Our Countdown to Christmas reaches its halfway mark—12 days until Christmas.

Whew—I barely made this one! Our Christmas festivities started today with “pretend Christmas” at the in-laws. We spent the night last night, unwrapped new pajamas and celebrated Christmas together today.

On Friday night, I attended Angie’s first ever cookie exchange. It was a lot of fun, and I left with dozens of different cookies for the hubby to share at his office this week. I would never have the money for that many ingredients or the time to bake the wide variety on display at her party. You can apply the same concept to gift wrapping. How much money do you spend to have a variety of wrapping paper, ribbons and bows?

Instead of overspending on the wrapping, get together with a few friends, and wrap away! Not only can you share supplies, thus having access to a wide variety of goodies, but it makes the chore seem a little more fun. Play some holiday music, bake a few easy goodies and have a cup of cheer! Hot chocolate or wassail is especially festive, but, personally, I think Cosmos look pretty merry as well.

If you really want to go all out, have a few contests along the way. You could provide gifts or prizes to the prettiest package, most unique wrapping paper, fastest gift wrapper—use your imagination to make it a lot of fun. The idea is to enjoy an evening with friends while you finish wrapping the gifts you’ve been selecting all season. Adding a festive flair to gift wrapping helps the time pass more quickly and adds a simple, relaxing evening to the chaos of the season.

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