I decided this year to scale back on my Christmas decorations. But one of the few items that we brought down from the attic was the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Scene. This was a gift from several years ago that I absolute love and the kids have been playing with for several days now. However this gift comes with one problem….things that are said that you should really never hear at Christmas.

“Take Baby Jesus out of your mouth.”
“No Baby Jesus can not slide down the stable roof”
“Why are you putting Baby Jesus in time out?”
“A camel does not say woof, but that is okay just this year”
“Please share the donkeys with your sisters, you don’t need both the Baby and the donkeys.”
“Leave Baby Jesus alone and go watch TV while I get dressed.”
“Why is the cow sitting on top of the stable?”
“Yes, I realize that the cow plays music out of it’s butt when you sit it there.”
“No, I won’t make Zach give you the baby Jesus because you are a girl” or the alternative is “Zach give baby Jesus back to your sister, she was playing with it first.”

I really wish I could put a disclaimer here saying at least one of the above has not been said this year but instead I will add that after repeating the above statements at least 6 times, I am beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea!

This morning as I went in our bathroom, I had to add these

“Please don’t give Baby Jesus a bath in toliet.”
“Why oh WHY are all these people in the bathroom with me?”

Blogging: .November has 14 post including this one. Matt would say this was a success because not a single one of these was a picture post. Opps need to fix that soon!
 Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: Slowly but surely, I would guess 1x a week still working toward the goal. With all the stuff going on this month, I really had lost sight of doing a regular devotion. My plan is to start a year long devotional book in January so that might keep me on track better. In the mean time I need to just read something!
Goal is 3 a week.

Couponing/Grocery Budgeting: We ended up spending $755 on groceries this month, so under the goal. I am also pleased to say that our eating out has decreased as well. In order to cut our budget for December I am going to reduce the budget for December to $400.
Our Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially: November has been the best month so far to date. We currently have $300 in our emergency fund. I was able to purchase ALL of our Christmas gifts this month. We also ordered 3 new windows for the house.  December will be a small month due to my decrease in income that I am expecting but we hope to at least achieve the half way mark of our emergency fund. As for the car fund, we have not been able to save in this area but are using the money to maintain the cars that we currently own. Goals in this area: Emergency fund of $1000, car fund equal to a payment of $300 each month and by January- debt free except for mortgage.

Weight- UGGHHHH
Goal to exercise 3x a week.

I was actually excited to write this review, until I realized that I had only hit my goal in about half of the categories. But at least I am honest and hopefully this will help keep me on track in December. My current plan is to write a month in review as well as a year in review where I establish new goals or keep working on the problems with these!