring in a new month and many of us will refresh our budget in preparation for the month the holidays.  But, as we near the end of the year and prepare to celebrate two holidays within one week of each other, many of us will experience

HOLIDAY BRAIN:

Our overtired brain's inability to think clearly due to the endless list of merriment-related plans we must make in preparation for the holidays

HB can cause us to...

...put an ice pack in our purse and a car key in the freezer.

...walk into a room and completely forget why we're there.

...drive away from the ATM with JUST the receipt, leaving behind the cash and 

our card.

Budgeting plays an important role in the month of December because retailers everywhere are competing for - and will gladly accept - our money.  

But, we too live with HB at this time of the year, and what follows is a quick refresher course mainly for ourselves that may also be helpful to you:  

. . . BUDGETING FOR SMARTIES WITH HOLIDAY BRAIN. . .

. . . . . . .

A budget is:

MONEY IN - MONEY OUT

If you're interested, I've listed examples for each HERE.

If we want more money:

We need to     }  add items to MONEY IN or make those numbers larger

                         }  remove items from MONEY OUT or make those numbers smaller

. . . . . . . . .

Once we know exactly how much money we have coming in and from where, along with every expense we could possibly throw money at, it's easier to see which expenses/purchases are most important and should come first.  By cutting out optional and less important expenses/purchases, it's even possible to "find" money you didn't realize was there and put on a wonderful Christmas for a neighbor struggling with the most basic of needs. 

FOOD is an important purchase that has no cost limit.  We enjoy good food and hanging onto as many of our hard-earned dollars as possible.  You can Follow by Email below and continue to follow our blog as we work to make this number as small as possible for families everywhere, without sacrificing good meals. 

Finally, we realize that with "budgeting" we've pulled at the threads of THE UGLY "MONEY" SWEATER, of which "credit," "debt," and "interest" are all a part...

It was important to my parents to put on a magical and memorable holiday for their family, and many parents who hope to do the same may feel desperate to find money in the budget, that just isn't there.  

Remember that growing your MONEY IN numbers will require your time and energy, while money goes out all too easily.  It may also help to imagine dollars spent in credit this month appearing on next month's MONEY OUT list, and every month's thereafter until the amount is paid off.  

Wishing you happy budgeting and happy gifting.

What is your funniest Holiday Brain story?

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