Not My Normal Christmas

It’s been a while since I wrote a blog. I had big plans to write many blogs over the holidays. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. Having a sick husband kind of takes up a lot of time and energy. However, that is a subject for another blog.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love Christmas music, Christmas movies, baking, shopping for gifts, giving gifts, cold weather, decorating for Christmas, church celebrations, etc. I look forward to it all year. I plan for the crafts I’m going to make and the things I’m going to bake.

However, this year didn’t go according to plan. Lee had been sick since late October. I don’t want to go into those details, but our lives had not been normal for a while. He was starting to get better as we got closer to Thanksgiving. A few days before we left for Headland, I got out our Christmas decorations. I put out everything except for the tree. I wanted Lee and I to put the tree up together and I thought we could do it when we got back from seeing my family at Thanksgiving. We went home for Thanksgiving and Lee had mostly bad days. He felt good on Thanksgiving Day luckily. The week we got back from Headland, Lee got sick again and ended up in the hospital. Then, after he was discharged, he was only home a few days before ending up back in the hospital. By the time he was discharged again, there were only a few days left before we were going to leave for Headland for Christmas. By then, I decided it wasn’t worth it to put the tree up. Up to this point, I had also done no Christmas baking and I hadn’t watched any Christmas movies. It was also unseasonably warm. This just didn’t feel like Christmas.

Thankfully, Lee has bounced back wonderfully. We have been able to still make our trip home for Christmas. Now that Christmas has come and gone, it still doesn’t feel right. Christmas did come, though, and here are some pictures to show how we spent it.

Lee was able to go hunting and he shot a doe and shared the meat.

We opened gifts with my family.

We played Dirty Santa with the Snellgrove's and, as usual, Meemaw was the life of the party.

We went to Panama City Beach to celebrate with the DeShazo's.

My family.

We exchanged presents with Lee's family.

Lee's family.

Even though it hasn't felt like Christmas, we had a good time visiting with family and friends. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

First Couponing Experience

Yesterday afternoon I made a last minute decision to go pick up a few groceries. It was a last minute decision because I take a class at the seminary at 7:00 on Thursdays and I decided to take this trip at about 5:45. I needed to go to the grocery store because I had promised my students that I would bring them a special treat, so I was going to make them a cookie cake. Since I was already going to have to buy cookie dough, I thought I might as well pick up some other things that we needed as well. Plus when I checked my email and Southern Savers, I found many items at a good price.

So, Thursday afternoon I made my first coupon inspired grocery-shopping trip. For more on my coupon preparations click here.

Here is a picture of my purchases.

I bought the following items:
• 3 boxes of hamburger helper
• Charmin toilet paper
• 2 bottles of hair gel
• 2 bags of bagels
• 2 loaves of bread
• 2 cans of refrigerated biscuits
• 2 rolls of cookie dough
• 1 bag of taco blend shredded cheese
• 1 bag of mozzarella shredded cheese

At Harris Teeter, these items would have rang up to cost $50.34 (without tax). Do you want to take a guess of how much I paid for them? Go ahead guess………..

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I only paid $26.44 (with tax) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am kind of proud of my first coupon inspired grocery-shopping trip.

Here’s how I did it:
I had special prices available to me with my Harris Teeter VIC card.
The Hamburger Helper was on sale for $1 a box.
I had a coupon for $0.75 off when you buy 3 Hamburger Helpers.
Harris Teeter doubles all coupons less than $0.99.
So, I paid $1.50 for 3 boxes of Hamburger Helper.
The Charmin toilet paper was on sale for $9.89.
I had an e-VIC coupon for $1.00 off Charmin toilet paper.
So, I paid $8.89 for Charmin toilet paper.
The hair gel was buy 1 get 1 free.
I had a coupon for $1.00 off the hair gel.
So, I paid $1.99 for two bottles of hair gel.
The bagels were buy 1 get 1 free.
So, I paid $3.69 for two bags of bagels.
The bread was buy 1 get 1 free.
I had a coupon for $0.75 off bread.
Harris Teeter doubles all coupons less than $0.99.
So, I paid $1.49 for two loaves of bread.
The biscuits were buy 1 get 1 free.
I had a coupon for $1.00 off biscuits.
So, I paid $0.79 for 2 cans of biscuits.
The cookie dough was on sale 2 for $5.00.
I had an e-VIC coupon for $1.00 off when you buy 2 rolls of cookie dough.
So, I paid $4.00 for 2 rolls of cookie dough.
The shredded cheese was on sale buy 1 get 1 free.
So, I paid $2.65 for 2 bags of shredded cheese.

I saved $25.13-according to my receipt.

Savvy Couponing

Several weeks ago, I attended a couponing class to try and learn how couponing works. Since then, I have become an avid coupon collector. I check the Internet sites for the newest and best coupons and we buy a Sunday paper every week that I can clip coupons from. However, I have yet to use any for my grocery shopping. I have used several restaurant coupons and Lee has used a coupon I found for a free drink from CVS, but that has been the extent of my coupon usage.

The main reason I have not used them is because we don’t need anything. My way of grocery shopping has always been to make one huge trip to last several weeks. I happened to have made a trip a few days before I took the couponing class. But the time has come. We are starting to run low on food.

Another reason I have not used them is because I’m a little intimidated. Couponing is an art form. I keep trying to tell myself that I’m smart and I will figure it out. I also try to tell myself that I’m not going to be great at it to begin with, but with practice I’ll get better.

So, why coupon? The main reason is if you do it right-you can save a lot of money. Now, I’m not talking about being one of those crazy people on the Extreme Couponing show. Who needs 50,000 boxes of pasta?!? I just want to be better stewards of the money God has blessed us with. Plus if we save more money on ourselves, we can give more away.


My coupon clipping station.


What kind of deals will I find this week?


My coupon notebook.


I love being organized!



I plan on going on my first coupon grocery-shopping trip this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.