NESTING!Holiday Clean + Decorate W/Me 2026 | How I plan to survive and THRIVE this season!

Well, hey friends, it's Natalie. So glad you stopped by to hang out with me today as we kick off the holiday season together. I can't believe it's already this time of the year. It's extra special this year with baby on the way. Drop this emoji in the comments and we're going to get started by cleaning out, wiping down this fridge as we millennials like to say, but first coffee. How does a decaf iced eggnog latte sound? It's the holiday season and this fridge won't clean itself. I'm going to keep the eggnog out. I'm going to pull a bunch of other stuff out, give it a good wipe down and get this spot reset. Let's go. Cleaning out the fridge is definitely not the most fun task, but it feels good to get something checked off the to-do list so that we can move on to more festive things. And honestly, it could be worse. Back in my first trimester, I couldn't even think about the fridge, let alone open it without gagging. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better in my second trimester. And I'm actually so inspired and motivated to get some things checked off the to-do list with you As we head into this new season. If you're new here, welcome. I love sharing a realistic approach to homemaking and simple living throughout the different and changing seasons of life. If you're in need of some encouragement and gentle motivation, I hope you find that here on my channel. The holidays are truly the most wonderful time of the year, but I also love reminding you that you don't have to make everything Pinterest-worthy or keep up with the Joneses to enjoy the warmth and fun of family, friends, and everything this season and this life has to offer. In a world of consumerism and overconsumption, I hope you find a peaceful, low-pressure space here in my cozy corner of the internet. Looking better in there, smelling better in there. I could do more detail work on the condiment situation, but that's what I've got today. I am going to keep sipping away. On my coffee, and now I have room in my fridge for some groceries that I need. We're hosting our annual family kickoff to the holiday season special get-together that we do around this time of the year. Later this week, I've got some stuff coming in for that. I also have some Factor meals coming in. This week's delivery is due today with fresh, never frozen, chef-crafted, and dietitian-approved meals that have made my life. So much easier. So thanks so much to Factor for helping me fuel my mommy muscles and for sponsoring the next couple of minutes of this video. I've been a Factor customer for over four years now and I have loved, through so many different seasons of my life, having Factor meals on hand. They're chef crafted and dietitian approved, made with recognizable ingredients delivered right to my door. They have over 100 options on their rotating weekly menu and everything arrives fresh, never frozen, and ready to eat in just two minutes. Especially as we head into the busy holiday season when I'm spending so much time making things special for my family, it's really nice to have something delicious and convenient ready for myself without any extra prep or cleanup. We're spending time in line in the grocery store during the busiest time of the year. If you'd like to check out Factor for yourself, now is a great time, especially this time of the year when things are a little bit crazy. You can try what they have to offer by following the link in my description box or typing in factor75.com. You enter code NATALIBFB50. That gets you 50% off your first Factor box. Plus, they'll send you free breakfast, for an entire year. And let me tell you what, Factor breakfast options, they were the hero of my first trimester. Everything Factor has to offer is absolutely delicious. So again, that's factor75.com, or you can click the link in my description box, or you can scan this QR code here. You enter code NATALIBE, FB50 for 50% off your first Factor box, plus they'll send you free breakfast for an entire year. This offer is for new subscribers only. It varies by plan. They will send you one free breakfast item per box for the first year with an active subscription. And thanks so much to Factor for being such a huge supporter on my channel for years and years now and for helping fuel me. And little me for whatever comes next. And thank you to you all for the support. Thank you for checking out the brands that I'm lucky enough to work with. Your support of them helps directly support free content like this video. And it helps me help support our family. And for that, I am so very grateful. Now that the fridge is cleaned out. I do need to wipe the outside. That'll make me feel better. When I have a big to-do list ahead of me and I could go a million different directions, lots of irons in the fire, I always ask myself, what would make me feel best right now? To accomplish, to get done, to check off the to-do list. This fridge was at the very top of that list. Number two is cleaning out our wood stove, which Haley has actually been working on While I was working on the fridge, she's been kind of working on step one with shoveling out some of the ash. She's finishing that up and while she does, I'm going to wipe down this fridge and then pop over there to finish that job up. It's looking great! I'll finish it up here. How about the smell of the crimson tree? The tree seems so much smaller this year. That's because you're taller! You are literally taller than you were this time last year. There is nothing I would rather do on a dreary, rainy, late October day than set up my Christmas tree. I am that person now and I don't even care. You know what I say? Do what brings you joy. And this is bringing me so much joy right now. It brings our family joy. We started this little tradition of the last couple of days of October or so. We will get just the lit tree. Set up and assembled and it will stay like this for the majority of the next month. We don't actually put our ornaments on the tree until the week of Thanksgiving, especially with daylight savings ending this weekend and those dark evenings coming now sooner. Having the glowing Christmas tree just gives us such a cozy little corner and it really It really helps things feel festive. For longer. I'm always sad. The Christmas season seems to not last as long as I ever want it to. But then I remind myself, I'm a grown adult and I can do what I want. And that is setting up my Christmas tree early and it will be really nice to come home to this tonight. We've got an outdoor children's ministry outreach that we're serving at this evening. We're going to be a little soggy coming home from that. It'll be so nice to warm up near the fire and to have our glowing Christmas tree to greet us when we come back. I'd love to know when you set up your Christmas tree. If you celebrate, if you're someone who has a Christmas tree even, When do you like to get your tree up? Do you go in phases like I do? Do you get the whole shebang set up fully from day one? I've always said that I'm a firm believer that the Thanksgiving turkey tastes better with a sparkly Christmas tree in the background. The Thanksgiving prep, the cleaning that we do throughout the month, the Christmas prep, all of that goes better with a sparkly Christmas tree in the background. It's kind of like that. Mary Poppins spoonful of sugar for me in our house and like I said earlier this year is extra special. When I took this Christmas tree down last year I was going through a really sad really hard time so to be able to have the joy of new life here while we set up this Christmas tree this year it's just so very special. The sound bite For, like, TikToks and Reels and stuff like that right now, that is just cracking me up, and I'm sure you've heard it. It says, well, yes, I know what month it is. Do you think I accidentally set up a seven-foot tree in my house? My grandma, specifically, some of the years for Thanksgiving, one of the best parts of it was walking through her door and smelling all the amazing food that she would make and then rushing to go see the Christmas tree that she had set up. And it just felt so... Festive and magical and there's just something about the tree that is just so sweet and special and nostalgic and with this extra bit of life and joy that we've got going on in our family right now this really fits in with how we're feeling. So we got to get out the door to church. tonight but I will pick you all up tomorrow because I have some cooking and prep. We're hosting tomorrow evening our family kickoff to the holiday season little get together that we do every year so I will see you back here for that. Company company there's nothing I love so much. As company and it's actually been a while since we hosted. We've had little small get-togethers here and there but the last bigger thing that I did was the bridal shower back in June. It's one of the things that I've kind of taken the pressure off of myself to do as much as we love having people in our house. It definitely is a bit of work which we love to do but when I was going Going through that first trimester with the nausea and the fatigue and everything. It just didn't make sense to add that to our plate. And I've actually gotten some questions actually in a recent Q&A that I did about The holidays and hosting, because you know I have Thanksgiving here, and we love having people over, and that's just part of our typical lifestyle, but our life isn't typical right now with baby on the way, so we have had to make some adjustments just for bandwidth and all of that, and I am going to be approaching Thanksgiving a little differently this year. It might not feel different to our guests, but I have been working to Prep things early, figure some stuff out a little earlier than usual. And I get this spiced apple cider into the little crock pot over here for guests tonight. And I have a couple of other dishes to put together. I think first of all, I will work on, ooh. Baby came here? No, I'm just up against the counter with my tummy. I don't have the same range of motion I used to. I make this caramel apple dip. Every year, it's always such a hit. It is definitely not a healthy recipe. You could make your own caramel and that would make it a little healthier. But one of the approaches this year I'm taking to holiday hosting is cutting corners where I can, doing the whole Sandra Dee semi-homemade thing where I can. Liam's just chucking pieces of pumpkin into the valley. Dang, he's got an arm. I'll have the recipe to this in the description box for you all. I've made this for years. It's like a cream cheese, sweetened cream cheese layer and then a caramel layer and then I put mini chocolate chips and flaky salt on top. Now you can use the broom and sweep up the last of the seeds that fell on the floor and then I will run the robot vacuum. The pumpkins are done. I just layer those ingredients into So, a little Glass baking dish, and then once that's assembled, cover it, chill it until it's time to serve. It's served cold with tart skin or peel-on Granny Smith apples. It's so good. Have you ever done red apples? Um... Maybe I have, like if I didn't have enough Granny Smith, but the Granny Smith adds, like this is so sweet that the Granny Smith adds that sour balance to the flavor, so it's not like. Overly sweet. I feel hopeful that the holiday season, even though I'm not getting any smaller and like I keep bumping into things with my tummy, there will be challenges. But if I cannot put too much pressure on myself and can really just lean in. And strive to enjoy the season and what it has to offer and just how special it is to be growing a baby during the holidays. I remember this with Haley's pregnancy, it just felt so magical. But I also don't want to miss out on serving my family and serving our loved ones. So we are still going to host. Thanksgiving and I think prep for it and the extra work that I put into just kind of planning everything out and really strategizing and cutting those corners where I can with different recipes and stuff is going to make it good. I'm also probably not doing the fresh floral bouquets that I do every year. This will be the first year that I don't do that and that's okay. I think more More peace and more joy. And less stress during, especially during the holiday season, especially during pregnancy, is always a good idea. Ah, that's always so satisfying the way the caramel comes together on top. And then we'll put some mini chocolate chips. Makes it easier to dip through them with the apple slices. You'll hear Opie whining in the background. Weston's dad is here. They're chatting in the driveway right now. Weston is blowing leaves. His dad showed up to visit for a little bit, and Opie's very anxious to go out there and greet our guest. A little bit of flaky salt, which really brings it together. We will pop this in the fridge and get that all set up. I'm going to slice the apples, probably when people are here because Granny Smith brown so fast, so. I'll save that for then. I've got some other food to put together. This is our annual kickoff to the holiday season. Tonight, my sister Christina and her husband and their kids are coming over for this, along with my mom and dad. On this night, we watch The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Adventures of Mr. Toad duo of Disney cartoons. We've watched them my whole life. Actually, my mom and dad have watched them since before I was born. We do it every year. We love it. We got some pizzas, pumpkin shaped pizzas, which are really fun this time of the year. I've got some treats. I'm going to roast some pumpkin seeds. My mom's bringing deviled eggs. She says she's bringing coleslaw too. Christina might bring something and we'll all just snack and chat and have a good time and watch our fun movies and kick off the holiday season. My grandma and grandpa would be proud because they loved to do this with us. And this time of the year especially, I always think Think of them. So I'm drinking my ginger tea here in my Mr. Toad mug, and I'm going to keep setting out and just kind of assembling the food that we're gonna have tonight. It is so wonderful to have family traditions. You can strip away all of the stuff and commercialism. And if you really boil down the holiday season and what feels Most meaningful and what is remembered the most, it's traditions. That doesn't mean that you should hold on to those traditions with white knuckles and not let them go if there's a change of plans or if family dynamics change or whatever. We have these anchors. Throughout the season that it doesn't matter if we do different recipes for what we eat. It doesn't matter if it's a lean year or a plentiful year, how many gifts we got our kids, if it's a no gifts year, all of those things. pale in comparison to the repeated moments of intentional time that we spend with our loved ones, our family, friends that feel like family. And I just, I want to encourage you with that. I've been thinking a lot about our family values and what is most meaningful during the holiday season, especially because I'm looking at a holiday season through the lens of someone who might not have full physical or energy capacity with being pregnant. What really matters the most? I actually just... Finished filming our What I Got My Kids for Christmas video for this year. I'm trying to work a little bit ahead of the game this year so that I can actually have some margin and take a good holiday at the end of this month for Thanksgiving, especially with the hosting that I'm doing. One of our favorite traditions is to put together what we call our December box, which is basically a kit. Of things mostly reused, mostly consumable, that we bring out for the month of December. And it has become a tradition. I started this when the boys were really, really little. The kids look forward to this. Just as much as any gift that I would put under the Christmas tree. In that video, I share gift ideas, lots of interests. I've got some good stuff here, and it was fun to sit down and film it. The kids are off with friends right now. They'll be home soon, so I've got to wrap this up and clean up the mess and hide everything before they get home. But I've just been thinking a lot about what I value most and what makes the holidays feel like the holidays to me. And of course, For Thanksgiving, we're focusing on gratitude and being thankful for what we have. And Christmas, we're celebrating the birth of our Savior. So there are real anchors and reasons for the seasons that we celebrate. And to add to that... What is important to our family? What do we value? What little traditions, either from Weston's childhood or mine, or things that we're starting here for our family that we've carried on, what of those matters the most? And the rest can just kind of happen as it happens. We don't have to strive and spin our wheels and manufacture magic. It can happen when our hearts are in the right place And I really feel like our current culture of Keeping up with the Joneses and having a whole new set of decor every single year. Last year was Ralph Lauren Christmas. The year before it was Metallic Christmas. I think this year it's Colorful Christmas. All of those things are good. They're not inherently evil. But I think sometimes we feel like we have to measure up to what we see on social media in order for our family to enjoy their holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. Right. And we. Miss the point by a mile when we allow ourselves to play that comparison game. Not everything I see was meant for me and I don't have to own it to appreciate it. Those wise words brought to you by my mom in a video on my channel. Years ago, I think we were doing some like Christmas window shopping or something. She said, you don't have to own it to appreciate it. And that has stuck with me. And I think it's stuck with a lot of you because I've seen that kind of pop up in my comments every once in a while, especially during this time of the year. So that's what's on my heart. That's what I wanted to share with you today, along with some of the homemaking that we got done and hosting, and I've got more to share with you all throughout this season, so make sure that you're subscribed and that the bell icon is clicked and turned to all notifications. That way you don't miss when I post a new video. We've got that What I Got My Kids For Christmas video next week. We have a gender reveal coming out very soon after that and whatever else the future holds on this channel and for our family. So thank you so much for spending a little part of your day here with me on my channel. Happy holidays and I'll catch you later.