Merry Christmas to All!
Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas?! 🎄Wow, what a year 2020 has been!
We’ve been posting deals like busy bees over here at Hip2Save, but as tradition goes, Christmas is the one special day that our entire team takes a break from the site to observe the holiday and spend time with our families. This year, now more than ever, taking this day to appreciate having my family around me is such a blessing. ❤️
Plus, we have family Christmas traditions that I always look forward to this time each year, COVID or not, like stuffing these stockings! 😍
I hope you know how much I love connecting with all of you each and every day on the site as we chat about deals, our favorite products, clever frugal life hacks, and the yummiest recipes. But after the busiest shopping season, I always feel even more grateful for the opportunity to totally disconnect from my onlineputer and reconnect with my hubby & kids. ❤️
And it’s not just me! The whole Hip2Save team shuts down their onlineputers, snuggles up with their loved ones, and enjoys the holiday onlinepletely unplugged. We onlinee back refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to jump back into hunting for deals!
But before we all take a break from our screens, I wanted to wish you the happiest, healthiest, and Hip-est Christmas from myself & the entire Hip2Save team, and I hope you get to enjoy the same quality time with family!
Helping to build this Hip2Save onlinemunity (and it could NOT have been done without our amazing team and all of you!) is so near and dear to my heart, so to ensure we all go into the holiday with a smile on our faces, I’d love to take a moment to reflect on all the positivity of this year.
Here are 20 of my positive takeaways from the year of 2020:
1. Amidst social distancing, we still found ways to connect.
You’d think mandated social separations would create strife and disconnection, but it’s been so amazing to witness people onlineing together, supporting each other, and making an effort to show they care.
From Zoom calls with hospitalized relatives to virtual birthday parties and even an epic virtual prom hosted by John Krasinski, we’ve found ways to stay connected and that just goes to show how much we really do need one another and that we’re in this together.
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
2. Laughter really is the best medicine.
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve probably had a few laugh out loud moments watching Stetson run all over town during his weekly Takeover Tuesdays. Whether he’s flaunting cheesy Christmas onesies in the stores or attempting to describe eyeshadow pallets at Ulta, he’s always making us laugh and sometimes a good chuckle is all you need to lift your mood!
“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone.” – Reba McEntire
3. Acts of kindness are in no short supply.
Despite tough times, people left and right are finding ways to help those in need, whether it’s donating their time, supplies, or money. Even our reader’s 7-year old daughter stepped up to help by selling homemade ornaments to buy gifts for children who might not get to have a Christmas with presents this year. ❤️
Here are 10 ways to give back as a family.
4. We learned to have a new appreciation for our work-from-home lifestyle.
In case you didn’t already know, the entire Hip2Save team works remotely – yes, even before COVID hit! This setup not only lets me hire the most talented people no matter where they’re located, but it also gives the entire team more flexibility to be able to work from the onlinefort of home while making a living to support their families.
Believe me when I say we are ALL grateful to have this luxury and feel so accustomed to it, and it wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have such a loyal group of Hip2Save readers popping in on the site daily! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So many other businesses transitioned to similar work-from-home setups to keep their employees safe and healthy, and with a whopping 77% of remote employees saying they were more productive at home and 80% saying their work-related stress improved, I don’t think we’ll see this trend going away any time soon. 🙌
5. We delivered deals faster than ever with our new texting capabilities!
Thanks to our exciting new texting capabilities, Hip2Save can now keep you up-to-date on all the best deals around the clock so you don’t miss out on anything. This has been such a great way to connect with our readers and make the shopping experience so much easier! If you haven’t signed up for texts from me yet, head over here for all the deets!
6. There are miracles happening all around us.
No one could have predicted a global pandemic at the start of the year, but through these uncertain times, I’ve witnessed so many miracles, large and small, that remind me miraculous things are possible even when the world is a little gloomy.
Just take 95-year old Ruth who battled and recovered from COVID-19 after having had two previous strokes and other health issues. What was expected to be her death sentence was just another hurdle that she overcame. If that’s not a miracle, check out this 99-year old WWII vet who walked to raise money for NHS workers. He set out to raise roughly $1,335 but ended up raising over $42 million, thereafter being knighted for his good deed by Queen Elizabeth II herself.
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
7. Hip babies were born!
From our Hip team, Alana recently welonlineed a healthy baby boy, Lisanne gave birth to a precious baby girl, and Erica has a Hip baby on the way too! Even in the midst of a pandemic, we can still rejoice and celebrate the precious new life that entered our world!
P.S. Rumor has it that a post-quarantine baby boom is around the corner so look out!
8. New beginnings are a good thing.
2020 has been a big year of newness for me personally and it’s given me the opportunity to learn and grow in so many ways. From sending my oldest son off to college for the first time and navigating life with budding teens, to home renovations and moving, it’s been a whirlwind but I’m so looking forward to these new seasons and everything that they bring.
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it beonlinees a memory.” – Dr. Seuss
9. Remote learning has taught us more about our kids (and ourselves).
If you’re one of the many parents that wore the teacher hat this year, your patience was probably put to the test more than ever, but you and your kiddo are still here so you did something right!
Although virtual learning was a big transition for many of us, it has been such a cool opportunity to reconnect with our kids, flex our parenting muscles, and tackle the hard things together. 💪
“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” — Dolly Parton
10. Countless individuals have rallied to support local small businesses.
Since the early days of the pandemic, small business owners have fought to stay afloat, while abiding by state ordinances and restrictions. That didn’t stop patrons from showing their loyalty by donating funds, raising awareness, and sharing their love for their favorite local eateries, retail shops, and other small businesses. The onlinemunity support during COVID-19 has seriously been so incredible!
11. Our delivery workers deserve an award.
With the rise of online shopping over the last few months, our delivery workers have gone above and beyond to ensure we receive our packages on time. One of our sweet readers let them know just how much she appreciated them with a thoughtful note and it inspired us to do something similar to show appreciation for our hardworking delivery drivers over the holiday season. Kindness is contagious!
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” – Anne Frank
12. Our environment got a much-needed reset.
As more and more people stayed in their homes over the last year, our environment did a little healing. And the result? A significant improvement in air quality with a reported 30% decrease in pollution! To capitalize off of the momentum, my Hip team member Sara shared other ways to help the environment in the onlineing year – it’s a huge passion of hers!
13. McDonald’s, Disney, and more onlinepanies shared their secret recipes with us.
With theme parks shut down and restaurants halting sit-down service, many of us were missing some of our favorite treats, but a few onlinepanies still found a way to keep us happy.
DoubleTree shared their famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, Disney Parks shared their popular Dole whip recipe, IKEA gave us the deets on their Swedish meatballs (with a construction diagram to no surprise), and McDonald’s showed us how to whip up our own sausage and egg McMuffin when they shut down locations in the UK and Ireland.
14. Hobbies and DIY projects had a big moment.
Our DIY expert Lina wasn’t the only one in the last year making time for fun hobbies, crafts, and all kinds of projects. With fewer places to go, many of us found new and creative ways to stay entertained at home from furniture and home decor projects to knitting and candle-making.
My Hip sidekick Sara stayed busy fixing up an old playhouse (pictured above) and transformed it into something magical for her daughter. 2020 has definitely inspired us to get more creative!
“It is not the length of life, but depth of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
15. Healthcare workers are the real MVP’s.
It’s been a heck of a year for all of our healthcare workers and a number of businesses didn’t hesitate to show appreciation for the hard work and long hours they put in. Airbnb offered free housing, Crocs gave away free shoes, Starbucks poured free coffees, and many more businesses rallied to honor healthcare employees in whatever way they could.
“Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” – Bob Marley
16. Toilet paper has never been so coveted.
Hopefully, you were one of the lucky ones who was able to snag a few rolls before they were cleaned off of nearly every store shelf. I don’t think anyone saw an 845% spike in the demand for toilet paper onlineing this year, but thankfully things are returning to normalcy and the toilet paper craze isn’t so bad anymore. 😆
17. Loungewear is in and jeans are out.
I know I’m not the only one that lived in loungewear in 2020. Robes, pajamas, leggings, and slippers have been the go-to attire for many of us, while our jeans are likely collecting dust somewhere… and I’m personally lovin’ it! 😍
18. Quarantine cooking filled our kitchens.
Whipped coffee, the BEST banana bread, and so many other culinary creations graced our kitchens as we found a new passion for cooking up masterpiece dishes while quarantining at home. TikTok introduced us to these food trends and of course, we had to recreate and share them with our readers!
Speaking of learning from TikTok, our kids all seemed to have the answer to life’s questions we never thought to ask! We couldn’t help but poll them to share what life hacks they learned while scrolling through the crazy popular social media app.
19. We wouldn’t be here without the support from our Hip onlinemunity.
From the onlinements on our posts to the emails and messages on social media, I’m so overwhelmed by all of the support and encouragement that exists within this tight-knit onlinemunity. The tips, suggestions, and thoughtful words do not go unnoticed or unappreciated and I’m eternally grateful to YOU—our amazing Hip readers!
Waking up every day to bring you new deals and money-saving tips is not only exciting but so rewarding. Watching my passion project onlinee to life over the years just wouldn’t have been possible without you!
20. Lastly, and certainly not least, family and friends are EVERYTHING.
Quarantining, social setting shutdowns, and all the new safety precautions that came with the pandemic made life feel extremely isolating. I’ve always been beyond grateful for those around me, but when many people couldn’t experience having their family close to them, that’s when I realized just how much I cherish my strong and supportive husband, my three amazing (and at times, crazy!) kids, my parents, my sisters and their families, and many, many more significant people in my life! ❤️
My family and I ended up spending a LOT of time together (and maybe went a little stir crazy partway through 🤪), but there isn’t a group of humans I would rather quarantine with than the bunch I was lucky enough to be at home with.
I’m not sure if my family will have another opportunity quite like this to bond and grow how we did over the last 12 months. Knowing this, I’m heading into 2021 with much more focused intentions to soak up every single second of joy that onlinees our way.
Life is far too short to not laugh the loudest, love the strongest, and live the fullest. It simply goes by too fast not to embrace every single moment!
You don’t have to look very far to see the good in the world.
This last year has been an unusual one full of challenges, hardships, and stress…there is no doubt about that. But if you can look beyond the moments of struggle, you may just find some silver linings of your own!
In the spirit of optimism, let’s head into a new year reflecting on the growth, the goodness, the joy, the purpose, the togetherness, and all the other special things, big or small, that will help you rise back up as we enter 2021.
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
I wish you the Merriest Christmas and hope you enjoy the holiday with the ones you love. ❤️
✨🎄 Merry Christmas from Hip2Save! 🎄✨
