Category: Christmas


So the Elf on the Shelf?

December 3rd, 2011 — 2:22pm

The first time I saw the Elf on the Shelf I was intrigued.  He looks so much like an elf my grandmother had in her house every year, so his face brought be back immediately to the magic of Christmas as a kid.

But I hesitated adding the tradition to our house.  Maybe the price point of the “package” made me hesitate–not sure.

Flash forward a few years to last week when I realized that after 14 straight years of having a “believer” in my house I have only a few years left before we stop leaving cookies out for Santa.  Tears immediately sprung to my eyes.  I began to re-think the Elf.  Would it be too late to introduce the tradition?  Would they buy it?

The answer is a resounding YES!

Remember these are all boys here.  Cheers went up when the Elf was pulled out of the bag.  The book was read twice the moment it was opened.  He was immediately named Canoodle (you have to name him to give him his magic).  They* hear him doing things–trying to kick out of the package the first day, notice small changes–when he turns in his position.  THEY HAVE NOT TOUCHED HIM ONCE.  And the best part?  I hear my youngest talking to him (I have to get this on video).

The first morning he was found in a tree.

This morning he was getting in a little reading.

There’s a bit of stressed involved in figuring out what to do with him each night, but having the boys bound out of bed wondering aloud where Canoodle will be this morning??

 

*Should anyone reading this know my teenager, I’m am sure he would want me to clarify that he is not taking part in this Elf thing.  As his mom, I want to clarify that he is so amazing about keeping the secret.

7 comments » | Christmas, Holidays, parenting, Time with My Boys

Crap I’m Going to Miss Christmas Again

December 16th, 2010 — 12:07am

Seriously!  When I was a kid it took for-ever for Christmas to come around.

Now?

Christmas day comes and I’m left feeling sad that I didn’t get to really enjoy the season.

When am I going to be organized enough to enjoy the holidays??

I was in Target tonight and saw Ree’s book and thought “I bet she has all these amazing holiday traditions and everything organized and labeled and already wrapped AND she has a New York Times bestselling book!”

Ya know…

I’m clearly not doing this whole thing right.

I was supposed to start in February, wasn’t I?

Comments Off on Crap I’m Going to Miss Christmas Again | Christmas, Holidays

Must Be ToysRUs’ First Christmas

November 28th, 2010 — 9:32pm

I’ll admit it. I went shopping on Black Friday.

Now don’t be getting any crazy ideas about me waking up at 2:30 a.m. You’d have to be giving away A HOUSE for me to spend the night in line outside of a store in the middle of November. I’m not 19 yo anymore hoping to see The Rolling Stones once before they retire (hey who’d a thought Keith Richards would live this long??).

All of the shopping I did Friday was Santa-related. Therefore, I wanted to make sure I could easily hide the gifts from the prying eyes of my three crazies.

Lessons learned?

1.  When you drive off in your small car wondering why it was you had thought about driving the big SUV with the tinted windows, go with your gut and turn around to exchange cars.

I looked at the circulars the night before, compared prices, determined the bargains worth pursuing and reminded myself to drive the SUV. So why did I hop in the little car the next morning??
Who freaking knows.

It was early and I still had a turkey hangover. That’s the only way I can explain it.

All I know is I was shoving bags into every crevice in that damn little car, bitching at myself for not having cleaned it out and realizing I’d have to go drop stuff off at home before I could park it in the next parking lot or fear being robbed.

Annoyed–mostly at myself.

2.  ToysRUs needs to get itself a mom blogger panel or something STAT!

Target had red bags to use for Christmas presents.  KMart had black bags that said “no peeking” on them.

ToysRUs?  See-thru tan bags.  Um?  You primarily sell toys.  It’s Black Friday.  Do you think I waited for twenty minutes for staff restock the shelves and stood in that winding line to buy a birthday present for my kid’s classmate?!  This clearly isn’t your first Christmas in business is it?  Do you have any moms on your executive staff?  I mean it had to occur to SOMEONE that providing bags kids can’t see through would be a great idea at this time of the year.

Now you know I’m a slob,  shopped big box this weekend (for the record I was also in supporting small businesses too) and that I drive a gas-guzzling suburban assault vehicle.

Oh. my. god!  I’m a suburban cliche.

Crap.

1 comment » | Christmas, Holidays

I Woke to #snOMG

December 19th, 2009 — 7:25pm

So the other night I had a few quiet hours–a calm before the storm if you will.

Last night I was out trying to cram in some errands before the snow hit.

It started a little earlier than the meteorologists expected.

At midnight, the roads were littered with people who spun out, drove into ditches or couldn’t get up a hill. My 13 yo and I toodled around picking up detergent, getting gas, watching the light show at the gas station (seriously. You tune into a specific radio station and all the lights are choreographed to the music. Without the music it just looks like a 3 yo is in control of the nobs.)

We probably had 3 inches on the ground by 1:00 a.m.

This morning I woke up to this.







(the last two were taken UNDER my car port)

The kids couldn’t believe their eyes.

We haven’t had much snow in the past few years, but the accumulation overnight was nothing compared to what it was by 4:30 p.m.




I tried to take a few of the same shots so you could see the difference.

It’s dark now, but I just let the dog out–our 70 lb black lab. The snow is up to her back. Poor thing didn’t know where to pee. Once she figured it out though, she was off bounding through the snow.

Little P asked me if the snow was going to be here when he woke up in the morning.

I think it’s a pretty safe bet.



Hope you all are keeping warm on this December night.

**************
If you’d like to see the rest of my photos from today, hop on over to my Flickr page.

10 comments » | 2009, Christmas, Holidays, snow, snowstorm, Washington DC

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