This post was sponsored by T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
I truly believe family is the greatest gift! The love in our family is what helps us get through the difficult times. During the holidays, I want to spend a little extra time with my family to let them know how much I appreciate and love them. In the past, I wanted to squeeze in everything I could to make the holidays extra special for my family. However, lately I have found that when you slow down during the holidays, it is easier to enjoy your family more and to create special moments with them without it being so hectic.
T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods know family is the greatest gift and they have a Gift My Gathering contest, which inspires people to connect and celebrate what truly matters most – each other! This holiday season, they will make it possible for five families from across the U.S. to come together and celebrate at a holiday gathering. How exciting is that?!
Gathering with my family during the holiday time is important to me. We have family traditions that we do together and enjoy. One way we slow down and spend time together is by doing our family photos at home! It takes a lot less time and the kids can take their time getting ready. My kids are now 9 and 11 and they are really at a fun age! I take photos with our nice camera of the kids dressed up in their best holiday clothes for our holiday cards. It is nice to stay at home to do these and my kids are usually more relaxed and I can get the perfect photo of them! I always use this red recliner chair, that my son has had since he was little. I keep a photo book of the kids holiday cards and it is fun to see how much the kids have grown in comparison to the red chair!
I love to take a ‘me day’ to visit T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods at this time of year, because they have everything I need for my family gatherings. Everything from holiday décor to entertaining essentials and gifts for everyone on your list. I love to have a cozy home at this time of year and it is nice to bring home a few new items to enjoy with my family while we spend time at home gathering together.
Another tradition that we have as a family is to make ornaments for the tree every year. We give these out as gifts and their grandparents and aunt/uncles just love them! It is a personalized gift and I always keep all of their ornaments on our own tree in one special spot. The kids love to get these ornaments out every year when we decorate the tree and it is fun to look at all of the different ornaments they’ve created! It is also a fun family craft to do each year at home and we always have a lot of laughs and enjoy our time together as we create the ornaments! This also saves us a lot of time and energy, because we don’t have to run out to find little gifts for the kids to give to family/friends.
I also enjoy holiday treats and one that our whole family loves is a chocolate sundae cake that I make in the crock pot on an extra blustery winter day. This cake cooks in the crock pot all day and our house smells so good! The kids love when I scoop the cake into bowls for them and the cake makes its own hot chocolate sauce while it cooks! We always add a scoop of ice cream with it and it is such a treat to enjoy under blankets on the couch while we watch a holiday movie. I love lazy evenings with my family!
T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods want to bring you the best holiday gathering yet and have teamed up with Carla Hall to share her tips and tricks for great holiday gatherings! This will allow you more time to focus on what matters most – family.
Through November 28th you can visit giftmygathering.com you can share how you gather with the people that matter most to you this holiday season. T.J.Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods will select five families from across the U.S. and make it possible for them to be together and celebrate with a custom holiday gathering.
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Gift My Gathering is sponsored by The TJX Companies, Inc. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S., D.C. and Puerto Rico, 18 & older. Begins 8:00 a.m. ET on 11/13/17 & ends 11:59 p.m. ET on 11/28/17. For official rules, visit giftmygathering.com.