This week I’m wrapping up my fall semester and studying like crazy for a couple of finals. Then, I get a blessed 5 weeks off from school. I can’t wait for the winter break to rewind and focus on some things that have taken a back seat. However, this past weekend my husband and I realized we had to get our holiday shopping completed so that gifts would reach the intended recipient in time. Over the past year we have simplified our lives and made shopping a low priority. Again, I’ve never really like shopping, so this comes naturally to me. So to purchase our holiday gifts for our family members in the least stressful environment, we decided once again to purchase Omaha Steaks gift packages online. We did this last year and everybody really enjoyed the gifts.

My first draft of the holiday card, I need to redo it!

Since we have a total of four families to buy for, we purchased a gift package for each family. Omaha steaks allows you to pick and choose items to personalize each gift package. Each family purchase ended up costing under $80, so it’s also an affordable way for us to send gifts to our families. We ended up under our $400 budget. And, we ordered using our MyPoints link and earned 2,500 bonus points that we use toward Shell gas cards! We still have one gift each to purchase for our 3 nieces and nephew, and one gift for a stepfather on my husband’s side (we have a lot of step parents and extended families, we are children of divorced parents from the ’70’s!) This week we’ll be able to wrap up these last few gifts and get them mailed out before Christmas comes.

My final endeavor is to create our holiday cards. I wanted to design our own this year based on an art project I picked up from an art teacher. If I can get it finished  in time to send out it will be a nice card with a personal touch. Once the finish the beard, my husband will add the Santa hat to complete the homemade Santa design. This week just happens to be a bit hectic with school wrapping up. Time is just so limited!