It’s less than 3 months before Christmas, and I’m DONE.
Nope, I am not one of those who hits sales all year or stock piles a locked closet with goodies that I bought in January, and the presents are not sitting in layaway. The only thing I have left to do is figure out how to wrap them.

Last year, we decided that this never ending cycle of begging for things, earning them or getting them for presents, then the inevitable purge around Thanksgiving to “make room for new things that Santa brings” was getting old. We decided that it was going to be a Christmas of Experiences, and that tradition will continue this year.
What is a Christmas of Experiences?
A Christmas of Experiences is about giving gifts of experiences, rather than things. Now of course there have to be some “things” under the tree, but most “things” are related to the experiences. Our first time doing a Christmas of Experiences kind of happened by accident. There were so many events that we wanted to attend in 2017, we just started making plans, booking hotel rooms, and buying tickets.
Christmas of 2017 Experiences
Mardi Gras 2018: Our family has a place in New Orleans, so it’s like our second home. Our first adventure of 2017 was

a week in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. (Insert gasps of horror here.) Ok, so let me explain… Mardi Gras in New Orleans has two sides. The Girls Gone Wild side and the Family Mardi Gras side. We leave on the Thursday before Mardi Gras and bring our lawn chairs, clothes for all seasons, and a sturdy wagon. We hit as many parades as we can from Thursday to Fat Tuesday, catching glitter shoes from Muses, rolls of toilet paper and plungers from Tucks, and hand painted coconuts from Zulu. Our week is filled with the sounds of kids playing together in the neutral ground, to bands from all over tuning up their instruments before their five-mile march around the big easy. We play hard and eat big!
St. Patrick’s Day Parade: There is little better than the Irish Channel Parade rolling down Magazine street! We spent a weekend celebrating our Irish heritage and enjoying catching potatoes, carrots, cabbages, boxes of Lucky Charms cereal, and Irish Spring soap while dancing about to the bagpipes.

Concerts: We had three big names on the agenda for 2017: Adam, Taylor and Ed! We saw Maroon 5 in June and it was spectacular. My husband took me to see Taylor Swift last month (because my 7 year old was too cool to take me), and the family will spend Halloween with Ed Sheeran.
Thanksgiving: We spend Thanksgiving each year in the Big Easy, it’s a fabulous way to get away from the traditional Thanksgiving, and start some new traditions. Instead of spending hours in the kitchen preparing turkey and dressing, we eat fresh seafood and turducken at Red Fish Grill and spend the afternoon watching the parade roll through, as you know there is always a parade to watch somewhere!
Stay tuned for our Christmas 2018 Experiences (and don’t tell Quinn!) and helpful hints for how you can plan a Christmas of Experiences of your own.