Friday 5: December Edition!

Happy, happy first Fri-YAY of December!! It’s Friday and December 1, what an exciting day, right? I’m willing to bet everyone has an extra boost of good energy today because even if you aren’t a huge fan of Christmas necessarily, there’s just a little extra energy in the air on days like today in my personal opinion. I love it! New month, new goals and the end of another work week! Woo hoo!

Today I have an extra special edition of “Friday 5” to share with you! It’s all things, December and Christmas-y! If you’re new around here, (WELCOME!!) I love Fridays because it’s when I get to share 5 things in totally random fashion that I want (or need!) to share with you! Whether it’s food, fitness, life in general–I just have to get these things out into the blogisphere because I can’t keep them to myself forever! 😉

Should we go ahead and jump right into today’s post? I think so!

With all of the baking going on in the entire month of December, this is such a handy chart to try to mix in a bit of healthier alternatives to your baked dishes. I’ve used applesauce as an alternative to several things (eggs in particular), especially when baking muffins and it blends in perfectly!

Also, if you’re curious like I am, I’m always wondering what’s actually in season in the Winter season. It’s so easy to guess what’s in season in the Spring/Summer months, but Winter–not so much! What’s your favorite thing on this list? Anything you hold out for to get your hands on in the Winter produce season? I’m all about the pomegranates this time of year.

Seriously–Jimmy Fallon wins hands down when it comes to Late Night, and this #DecorationDisaster hashtag segment is the definition of why he wins so much. HILIARIOUS!

Also, we don’t have cable and just use Netflix/Hulu/Roku when we really want to watch something. But, we’ve found that having music on in the background is just so refreshing and motivating depending on what channel is on! Well, we’ve had Christmas music on throughout the day for about 2 weeks now but this channel is just the best! It’s so peaceful and so nice to have on in the background, especially at night with the Christmas tree lights twinkling. 🙂 Pandora has a few good options too!

Lastly, who’s starting their Christmas advent calenders today? Or maybe you have traditions that you like to do each day until Christmas gets here. I saw these two ideas and absolutely LOVED them!! The first one is the 25 days of Gratefulness jar where you write down one thing you’re grateful starting December 1. Then on Christmas day, you open the jar and read through all of the things you were grateful for! This wouldn’t be a bad idea to do every month to end it on an overwhelmingly grateful note! I really love this idea though for December because it makes for a special way to end the entire year and look back with an extra grateful heart.

I also REALLY love this idea for a challenge to be highly intentional for the last 30 (31) days of 2017. Some of these things seem like they’d be automatic, but you’d be surprised how easily we can overlook self-care and the importance of our mental health in a time of year that tends to be more stressful than others.