Dear Santa… (2016 Edition)

It’s baaaack!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and your shopping fruitful. 🙂 Last year, we did a round up of a few things that both Mitch and I had our eyes on and threw them all together into a good ‘ole fashioned his and hers Christmas Gift Guide. Because it was so much fun to do and we heard from a lot of you that it proved helpful in your search for ideas for people on your own gift giving list, we’re bringing it back for 2016! Sooooo…. let’s do it!

1. Long Pink Sweater: This light weight, blush sweater comes from Target and I really like that it’s winter-y, feminine, and long enough to cover the bum for wearing with leggings… which I’m wearing a lot of these days. 🙂
2. Illustrated Harry Potter Books: As an avid Harry Potter fan and the daughter of an art teacher, imagine my excitement to hear that they’re publishing an illustrated version of every Harry Potter book! The first one has been out for awhile now and I’ve gotten a chance to page through it… it’s BEAUTIFUL. The second one came out this past fall, too. How fun to be able to read the books to our kids, complete with stunning artwork to add to the magic!
3. Knit Hat: Cute, cozy, and perfect for winter… I’m loving the light pink (and also just realizing that we have a pink theme going on here!), but they had a whole bunch of colors to choose from. This one, called “Mauve Along”, comes from Old Navy.
4. Tear Drop Earrings: How pretty are these?! And shocker, they’re light pink. These babies are from Target and under $10! Cough, MITCH. 😉
5. Porch Swing: Oh my gosh, when I think about sitting out on the porch in a SWING with pillows and blankets, watching the world go by, my soul relaxes a little bit. Here’s one that comes with good reviews from Amazon and is delivered unfinished, so you can stain or paint it whatever color you want!
6. Whatchamacallit: We’ve never played this game before, but I saw it in the store recently and it looks like a lot of fun! It’s the kind of game that is good for parties… a conversation-starter kind of a game. At least that’s the gist I got from looking at the box…
7. Fringe Flip Flops: I’ve been wanting to up my sandal game after realizing that the majority of my summer footwear are those plastic colored ones from Old Navy. Don’t get me wrong, those ones are great, but I find myself wanting something a little nicer for wearing out and about when bright green or blue doesn’t cut it. 🙂
8. Necklace: I’m loving the edgy, Gatsby look of this piece… perfect for the holidays and coincidentally, I think it’d look really nice with that pink sweater.
9. Robot Vacuum Cleaner: THIS. I had to include this guy on the list because we recently bought one and it has CHANGED. OUR. LIVES. We got ours at a miracle of a deal through a Groupon (here is the link… I think it has since sold out, but I do know that it comes back in stock every so often so just keep an eye out) and haven’t looked back since. We were finding that our linoleum floors were just not getting clean with our regular vacuum. It was getting to the point where I hated walking around in bare feet because you could just feel the dirt all over the place, no matter how much we vacuumed or mopped. The particular model we got is made especially for hard floors (it also comes with a mopping attachment!), but they also make other models that are better on carpet. I’ll tell you what… we’ve only had ours for about a month and it is the best home maintenance product we have ever bought. We walk around in bare feet all the time now!

Alrighty, that was my list. Onto Mitch’s picks for 2016…

1. Winter Sweater: It seems like Christmas is always a good time to add a new sweater to the collection and the pattern on this one from Target is a good balance between unique and traditional.
2. Sports Watch: Mitch does a lot of active, sports related things in his job so a watch that can withstand some athletic activity and has the bells and whistles for such (stopwatch, light, etc.) is a necessity.
3. Life Sized Jenga: How fun is this?! A giant twist on a classic game, this life sized Jenga would be perfect for outdoor parties. Disclaimer… this one comes from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (lots of other stores are carrying them right now), but I think you could whip this up with some 2×4’s and a saw pretty easily… and for a fraction of the price. Just saying. 🙂
4. Winter Gloves: Definitely on Mitch’s Christmas list this year. A nicer pair of gloves that he can wear while driving and these ones are even touch screen sensitive, so you can use your phone while wearing!
5. Portable Ping Pong: Ever been somewhere and thought “dang, I wish we could play ping pong”? Happens to us all the time. 🙂 Well, this portable set can be set up anywhere- all you need is a table top! The one pictured comes from Kohls, but you can find them elsewhere too.
6. Office Accessories: This pick was more my thinking, but I could easily see these in Mitch’s office… the gear bookends and jacks paperweight seem like nice (and masculine!) pieces to add to any office space for a little bit of interest.
7. Socks: Always a great stocking stuffer… these fun ones are from Target (you can find the links here and here).
8. Google Home: We’ve all heard the commercials about the in-home smart speaker system. I am so curious to see just how well they work and how much use they get. I’ve been told that the Google Home is a great option and we think it’s a winner of a Christmas gift for this year’s list.
9. Thin Wallet: Who doesn’t like a thinner, lighter, less cumbersome wallet for just the necessities? This guy came from Target (and is on sale now!).
10. Head Scratcher: Also something that made Mitch’s list this year and it cracks me up, but the man loves comfort, so the head scratcher is his idea of pampering… whatever floats your boat!

Well, that wraps up this year’s Christmas Gift Guides… hope this helps you in your hunt for the perfect gifts! By the way, does anyone have any good tips for Cyber Monday shopping? We have some gift cards that need spending and have been waiting for those online deals, but I’m an amateur when it comes to Cyber Monday shopping and can use all the tips and tricks you’ve got. 🙂

PS. Make sure to tune into our YouTube Channel TOMORROW because we’ve got something cooking up for you over there! Let’s just say that we’ve come up with a creative way of using the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers in a true Mitch vs. Leslie holiday challenge showdown. See ya then!