Thank you Facebook Marketplace for sponsoring this post. There’s something for everyone!

If you’ve been reading my blog for some time now, you might know that I’m constantly on a quest to simplify my life by simplifying our home. That started in my closet by getting rid of the clothes I no longer wear and only keeping the things I really love. (I haven’t started adding anything to my smaller wardrobe, though, which means most of the time you can find me in one of two or three sweaters.)

After I tackled my wardrobe, I moved on to our bedroom and got rid of all the clutter that was laying around on our dressers and bathroom counters. I found bags, watches, and other little knick knacks that were still in great condition, but I never wore or used anymore, so I started taking stock of it so I could sell it. I don’t know about you, but when I say “sell it,” I mean put it in a garbage bag and stick it in the corner for months until I can’t stand to look at it anymore, and then I drive it to a donation center because I never got around to listing any of it anywhere.

Luckily this summer, my friend Tina mentioned that she was getting hooked on browsing Facebook Marketplace listings and finding things she loved for their house and growing family, so when I got back home from a trip to visit her, I decided to finally check it out. Not only was there a ton of great stuff for sale, but I had finally found a platform that was easy to use to sell my own items that had been taking up space in my home and mind.

I’m a big advocate of trying to find stuff used before buying it new, especially when it comes to baby gear--we bought Sophie’s crib from a family who didn’t need it anymore, and my sweet aunt who has a collection of swaddles always let us borrow hers until we figured out what exactly worked for us. And while it’s not exactly a baby item, I was able to list and sell our old coffee table on Facebook Marketplace just a couple of days after I realized it wasn’t exactly conducive to a mobile baby who was excited to pull up onto everything (we knew we wanted to get a coffee table ottoman so she wouldn’t bump her head on it if she fell, but we were stalling because we didn’t know what to do with our current table).

It was seriously so easy to snap a few photos on my phone, upload them to Facebook Marketplace (without having to create a new account or anything, you can just use your existing profile), and start getting messages of inquiry from people whose profiles I could screen before responding. I met an interested buyer at a pizza place we frequent and she paid for the table and left with it--it was awesome.

Now I joke that nothing in our house is safe--I’ve already sold a watch to someone else and there are a couple more bags hanging out on my desk that I hope to get rid of soon. I was able to put the money I made on the coffee table towards a new, more kid-friendly piece of furniture, and we (me, Rob, Sophie, even Ender) really couldn’t be happier with it!

What will you find (or sell!) this holiday season?

Every year around the holidays, my mom makes these little butter cookies that are rolled out and cut into stars and half moons baked until they’re perfectly done and cooled before dipping them halfway in chocolate and sprinkling them with crushed nuts. They’re perfect and they fall apart in the best way if you dip them in hot tea and my brother’s girlfriend Jane and I sat down together and probably ate 30 of them the day after Thanksgiving this year.

I love the traditions that just happen, the ones you don’t have to plan for but then if you forget about them one year people (i.e. me) are like “BUT WHERE ARE THE COOKIES?”

I made the cookies last year before I had a baby and I froze them so my mom and I could eat them when she got to town. We defrosted them and dipped them in hot tea and they were good but they weren’t as good, so this year I didn’t make them (it could also be because I already ate at least 15 just a few weeks ago).

So this year Rob and I made some sugar cookie dough on a Saturday morning while Sophie napped, and we drank our coffee as I rolled the dough into four sections and twisted each one into a plastic wrap-covered ball. Into the fridge they went and later on that afternoon we rolled them out onto a marble slab and used a juice glass to cut them into perfect circles before baking them and then transferring each cookie onto one of two cooling racks which I ordered on Amazon two days before for exactly this reason.

Sunday was Cookie Decorating Day, so I set out a variety of sprinkles and those cinnamon red hots and we opened a bottle of sparkling wine before mixing powdered sugar with egg whites, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a shocking amount of milk because it seemed like we were mixing concrete, not icing. Countless Instagram cookie decorating videos had me feeling incredibly confident about my innate royal icing piping skills, so Rob and Sophie watched as I piped and flooded white backgrounds onto each of the cookies with the help of my friend Mary, who came over just to decorate cookies with us on a Sunday afternoon.

A few drops of food coloring into each one of four bowls and a few more piping bags later, we had cookies that were…not as cute as I thought they’d be.

But what a fun afternoon it turned out to be, and later that evening after Mary left we tucked Sophie into the stroller with a blanket and walked through our neighborhood, talking about what cookie cutters we should get for next year and how when Sophie is older maybe she’ll want to invite her own friends over for the annual Peterson Family Cookie Decorating Party.

PS we used this cookie recipe and it was perfect. This frosting, not so much. If you have a sugar cookie frosting recipe you love, let me know!

While we were in Roanoke for Thanksgiving, we decided to take advantage of having so many friends in town for the holiday and threw Sophie a little first birthday party at my mom’s place. We were so touched by how many people took time out of their holiday weekend to celebrate with us—our friends Corri, Caroline, and Shawna even drove three hours each way in freezing rain to attend (some with babies, some with the birthday cake).

It was simple but sweet and so incredibly wonderful to get everyone together. Sophie had so much fun/wore herself out so much that she still managed to take her afternoon nap before returning downstairs to party some more.

As usual, Minted was kind enough to provide us with invitations and decorations. I bought some balloons at the grocery store and that was that! We ordered cookies and cake from Suárez Bakery in Charlotte, and my mom and I made the rest of the food—turkey wraps, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken salad with croissants, Buffalo chicken dip, spinach artichoke dip, and plenty of fruit, veggies, and crackers.

It was incredible and slightly bizarre to see so many of my best girlfriends at once—we pretty much all had babies in the last year and having them there was so fun. We’re all pretty spread out and we stay busy so having everyone together was a treat.

The younger babies snoozed and the older ones played together a little with some blocks and puzzles my mom saved from when Sean and I were little.

And then of course we all had cake.

Photos by my friend Sarah of Photo Love.