This post might seem seasonally out of place (it’s April! Flowers are blooming!), but here I am with my Winter Bucket List recap. This first year of being married, I started a tradition of seasonal bucket lists, inspired by the blog A Beautiful Mess. Back in November, I shared all of the progress on my Autumn Bucket List, which helped me have my favorite Fall of my whole life! The Winter Bucket List was no different—I am not a winter-loving gal, but the intentional celebration that a bucket list helps with made me savor the season like never before.
Even though I’m a bit late posting my recap, I’m writing this post for myself and posterity if nothing else. Next winter, I absolutely plan on doing another bucket list, and I want to remember some of my favorite seasonal things from this first one!
You can see the items above that were on my list—if it’s highlighted in blue, that means Grace and I crossed it off! There were a few I didn’t get to (honestly there is no excuse for not making crock pot hot chocolate-I just somehow forgot!), and the squiggly lines means I somewhat completed it. Here are some of my favorite memories from the items on the list!
Decorating our house for Christmas for the first time was SO fun. Looking back through photos made me feel sooo nostalgic. Our house has never felt cozier. I posted a Christmas decorations house tour here.
We also mailed out our first ever Christmas cards (a tradition I had always looked forward to for my first married Christmas!). I loved how they turned out and plan on doing something similar in years to come.
Matching PJs (which, as it turns out, Bean loved climbing into like a baby kangaroo) were a highlight of the season too.
Also Christmas-related on the bucket list: attending Christmas Eve service at our church, St. Aidan’s. It was the sweetest night. I’ve never attended a midnight candlelit Christmas Eve service before, and even though I was super sleepy, it was magical to be huddled in the sanctuary at midnight as Christmas Eve turned to Christmas Day.
This picture was actually taken at our church a couple days before Christmas :)
Lots of good food and drinks on the bucket list! We made Christmas cookies using the same recipe my family has used my whole life, baked homemade Chex Mix (anyone else with me that this is totally a Christmas thing?! Grace had never heard of it being specific to Christmas), and made mulled wine. I think I need to work on my mulled wine recipe a bit. But it was good!
Although my list was very Christmas-focused, there were a few post-Christmas things too! Of course, one of the highlights of both 2018 AND 2019 was ringing in New Year’s Eve in New Orleans at the wedding of two of our dear friends. You can read a recap of that trip here.
In January, we drove to find snow in Southern California and ended up having the CUTEST snow day in Wrightwood! We brought Willie and it was his first time seeing snow (that we know of). So special! I wrote a recap of that day here. We’ll definitely be making Wrightwood snow days a tradition in our house.
Last but definitely not least, in February we hosted the First Annual Nicole Kidman Appreciation Film Festival! Yes, you read right. This was Grace’s idea as she is a huge Nicole Kidman fan, and we had SO much fun bringing our friends together for a weekend of Nicole Kidman film screenings at our house. We rented a big projector, fired up the popcorn machine we got as a wedding present, and were just generally very over the top about it.
It was a great Winter! Two things that weren’t on the bucket list, but should have been:
First, I cut off half my hair. It’s funny because even now in April, I’ll see people who are like wait - did you get a haircut? YEP, I chopped my hair length in half in December and it’s been great! I love long hair so I’m growing it out again but cutting off a ton of it just made it feel so healthy.
Second, I made my very first Buche de Noel and I was so proud of how it turned out! I spent almost all day on Christmas Eve making it, and it was so fun. It gave me a lot of confidence to try complicated baking projects in the future.
I loved this wintry trip down memory lane! I made a Spring bucket list last month (and posted it on my Instagram stories—if you look you can find it in my “favorite things” highlight) so we are slowly working through that!
Have you ever made a seasonal bucket list?