Gift Card Love

It's a gifty time of year.  Less than a week before Christmas, knee deep in Hanukkah, my birthday is in about 2 weeks.  My dad's birthday was last week as was my mother-in-law's birthday.  It's really gifty for my family right now.  I'd like to speak up in favor of the much looked-down-upon gift card.
I get why the gift card gets a bad wrap (get it?).  They are considered "impersonal" and "lazy".  I guess it's not as "personal" as monogrammed towels, a new laptop for a blogger whose computer was spat into by a preschooler, or a handknit scarf in the colors of that person's Hogwarts House.  But honestly, how personal and caring is it to just get something for someone when you honestly don't know what they want or need?  
I know I'm not alone in not knowing what people want or need.  I love all my siblings, but I don't know whether my brother would appreciate cashmere socks or whether my sister wants a new Trollbead or something.  And there are truly people in my gift list who have everything they need, and it pains me year after year to think up something they don't already have.  It makes me dislike gift giving and that's not really in the spirit of the season.  
There are gift cards for every conceivable store, restaurant, website, and even generic Visa/Amex gift cards.  It can be a *personal* gift.  Get your crafty sister a card for Joann/Michaels.  Get your reading mom a card for Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  If you have a dear friend who has just lost weight, a card to their favorite clothing store might be really appreciated.  A gift to a favorite restaurant can give new parents an easy excuse for a date night.  And those Visa/Amex cards are a blessing to those whose budgets are extra tight for any reason (students, job changes, new homes).    
Honestly, I can't think of a time when I've received a gift card and thought, "Gee that wasn't very nice".  Actually I *love* gift cards.  I love shopping, I love picking something out for myself without the guilt of paying retail or feeling like something is a little frivolous.  
So if you give a gift card - trust me, it's not lazy or impersonal.  It can be just the right thing.  And if you get a gift card - trust me, you will enjoy it.

Shades of Greige

I've been a bad, bad blogger.  And I've maybe been a lazy homeowner.  Since we got our kitchen to a usable state, we stopped.  Nothing much has been going on around here - in the home improvement area anyway.  We have been enjoying a bit of a break from the work we do around the house.  It been nice to have a break because the kitchen had been such HUGE project, and while it's not *done*, the bulk of the inconvenient/messy/frustrating work is over. YAY!

The break is over and I've switched gears to something completely different.  The living room.

Meet the living room as it was when we bought the house in 2007.

A few things we did first: Mirror, Wallpaper & Carpet = Gone.  That table is gone too (although it did hang out in the basement for a long time).  The front door and windows have been replaced.  And we painted.  The paint color I chose was called "Coastal Sand".  It's a neutral brown, sort of a medium toned tan.  It's the color in my parents' family room.  It worked because it went with everything.  It was fine.

Fast forward to a few years after that when we painted our bedroom a color called "Kindling Wood".  This was before this color family got trendy and got the name, but it's a shade of "greige".  I remember as i was rolling it on, I said to Jason, "I really wish we had put this color downstairs because I love it."  And I do still.  Truly, ever since we painted the greige in our bedroom, I've hated the color in our living room.  Hate is a strong word, but maybe I knew the tan color just wasn't it.  

So last week while I was procrastinating writing a paper for an education class I'm taking, I decided it would be the best time to paint the living room.  And since the Home Depot guys convinced us that we would need 5 gallons of paint to do one bedroom, we have had 2.5 gallons of this paint in our basement.  So I did it.  I shook the heck out of that can of paint, grabbed a brush and cut-in cup and went to town.  

Here's where we are now:

I LOVE IT.  It's so much more the feel that I was going for.   This angle is the same as the last of the 3 living room pics from 2007, just so you know what you're looking at.  And sorry for the weird shot - I"m trying to shoot around the Christmas tree :)

Here's a peek at this year's tree compared to last year's tree so you can see the old and the new colors side by side.

And is it crazy to decide to repaint the living room a month before Christmas?  I guess a little crazy, but it's totally worth it.    

So what happened to November?

That's the big question, isn't it?  What happened to November?  I'll tell ya, if I can sum up theme with one phrase, it'll be this: Everyone Got Sick.
Sure, it started with Sarah and Chris trading sick days, but not super sick.  Then came Chris being super sick.  Like down & out for about a week.  I think it was the flu, poor dude was full-on miserable.  Then as that was wearing off, Sarah ended up at the pediatrician for a checkup and bam - ear infection.  Then the very next day - I kid you not - the VERY NEXT DAY I woke up with a sore throat.  And that was it.  All down hill.  Sick sick sick for over a week.  The flu, I think.  Fever, aches, headache, chills, cough, congestion. Grossnesss for DAYS.  And not just me - Jason had it too!   And you know what's not fun?  Being sick when the other adult in the house is as sick as you are.  
It was so pathetic.  The two of us, bundled in blankets and suffering through hours of bad TV for a week.  Oh and we had to cancel our Thanksgiving plans.  So that was a little unexpected fun for November, my first ever TG dinner to prepare.  Can't let the kids down, ya know?  
So I bet you are wondering what's going on in the house...NOTHING.  A zillion things to do and we've all been too sick to get anything done.
Needless to say, I'm glad to put November behind us and I'm so looking forward to December and Christmas and 2014!

Snowflake Ornament - Christmas Craft

Woot woot!  I got to do something crafty again!  After quite a long time where I was busy with school stuff, I finally got to shift gears this week back to some holiday related stuff and, of course, crafts!

I signed up for an ornament exchange about a month ago, and I'm super excited to have finished this up and pack it up for mailing!  By the time the post is up, the ornament will be in the mail on it's way to it's recipient!  And I figured, if I'm making one to send, why don't I make another one for here?   Materials

• Wood snowflakes - various sizes 
• White paint (already had this)
• Wire 
• Beads
• Glitter
• Sequins (optional - I had some snowflake ones)
• Glue/ModPodge
• Drill with a tiny drill bit
• Paintbrush
• Needle-nose pliers

So here's how I did it!  

• Paint the snowflakes on all sides & the edges, letting it dry after each side
• Mod Podge both sides and add glitter, letting it dry after each side

• Drill holes in the center of each shape, and one at the tip of a point on the big guy

• String one bead on to a length of wire and twist it so that it's secure - this is the stopper!

• String up the whole ornament in this order:

sequin

small snowflake

bead

medium snowflake

bead

big snowflake

bead

medium snowflake

bead

small snowflake

sequin

• At this point you're ready to finish it, so string on the last bead, and keeping the wire as tight as possible, wrap it around the bead like you did for the first one and secure it

• Cut off excess wire
• Use another length of wire (and beads if you want) to create a loop for hanging, and you're done!

Ready for the tree!

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OMG A Craft?

That's right! A Craft!!!
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon!
Ok, enough of the vague statements.  I'm not all about mystery.  I am participating in a handmade Christmas ornament exchange!  It was organized by the folks at Creative Headquarters (blogs like Chase the Star, Becoming Martha, Create Craft Love and Wait Til Your Father Gets Home).  The exchange uses an online service called Elfster to assign everyone a recipient and we have until WEDNESDAY this week to get the ornament into the mail.  
I'm not going to say who I'm ornamenting for, but I'll say I hope she likes snowflakes & sparkles. 
I'm currently about 1/4 finished with the craft, but should have it wrapped up tomorrow sometime.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I haven't done anything crafty in quite a while and I'm glad to be back at it!
Hopefully there will be a post by the weekend on this thing, so stay tuned!  

Christmas in my Heart

I'm sure you've heard it before.  For years and years people have been complaining about Christmas Creep.  It's the way stores start putting out Christmas trees, snowflakes and holiday decor before the Jack-o-lanterns of Halloween have even made their debut on your front porch.  And every year it seems to sneak earlier and earlier in the fall.  This year was no different. 
I happened to be in Target on Halloween morning and saw employees consolidating the Halloween stuff and setting up the first of the holiday displays.  Even before this (I think it was the last weekend in September), I was wandering through Kohl's and there were a few trees up with some holiday music playing.  And I was totally ok with it.  Truly.  I think I even smiled.
I don't mind a bit of creep.  Being a busy parent and student, I don't mind the reminders earlier in the fall that the holidays are coming.  I was able to start thinking gifts...and buying a few items.  So not only do I reduce the stress of waiting until December 1, I spread can spread my holiday spending over a few months.
America, in general, must be embracing the creep.  If stores didn't notice an improvement in their sales coinciding with the decking of halls, they wouldn't do it.  So it's working and ti will continue.  Basically, it's futile to let the creep bug you because it's not going to stop.  If you're seriously anti-creep, maybe it would be healthiest for you to avoid retail shopping for November.
Furthermore, I think the creep is a good thing.  I've noticed that early holiday time (say the first week of December) folks are pretty happy.  Plenty of "Happy Holidays" flying around in stores from cashiers and even other shoppers.  Is that really such a bad thing to start that early?  Wait too long, though and the grumpy shoppers are out and about tryign to make sure they get the thing they desperately want to give their mother in law.  Nobody likes that. 
Personally, I try to keep my spirits high.  Remember all the cheesy movies where people are happy, I want to be like them.  I think about the songs and I sing them in the car.  I had to google this to be sure of the wording, but it was Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol who said to the final spirit who visited him on Christmas Eve:
"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
I will try.

Halloween Wrap Up & Holiday Outlook

I did have a clever post title up there, but it felt a bit familiar.  I did a quick check and yeah, I used it last year - check out my post on last year's Downhill to the Holidays. 

 

It's that time again.  Time to pack up the pumpkins, trick-or-treat baskets, skeletons and ghosts.   And time to start thinking about Christmas. 

 

As I said last year, Thanksgiving may be getting the shaft, but the way I think of it, Thanksgiving is part of the Christmas season.  Christmas creep is a real thing - stores truly are trying to extend the holiday buying season earlier and earlier, and while I'm not a fan of seeing snowmen and canes in Target in September, it really doesn't bother me one bit in November.  And face it, as busy as we all are anymore, it's probably a good thing to start thinking about shopping a little sooner.  I've already got a few really great ideas!

 

Before we can dive headfirst into Christmas, I'd like to take a peek back at Halloween.

 

We had our little Halloween felt board project - this was a fun and easy project which would have been a lot more successful in the house if Chris hadn't ripped it off the wall.

 

 

 After that was the trip to the pumpkin patch - just your typical family fun sort of thing.  I highly recommend working this into your annual traditions.

 

 

 And you can't do Halloween without some pumpkin decorating - whether it's traditional carving, painting, or something else.  We did a little pumpkin painting this year.

And of course, we can't do a post wrapping up Halloween without sharing a picture of my two favorite Trick-or-Treaters!

 

 

Well, that's it for Halloween! 

 

Procrastination

I can't believe it's already mid January.  Here we are.  Jan 10 and I haven't posted since LAST YEAR!  Oh my.  What happened?

Well I'll tell ya, I got sick.  Some time around New Year's Eve I came down with a bit of a cold, which not only put a kibosh on the huge party we had planned (ha!) but spiraled into about a week of solid illness.  I was bedridden (almost) for about a week. Poor Jay was on primary parent duty for days on end when he was supposed to be enjoying the final days of his vacation.  We had to cancel my birthday (1/2) and I wasn't sure that we'd be able to do it a week later when Aunt Gin & family came up to have Christmas (part 2) on 1/7, but I made it.  And finally I think the worst is behind me and I'm left with a loud and annoying cough.

So I didn't post while I was sick.  For some reason when I get out of the habit of doing something - even something I enjoy - it becomes almost a chore to get back to it.  And that is how a post about Christmas came to sit there in the dashboard for about 2 weeks.  Time to get back to it!

So what did we miss??  CHRISTMAS!!  Holy moly, what a whirlwind that was.

Christmas day was spent here at our house where the kids opened presents from Santa, my parents came in the morning for a quick visit, we had some breakfast and some playtime and a nap.

We went to my parent's house for dinner.  It was a loooooong day, but tons of fun.  Food was delicious, decorations were perfect.  The family was there - even Lee & Hannah came down from Maine.

Sadly, I forgot my camera so we have very few photos :(  Here's a few highlights from the day.

I didn't even get a pic of the kids all dressed up in their fancy clothes.  I guess I'll get 'em at Easter!

Christmas Cookies: Oreo Balls

Even the name is awesome.  Oreo balls.  Yep balls of chocolatey-Oreo-deliciousness.  And it seems bizarre to even call this a "recipe", but whatever.  I didn't invent it and I don't have any idea who did, but the "recipe" is the same everywhere so I'll just say this is something everyone already knows.  The only people who don't know the recipe are people who have yet to come across this confection at a party somewhere.

Oreo Balls

• 1 package of regular Oreos (or flavored but NOT Double Stuf!!)
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• Chocolate chips (or other melting candy - some people like white chocolate)
• Sprinkles (optional)

Prep a cookie sheet with some wax paper.  I like one with edges so the balls don't roll off.

Put all the Oreos from the package into your food processor and whir up until crumbs.

Put in the cream cheese.

Whir it up until it's like a creamy dough.

Roll the "dough" into 1" balls (size doesn't matter (ha!), but 1" makes them big enough without being too big to get a good bite of) and put them on the sheet.

Put the sheet in the fridge (freezer is better) until you're ready to dip

This is great because you can roll these in advance and then just dip them before you want to eat them.

For dipping, melt some chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Add a bit of shortening to thin it up a smidge.

I like to use a "Little Dipper" CrockPot to keep the chocolate nice and warm, but if you don't have one, just keep reheating periodically.  My little dipper came free with my big CrockPot.  I think I have a spare if you want to borrow one.

Using toothpicks (or a fondue fork a la moi), dip each ball, swishing it around so there's good  coverage. Put it down on the wax paper again and use a little spoon to cover over where the toothpick went in.

Here's where you can get creative - add sprinkles, colored sugar, a drizzle of white chocolate, etc.

When all the balls are dipped, put the sheet back in the fridge/freezer to set the chocolate.

Store the dipped balls in a container in your fridge/freezer until you're ready to serve them.

These balls are fantastic.  Pete Schweddy would be proud.  Make sure you have napkins on hand as these can result in chocolaty fingers!

Christmas Eve Traditions?

Christmas Eve growing up was a great day.  Such anticipation, such excitement.  As an adult there's still anticipation and excitement, combined with that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach because you know that it's not all done.  You know that you'll probably be up until 3 AM working on cooking, cleaning, decorating, wrapping, or what have you (knitting??).  And you know that at about 7 AM a short person will wake you from your sound slumber with a poke in the nose and an excited "Hey Mommy, are you awake yet?!?!?"

It's worth it when the kids see the wrapped gifts, music already playing in the background, cookies for breakfast ready to go.  Sitting down to a breakfast you look forward to all year.  Opening presents you carefully wrapped just a few hours before and making a wretched mess of everything but the squeals of delight are just fantastic.

When I was a kid, every Christmas Eve was capped off with going to a big old Christmas party.  Over the years, the party stopped and my family started attending a Christmas Eve church service and going out to dinner.  It was such a great way to spend the evening - our family eating and laughing and having good times.

Now that I have my own family, we are working on our own traditions.  I think this year we will have home-made pizza dinner and a family Christmas movie.   A Christmas Story?  The Grinch?  Then once the kids are in bed, we'll watch It's a Wonderful Life, I'll make cloud cookies, and then Santa will do his thing.

I can't wait for tomorrow!  Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree - part two

I've been thinking about part two of the Christmas tree saga for a few days now and wondering when it would be the right time to write it.  I was hoping that we'd have a lovely decorated tree to show, but alas, that was not to be...I really don't know how others do it, but the tree here is a mess.  It's not beautiful, but it's ours.

We got the lights put on last Sunday afternoon. It's not quite as bright and glowy as I'd like, but it'll do.  Maybe we'll pick up a few strings of lights post-Dec 25th on sale.  We put on decorations Sunday night.  It was perfect.  What's the theme?  Christmas.  All colors, all shapes and sizes.  Ornaments collected over the years from vacations, trips to Target and Waterloo Gardens.  We made sure to put only non-breakable ornaments on the bottom 2 feet of the tree to keep things safe for Chris and Rosie.  We sat back and admired.

The next morning Chris came down and all hell broke loose.  He pulled every ornament off the tree he could reach, he yanked branches, dragged the tree skirt off, tried to undo the lights, you name it.  I can't for the life of me understand how some kids show no interest in the bright shiny tree that appears in their house overnight, but Chris is just obsessed and no amount of sweetly saying no or shrieking NO!!! seems to have any effect on him.

So here's how the tree is now.  I thought about re-decorating and tidying up to make a nice pic for the blog, but I guess I'll just tell it how it is:

I am CERTAIN that things will look more pulled together before Santa comes on Saturday night, but this will not be a picture perfect Martha Stewart Christmas.  It'll be our Christmas with a toddler, a preschooler and a puppy.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know there are people out there that claim that the chocolate chip cookie is too common to be considered a Christmas cookie.  Christmas cookies should be *special* and spectacular.  While this is ok, I tend to hang onto the belief that Christmas cookies are whatever you enjoy, and because the CCC is one of my favorites, I always include some in my yearly holiday baking.

Over the years I've used a few different recipes including the one on the package of butter flavored Crisco but recently I've switched to butter and I've been using the traditional Nestle Toll House cookie recipe.  Unfortunately somewhere along the lines things have changed and the past 5-6 times I've made the recipe the cookies have come out quite flat.  I made them again last week with dark chocolate M&Ms and they were absolutely pancake-esque.  Displeased with the results I ventured onto the web to find out what might cause the problem and what my options were for fixing it.  I consulted various sources including forums of bakers and the advice varied from "add more flour" to "that's how they're supposed to be".

Then I stumbled across this fantastic pic on Pinterest.

 
The site it links to gives you information on how to diagnose your CCC issues.  It's great - check it out here.  Based on the picture, my cookie problem was definitely not enough flour so I decided to give them a go again.  Here's the recipe I went with - adapted from the Nestle Toll House recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups chocolate chips

In electric mixer with paddle attachment cream sugars and butter.  Add vanilla, milk, and eggs and blend well.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture slowly until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Use cookie/ice cream scoop to place cookies 2" apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Or you can just roll 1" balls, but the scoop will be easier.

Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes - or until they appear done.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Check out the difference in the cookies!

Original Toll House cookie on the left, adapted recipe on the right.

Pinning Away

Something exciting happened in the last month or so - I got an invite to Pinterest!  I had heard about the site and read various explanations of what it was and how it worked but I remained a skeptic.  Then one day a friend said she was in and would invite me if I wanted so I said alright.  And then my life changed.

Not to sound overly dramatic, but Pinterest is just the greatest thing since the internet was invented.  Seriously.  For those who aren't in the know, it's like an online place to pin images from websites/blogs and post them.  Like back before Pinterest you probably tore pages from magazines to help plan your wedding or to collect recipes.  No more. You can pin photos of recipes, clothes, houses, crafts and organize them by category.  And by sharing them with other pinners, you can get exposure to MORE ideas.  Cool, but so what?

You can pin a wishlist for Christmas.  You can pin craft projects you want to try.  You can pin weird stuff  you found on Etsy. You can pin quotes that inspire or make you laugh.  You can pin shirtless pictures of Ryan Gosling or whatever.

I've already gotten ideas for DIY projects for around the house, big and small.  I've found inspiring holiday decor pics, craft ideas, cookies to bake.

So if you've heard of Pinterest and are thinking whether it's just a time suck, it definitely is, but you'll totally like it.  And if you get inspired or even find some great stuff to share with your fellow Pinners, then is it a waste??  I think not!

FYI - If you want to find ME on Pinterest...just click HERE

Oh Christmas Tree - part one

For many people, putting up the Christmas tree is one of the first things you do to get ready for the big day.  Maybe you haul it out of the attic or basement and set it up when you get back from shopping on Black Friday.  Or maybe you get the gang in the car and head out to one of those cut-your-own Christmas tree farms for a Griswold-style adventure on the first weekend in December.

With our Thanksgiving travels, a December work trip for Jason, and a desire to minimize the time with a toddler and Christmas tree occupying the same space, we postponed our tree acquisition until the weekend before Christmas.  Saturday was the day!

The prep began Friday night when the kids were in bed.  It was a cascading clean-up effort.  We needed to move the bookshelf from the living room into the playroom, but the playroom was a mess so we had to clean that.  And so after about two hours of cleaning the playroom and shifting around some furniture we were done for the night.

Saturday morning, Jason tackled what has been one of those whenever-we-get-to-it projects.  Baseboard on the wall where the tree goes.  We pulled all the baseboard out of the house when we had the floors done before we moved in and getting them back in has been a slow piece-by-piece process.  Looks good!

After nap time we headed out to the tree lot to pick our tree.  We go to a local church where a Boy Scout troop sells trees as a fundraiser for their troop activities.  This is our third or so year going there.

Sarah and Chris ran around the rows of trees leaned against wooden racks.  The way Chris is running around lately, it's hard to get the 2 kids in the same frame, let alone looking at the camera and smiling at the same time!

It only took really looking at two before we had chosen.  I'm not sure if we just got lucky or if they had an exceptionally good selection of trees.

Chris seemed  to be interested in the netting they used to wrap the trees.

After settling up, the scout tied it to the roof of the van and we headed home.

As we drove home, we could see flurries in the headlights.  It was perfect.

Tonight, the tree is up without much drama.  The dog kinda wants to eat it, but that's ok.

I love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree.  I can't wait for lights and decorations!

Christmas Cookies: Sugar Cookies

It may surprise you that with all the cookies I love to make at Christmas, I don't think I've EVER made a straight up sugar cookie!  How odd, right?  This year I signed on for cookie duty for Sarah's preschool Christmas party, so I figured a cut-out sugar cookie decorated with frosting and sprinkles would be the way to go.

I used Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe (highly recommended by tons of people).  It was super simple to put together and the cookies came out perfect.  Every single one.

For the class party we went with Christmas trees.  I figured that giving each kid the same cookie would avoid any controversy over which shape might be a larger or smaller cookie.  With the extra dough, we split between trees and snowmen.

The two most popular frostings I've seen are either Royal Icing or a butter cream, and because I was sure Sarah would do better with a knife than a pastry bag, we went with butter cream.  I used the recipe found here.

She quickly wanted to switch to sprinkle duty so I schmeared the cookies and she sprinkled away.

Soon we had enough for the class, plus a few extras!

This time of year can be so crazy and busy and full of pressure and anxiety.  It was such a nice, quiet, relaxing way to have a little mom and Sarah time.

We topped the night off with a reading of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  A favorite!

It's on!!

I seem to be one of those people who does their best (school work, work work, house cleaning, you name it!) during crunch time, so it's no surprise to me that it's already a week into December and few gifts have been bought, few halls have been decked.  It's beginning to look like Christmas, but my calendar is still on October (oops).

In addition to my SAHM job, I'm also a student.  A very part-time student, but somehow I always end up stressed out about school work, but tonight it's DONE!  Until next semester, anyway.   With no more classes, papers, or presentations to work on I can really switch gears and get it done!

Cleaning, decorations, cookies, treats, planning.  There's a lot to do, but it will get done.  It always does!

Tree 2010

Oh and did I mention I still have one or two home improvement things I want to bang out before the BIG DAY?

Christmas Count UP!

Being the procrastinator that I am (after all, why do something now when you can always do it later, right?) here we are on the fourth of December and I have no advent calendar.  Historically I've been picky about advent calendars, choosing them for my daughter based on an old timey picture with glitter and without chocolate or toys, but in my outings I really hadn't come across any that fit the bill, or I did and just didn't think of buying one.

For a small child, an advent calendar is a little bit of Christmas fun each day.  Opening up the little window on the calendar to see what surprise is hiding behind the door...seeing the numbers count up as Christmas day approaches.  I used to take a peek at what was behind door # 24...usually Jesus (duh).   I was honestly feeling a little guilty about not having one for Sarah, although she hadn't mentioned it at all.

Then it dawned on me that we could DIY something, so here's what we're doing.  I can't show you a final product because this will build upon itself each day until Christmas.

You'll need:

• 3 sheets of paper (we went with one red, one white, one green), cut into 8 strips
• Silver sharpie (did I mention before how much I LOVE these things??)
• Tape or stapler

Using your handy-dandy sharpie, write the number for the day, then something you did that day that was Christmas-y.  Using the tape, make a preschool style paper chain.  Watch the chain grow as you add your daily Christmas fun!

It's so simple, but it's great because it reminds you to spread the fun out to every day (rather than a one weekend Christmas-a-thon), to appreciate the wonderful parts of the holiday season leading up to the big day, and it reminds our kids that Christmas is more than presents!  So write down what movie you watched (check out the list of Christmas Movies here), what cookies you baked, what decorations you put up, what craft you did.  Did you see Santa?  Did you buy a gift for an Angel Tree or Toys for Tots?  Or was it just sipping hot chocolate with a candy-cane stirrer?  

I'm not sure where we'll hang ours, probably in the playroom where Sarah can enjoy it!

Happy Christmas-ing!!

Christmas Movies!!

I love movies and one of my favorite categories is CHRISTMAS MOVIES!  A longstanding family tradition has me baking and watching classic Christmas movies pretty regularly from Thanksgiving through New Year's.  Here's a list (with commentary, not synopses) on my faves:

Classics (should be seen in black & white if available)

• It's a Wonderful Life - I cry every time.  It's undeniably the bestest Christmas movie ever.
• Miracle on 35th Street - Natalie Wood is adorable in this one
• Christmas in Connecticut - This one is one of my mom's favorites
• A Christmas Story - You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!  Sarah likes this one because she thinks Scut Farkus looks like my younger brother.  She says "Why is Ralphie beating up Uncle Chris?"

Pure Comedy

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - This one has been around long enough that it might belong in the "classsics" category.  If you haven't seen this, and you're over the age of 13 (lots of swearing), then you MUST watch it.
• Elf - I love this one.  So funny and silly.  Buddy the Elf's excitement when Santa's coming to town is awesome.  Best snack while watching:  Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corn & Syrup
• Scrooged - A modern take on the classic Christmas story.  

Family Fun

• Home Alone - OK, this one is super cheesy, but family friendly.  The good guys win, the "violence" is purely slapstick.  
• Muppet Christmas Carol - A classic Christmas story, told by Gonzo and starring Kermit.  Can you get better?
• A Charlie Brown Christmas - A classic family friendly story about the meaning of the holiday
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - A great depiction of the classic Dr. Seuss story

Tugging at the Heartstrings

• One Magic Christmas - I fell in love with this one when I was a kid and it's still so touching
• Family Man - I love this one for the scene with Nick Cage singing in his undies.  Oh and it's pretty touching since I've got a family too :)
• The Family Stone - I saw this one for the first time last year and it's so touching
• Love Actually - This is one of those amazing movies.  Romance, comedy, a little death and sadness at the beginning and a fantastic musical number at the end.  

Christmas Action! Love a good shoot-'em-up movie with Christmas trees in the background!

• Lethal Weapon (one) - Mel Gibson rocking a classic 80s mullet.  
• Die Hard (one) - Yippie Ki Yay, Monkey Fighter **  Plus Alan Rickman.  LOVE IT.

Wow, what a list!  I knew I had a lot, but it wasn't until i actually listed them out that I realize what a task it is to get through them all.


**Edited for the internet's younger readers

Giving Thanks (a.k.a. Thanksgiving recap)

Approximately every other year we pack up the old minivan and trek northward for a get-together for Thanksgiving with the Massachusetts peeps.  This was just such a year.  And for those who think driving 300+ miles (each way) on a holiday weekend is the worst idea ever, YOU ARE RIGHT!

We left our house around 11am on Wednesday morning and after dropping the pooch off with my parents, we were on our way.  Sadly we were less than an hour into the drive when we encountered our first bout with bumper to bumper traffic.  I won't bore you with the unpleasant details of a 9 hour drive with two small children, but needless to say it was miserable.  We did eventually arrive.  Kids were so stir crazy from the car that they literally ran around the house until midnight.

Thursday was a typical turkey day.  Plenty of relaxing and football watching, plus turkey and pie eating.  It was nice to have our two kids playing with Jason's brother's kids.  Cousins have such fun.  We took them to the playground for a late-afternoon run-around.  They needed the fresh air.

Friday was another day of relaxing with a tidbit of Black Friday excitement.  Nothing big or gifty was purchased.  Jason & I both snagged new fleeces at the LLBean outlet (I'm an LLBean enthusiast, which is odd because I'm not that outdoorsy).  We visited with some friends who have this adorable little ginger baby a few months younger than Chris.

Saturday's plan was to do a smidge more shopping, but that didn't pan out.  We did visit some more friends and then we headed back "home" for the big event:  The Polar Express train ride!  Just around the corner from Jason's parents is the train station where they run a Christmas themed train ride each year.  We dressed the kids in their PJs and piled in.  The Polar Express was read aloud, "Elves" took requests for Santa, and we all sang Christmas songs.  It was a blast!  Kids also received their own sleigh bell to jingle and keep!

The train stopped close to where it started and we all got off for hot chocolate and a visit with Santa himself!  Sarah decided the line was too long (and I think she was tired) and Chris was having fun screaming and running in circles so we decided to head out to dinner at a small local restaurant.

And there was the highlight of the trip for me.  The best New England clam chowder evah!  Now I can't say that it was truly better than all others, but it totally hit the spot.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home.  Pretty much a miserable repeat of the trip up...oh well :) That's what we do to see family, I guess.  We're so glad to be home safe and sound and to have had a nice visit with family and friends.

On to the next adventure!!!