five favs: (cheaply) stuffing my own stocking

No, there will be no stocking at the fireplace with my name on it this year. Upside: I rationalize all impulse purchases as stuffers for the stocking I don't get to hang. Five things that make my Christmas morning (or any day in December) very merry:

1. Russel Stover's Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Santa

This little guy's been greeting me on Christmas mornings for years. I prefer to eat him before a proper breakfast and anticipate a blood sugar crash by 8:30 a.m.

2. Almay Smart Shade CC Cream

I don't often buy makeup, but when I do, I buy... bareMinerals. I've been waiting for a killer sale at Ulta to restock my usual powder foundation, so I needed something to tide me over. At $8.98 for 1.0 oz, this Almay CC Cream isn't exactly cheap, but it was one of the cheaper BB/CC creams on the shelves. Using just a tiny bit of it this morning was enough to make me look downright half-well-rested. Ho ho ho.

3. Saint bracelet

Daily. I wear mine daily. My Mom buys three or four of these at a time at her local Catholic bookstore. And when a friend, or a coworker, or even the clerk at the grocery store sees hers on her wrist and exclaims "Wow, that's the coolest bracelet," she just slips it off and hands it to them. Evangelizer, that one. Grab one for a cool $2.85 (and free Prime shipping) on Amazon.

4. Emi-Jay hair ties

So apparently every celebrity wears or wore these last year and they were THE thing. I have no idea if they're still popular but the idea of a hair tie that's both colorful and looks somewhat like a bracelet seems awesome. And if anything can be both a) useful and b) add some color to my daily attire that usually consists of jeans and t-shirts that are gray/beige/faded beige/beige that used to be white, I'm all for it.

5. Mini spatula set and mini whisk

 

Don't have either of these? Just stop reading this drivel right now and go order. I use one of these three daily, and for once, I am not exaggerating. Uses: scraping the dregs of the peanut butter jar, scrambling eggs in a non-stick pan, mixing the sugar topping for the Christmas crumb cake. I feel like I'll have fewer dishes to wash later if I just use miniature tools. But really. every. day.

These things are all fine and lovely, but Eartha and I'd also take:
a) a duplex
b) checks (sign your x on the line)
c) decorations bought at Tiffany's

but I did say this would be a cheaply filled stocking. So oh well.