Things I learned in December...

I was inspired by Emily P. Freeman at Chattingatthesky.com. Yes, sometimes to grow we need to be inspired by others.

I learn way too much on a regular basis, so I will keep this short and sweet.

1. I need to Plan Ahead!! This is number one on my list for a reason. I love Christmas and all the activities that go along with it, but for some reason I cram it all into one month. I need to start planning for the holidays probably in October. Some of the things that I could have wrapped up before December-- Christmas cards, buying presents and wrapping them. Hopefully, next year I will be ahead of the game and be able to enjoy the season better.

2. This might go along with # 1, but it's like the Murphy's Law of parenting. If you are planning an event or something fun, one of your kids will get sick. It never fails at my house. Always have a plan B.

3. I've been eating clean and exercising regularly this past year, but I don't know what happened this month. Probably all the stress of getting everything accomplished lowered my will to eat healthy. I ate cookies, cake, pie and lots of other fattening foods and of course wine. Too much. When you eat healthy on a regular basis, folding to junk food isn't just unhealthy but painful too. Stomach ache city.

4. The kids have been out of school for awhile, so I did plan on them getting bored being at home. So I stocked up on $1 craft kits at Michaels. These came in handy on those rainy days before all their new toys arrived.

I hope you learned some lessons this month too, so we can all move forward and prepared into 2014.

Happy New Year!