This post is sponsored by Amazon.

It’s the final holiday countdown, and we are geeking out over here. Every year, Brett takes the last two weeks of the year off just to be home, and we huddle in–Christmas movie nights, neighbor nights, good food and drink nights–all the holiday things. It’s game time, and we’re ready. Christmas playlists are cued, the fridge is stocked, and there’s a pile of firewood in the garage. Some of our favorite family holiday moments receive a little help from our Amazon devices, and there’s a good chance that behind every cozy twinkle light scene, Alexa is adding to the magic. If you’ve been on the fence about adding an Amazon device to your home or have one and want to find new ways to use it, here are some of our favorite ways Alexa has added to our holiday moments.

Our Favorite Holiday Movies
Our Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote provides all our holiday entertainment, and our Christmas wouldn’t be the same without our favorite holiday movies. We space them out, starting shortly after Halloween with our “Tier 2 Holiday Favorites”–The Grinch, The Santa Clause, Fred Claus, The Holiday, Miracle on 34th Street–and save “Tier 1”, the best five for the most special family moments. Plus, all we have to do is say, “Alexa, watch The Grinch” to start watching. 

Our Tier 1 Holy Five:

Home Alone
Elf
Christmas Vacation
White Christmas
The Family Stone

The Family Stone is my ultimate favorite, and I save it for the last bit of wrapping and glass of wine on Christmas Eve.

This year, we have an Echo Show which provides a nice little twist to accessing our favorite holiday movies. In addition to the numerous other tasks the Echo Show does, it can play movies from Amazon Prime Video. We purposely don’t have  TVs in the kids’ rooms and don’t have a big enough house for a playroom or media room, but sometimes it’s nice to set up the kids in a room to watch their own movie while we entertain guests or watch an adult movie in our living room. The Echo Show is great for this! We set it up on a TV tray on the bed for the kids’ own private movie theater (sans popcorn because Friday would go Cujo).

Our Echo Show is also our holiday party DJ this year, streaming the playlists I spent way too much time creating. I have different holiday music moods depending on the holiday event and choose the playlist accordingly.

Want a listen?

My favorite most-played list is I Am Buddy the Elf, a compilation of all my favorites in one place.
For more specific classification, we have:

Old School Christmas  Classic Crooner carols from Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, etc.
Indie Christmas  Coffee shop carols with favorites like She & Him, The Head and the Heart, Sufjan Stevens, etc.
Christmas Jazz & Piano  Chris Botti, Leslie Odom Jr., Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr., etc.
Childhood Christmas  Kid favorite classics that make you feel happy — Frosty the Snowman, The Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas music, etc.

We’re hosting a neighbor holiday party this weekend, and Alexa will be entertaining us all night long. We’ll start with Old School Christmas and Jazz & Piano and maybe–if things go well–throw in a Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

The kids also love using our Echo Show to ask how many more days until Christmas, and we’ll be tracking Santa on it Christmas Eve with the Alexa Skill NORAD Tracks Santa. 

We’ve given Amazon devices for Christmas gifts every year, and they’re always a hit. We’re excited to give a few more this year, and here’s where the fun part comes in. We want to help you share some Amazon device love. Do you know someone who would love an Echo Show? Someone who deserves to be given some extra love this holiday? Tell me in the comments! Tell me in the comments, and Amazon will send them a brand new Echo Show.

 

This post is sponsored by Talkspace.

By far, one of the best decisions I made in 2019 was getting our butts into therapy. I wrote about it earlier this year–and yes, we still go–but I cannot stress enough how helpful therapy has been for our family. We started therapy not because there was any sort of crisis, but because I believe in dedicating time and effort to taking the very best care of our mental and emotional health as much (if not more!) as we dedicate time and effort to taking care of our physical health.

I don’t go the gym or seek support for my physical health because there’s some sort of problem–I do it for maintenance and because it feels so good to actively pursue the best version of myself. The same holds true for therapy. It’s like a gym for your emotions! Tools, guidance, constructive questions from trained professionals who help us uncover the things that need to be uncovered and push us forward in our relationships–we are so much better communicators with therapy!

Therapy is, indeed, a gift we’ve given ourselves–one for which we’ve budgeted and created time, space and vulnerability. But it’s also a gift we give those we love because they benefit from our commitment to healthy relationships. In this season’s gift-giving theme, I can’t think of a better gift than therapy, especially during a time of year when emotions are high and the pains of our past seem to rise to the surface. Therapy appointments can be a challenge for many though as they require time, money, commitment and often an hour off work every time you go. Have you heard of Talkspace? I had heard of the app through ads on some of my favorite podcasts, was interested in how it worked and recently had the chance to try it. Talkspace is an online therapy platform, making licensed therapy more accessible to more people in ways that fit their lifestyle. Users receive confidential support of a licensed therapist through a user-friendly and HIPAA-compliant app. It’s affordable, convenient and provides support for mental and emotional health when you need it (and let’s face it–we all need it, all of the time!).

 

 

Once I signed up, after a short introduction, a therapist “manager” asked me some questions to find the best therapist fit for me. I was given several choices of therapists including their background, experience and professional certifications. I went through two rounds of therapist selections until I chose the therapist I felt best fit my needs, and she’s been wonderful. We still see our regular marriage therapist, but I wanted a little personal emotional support through the holidays to help me balance my sentimental heart with intellect and some smart tools to help me stay present and moving forward.

Talkspace gives lots of options for communication with your therapist. You can send voice memos, set up video chats and send messages through the app.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the great thing–if you’re traveling over the holidays and headed into emotional land mines, staying with family in high energy situations, on the road while you carry some pretty heavy stuff–Talkspace is there for you, and you can take it with you. The most important thing you can do for yourself while you think of everyone else this holiday is to protect your mental health.

I am so grateful for the growth our family has made this year with therapy. As many self help books I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to and smart friends who have guided me along the years; there’s nothing like the support from professional therapists who’ve been trained in supporting mental and emotional health.

Interested in trying Talkspace? Find more information here.

After finally sitting down to address our Christmas cards the other night, I thought it would be fun to dip into the archives of old cards and photo shoots and see how we’ve evolved. An hour of folder digging later, I had quite a few observations including the recognition that after 12 years of coordinating outfits and performing the miraculous task of pulling a family photo off with everyone still loving each other, we’ve simplified things a bit. We are now a simple 2-sided flat card family as opposed to the accordian fold-out, flap-opening shenanigans we used to be able to pull off. Heidi takes our photo every year, and now I tell her, “Just take it quick, Anything will work.” I edit them the night we take them, quickly choose 2 good ones and plop them in a design. In an attempt to jazz up our flat card this year though, I did upgrade to “ultra thick” which I found out when my cards arrived basically means they print them on 2 x 4’s. Which is great because you can save it and use it for a paper weight later.

Alright, let’s dig into these observations, shall we?

Let’s start with 2007.
Lainey’s first card, self timer in our living room. We thought we were being super cute and that no one had ever thought to put their baby in a box before. Look at us, we are so creative! Also of note: I had not yet learned about proper saturation adjustments or I would have removed the Oompa Loompa top right (not naming names here).

Moving on.

2010, the year Nella was born.
She had recently been prescribed glasses which at the time I thought was devastating because I was still a bit of a precious snowflake who easily broke then. Whatever, we evolve. We all ended up wearing glasses in solidarity with Nella even though she was very likely thinking, “This is not a big deal, you guys are ridiculous.” That’s not what I want to talk about here though. What I want to know is, why am I dressed like a showgirl, and why did I not realize that my skirt grazed my panty line? To make matters worse, the low angle. I mean, we might as well have just put the camera under my skirt. That said, Lainey looks adorable, and this marked the beginning of the stripes that have appeared in every card since.

2011
Dear God, where do I begin? I have so much to say. For one, chevron was in. That’s about the only thing that was in about this card. I don’t know what’s happening with Brett’s sport coat and jeans. And the stool. Did we bring that from home? Why am I squatting? And what am I wearing? Is that a sailor shirt? And pilgrim shoes? Most important though, THE HAIR. It’s an As Seen on TV BUMP IT.

But wait. Look at the one we didn’t use. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Brett’s face? My pose. Is Nella sleeping? Were we all drunk? 2012 can’t come fast enough.

(But wait. We made up for it in the inside.)

Okay, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

2012 is one of my favorite cards ever. I was so ridiculously happy, super pregnant and consequently had great hair. We took that photo in the woods behind our house, and I barely had to hold on to Nella because she sat on my stomach like a shelf. 2012 was Dash’s first card appearance (and I love that color combination) which brings me to the next observation. The Hampton Family Card Shoot changed for good when Dash came along. Let’s dig into that, shall we?

Hampton Family Card Shoot BTS, post Dash:

We usually find a way to tie it all into our card, like the year we used “Dash away, dash away, dash away all!” on the back…

That was also the year that Austyn was way into yoga, and we attempted to incorporate it in the card. Needless to say, we didn’t go that route.

We pulled off one where Dash was smiling, thanks to a plane he spotted in the sky (you can see the reflection in the glass)…

…and used the wriggling ones because they were “us.”

2014 was one of my favorite years. My friend Jen had given me an idea earlier in the year, and it was perfect for our family.

Thought we couldn’t top it, but 2015 was even more fun.

The fact that I got Sophie and Latte to both look at the camera at the same time, considering neither of them could see or hear, was nothing short of a miracle. Not that it didn’t take a couple tries. Sophie just laid there for the first few shots.

The inside was my favorite family photo shoot ever.

We hit our peak that year, and I don’t know that we’ll ever top it.

The following year, Heidi was meeting us to take our photos but got stuck in horrendous traffic, so we handed the camera to my friend Amy who was with us. I told her where to focus, she took about four shots, and this is what we ended up with. Not bad for plan B.

Last year, it rained and the sky was super gray, but I didn’t want to cancel because it was too hard getting all of us together with the boys’ schedules. Another one in the “You get what you get” book for us.

…which finally brings us to this year. We found out Austyn was moving to Colorado right before Halloween (he’s coming back! Yay!), and I really wanted the boys on the cover of our card with us because we’re not complete without them. So we threw a five-minute shoot together in our back woods the day before he left.

We did a few more family photos a couple weeks ago on the most perfect night to finish off 2020.