Procrastinating So I Won't Have To Wrap Gifts

Anything to keep my hands busy and not with Christmas Cards or Gift Wrapping! I loathe both at this point and am feeling somewhat like a Mr. Scrooge or Grinch. The light at the end of the tunnel is that I have 10 more cards to write up (just 10!) and only a handful (maybe 6 or 7) of gifts to wrap and mail. Work has been incredibly hectic lately with early drives in, leaving late and gym visits to keep off all the food I've been inhaling because of the holidays and stress!

Aaaack! I feel like Kathy from the cartoon strip.

Well, to procrastinate and put off my holiday responsibilities, here are some Polyvores I made for our holiday trip to Europe. Yes, the trip!

Gingham & Tweed Make My Day by nojcrewinjapan featuring J Crew

Hubs, my little guy (6 years old in 2 days!) and I will be off to Germany, Paris, and Belgium, with a special trip to Rome for Christmas. Cross your fingers for me that all my train reservations, eurail passes, etc. will work out and my plans will actually come to fruition! The itinerary looks a bit random, I know. Our plan - when we could finally agree - was to visit Germany, Paris and Belgium. However when looking for rail tickets/passes, we decided to add Italy to the mix and thought of going to Rome for Christmas. It was a late add-in, but it's always fun to add in a little of the unexpected. I don't know when we'll be able to go back to Europe in the next few years, so this will be a very special occasion for us.

We've found a lovely vacation apartment rental in Paris in the 7th with a view of the Eiffel Tower from the living room. It was a deal compared to getting a triple room over the holidays, and now I have a kitchen, washer and dryer as well for almost half of what I was going to pay for a hotel.

We have dinner reservations and lunch reservations made for a few places. Especially with the holidays, I wanted to make sure that we would be able to beat the crowds - That always makes for a pleasant and stress free trip! In particular, lunch at Laduree on the Champs Elysee, dinner at the other Eiffel Tower restaurant, um, not Le Jules Verne. With a 6 year old and the prices over the holidays... not happening. That's pretty much it. I'm hoping to just get lost and have fun.

Hose & Boots Make My Day (or Night) by nojcrewinjapan featuring J Crew

Our random trek to Rome via overnight train would give us a few days out of our itinerary to see the major sites, as well as hopefully go to the Vatican on Christmas Eve. I'm still in the middle of planning this new part of the trip, so it's not finalized yet.

While in France, we're looking at day trips to Brussels for sure (since we'll have the passes to do that) and we'd also like to see Versailles (must do) and Mont-St-Michel near Normandy. Let's hope we'll be able to fit this into a 15-day itinerary. If not, no biggie. Our want-to's our more than the time we have. So I will assume we'll return and just enjoy the time with my boys!

Weirdly, because we're in Japan, we have to fly to Seoul, Korea first, and then head west to Europe. Not a direction most people take to get there (Jemma, you are definitely an exception I can think of off the top of my head), but great for those who love Korean food (and we do!).

Hopefully all will be finalized for the trip by this week. I have loose ends to tie up which are causing me major neck aches and heartburn but it's all worth it because in a couple weeks I'll be eating Laduree macarons!

Hope you all are having a great week!