Happy Vlogmas everyone!
In the past, I’ve participated in Blogmas, where bloggers are encouraged to make a new blogpost daily leading up to Christmas. Some bloggers are challenged to blog every day in December, or others just increase their blogging.
Vlogmas is a similar challenge over on YouTube, where video content creators push themselves to post daily videos! I am challenging myself to participate in Vlogmas 2023, and holding myself accountable with this Blogmas post summarizing each video and linking the daily video.
Vlogmas Day 1: Decorating the Christmas Tree
Decorating the Christmas tree seemed like a perfect video for the first day of Vlogmas, since the tree sets the mood for the entire holiday season. We usually decorate on Thanksgiving, but ended up getting it done on Black Friday instead.
Click to watch the videoVlogmas Day 2: Norfolk Hot Cocoa Wars
Each year, restaurants and coffee shops in downtown Norfolk Virginia compete to see which makes the best hot cocoa. We went to the Selden Market where five participants had their cocoa up for grabs to try and to vote.
Click to watch the videoVlogmas Day 3: Winterfest at Nauticus
Nauticus is the American maritime museum, with the USS Wisconsin (a decomissioned battleship). For the holiday season, the museum is filled with activities for the family and the ship is completely covered in lights!
Click to watch the video
Vlogmas Day 4: Day in the Life
Spend a day with us! Ryan was on duty, so CA and I spent our day holiday shopping at the local holiday farmers market. Then we walked to the cutest feminist book shop, grabbed coffee, stopped at Target quickly, and baked cookies when we got home.
Follow:
Click to watch video
Vlogmas Day 5: Reacting to Baby Name Suggestions
This wasn’t a typical Vlogmas post, since it’s not holiday related. But prior to Vlogmas, I was trying to get into the habit of posting on Mondays and Thursdays. I’m probably going to consider non-holiday themes for those days moving forward (while still posting Daily for Vlogmas).
Last week I put a Question Box on Instagram asking for Baby Name suggestions. I shared ten of those suggestions, with my thoughts.
Click to watch the video
Vlogmas Day 6: Cozy Night!
We made chicken chili in the instant pot. Usually I make it low and slow, but I forgot to get it going early enough in the day. Instant pot is all about convenience!
Then I whipped up some applesauce for an apple bread. Oddly enough I had apples, but no store bought applesauce. (Full recipe in YouTube description)
Click to watch videoVlogmas Day 7: Wrap (Hanukkah) Gifts with Me
Today is the first day of Hanukkah and have to wrap eight, well actually only seven, gifts. I hope this motivates you to get through all your holiday wrapping!
Click to watch the video
Day 8: 2023 Reading Recap
Each year, I set a goal to read at least 50 books. There are still a few weeks left, but I decided to share some of my favorites (and the books I didn’t like that much).
Click to watch videoDay 9: Come to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens
We love going to the holiday light shows and winter festivals. Christmas Town at Busch gardens is the largest light show in Virginia, and one of the largest in the country.
Click to watch video
Day 10: Bake With Me! Cinnamon Roll French Toast
In this short video, I shared this super simple casserole that’s perfect for prepping ahead and warming up on Christmas morning. Full recipe is in the caption.
Click to watch videoDay 11: Felt Ornament Craft Kit
We currently only have room for TWO Christmas trees, since we are living in military housing. One of the trees, a 4ft white tree in CA’s bedroom, is a sweet treat tree. There are cookies, candy, and other dessert ornaments hanging. So for this video, we made 5 more sweet treat ornaments from the Llama Mondo craft kit (from Target)
Click to watch video
Day 12: Bake With Me! Holiday Cookies
Admittedly, I didn’t plan on posting two baking videos in the same week… but Vlogmas takes a lot of planning, and I have flopped. Hey, at least I’m sticking to the posting every day goal!
Today’s video shares two cookie recipes:
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- M&M Cookie Bars
Day 13: No Video Today
Watch this YouTube Short, sharing 12 Days of Elf on the Shelf Hiding Spots
Although I didn’t post a vlogmas video today, I did receive an unsolicited DM on Instagram offering SEO services to increase my views.
Although I’m not interested in his services, growth isn’t my priority, I did realized there are more features that I could be utilizing that aren’t available when I film, edit, and post exclusively on my phone. While I can include tags, and I include an Intro and Outro directly in the video, I do not have the option to include Info Cards, an End Screen, or Chapters. I haven’t had a need for Chapters yet, but maybe I’ll want them in an upcoming video. I may have to start exploring the desktop editor to utilize more YouTube features.
December 19: Baking Gingerbread Cookies
After twelve daily videos, I was already letting it stress me out. I planned ahead, but then my days off from work weren’t aligning with the time I needed to record. Next year, I start recording in November. That being said, Vlogmas is no longer every day. The good news is, 12 Days of Vlogmas totally works.
I still had me a few videos I want to share though! So last night when we made gingerbread cookies, I made sure to document every step. And yes- the recipe is in the caption!!
Click to watch videoThis blog will be updated throughout December for each day of Vlogmas.
Be sure to subscribe on YouTube so you never miss a new video
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