Merry Christmas To Everyone!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Easter Everyone

An Awesome Christmas Morning

Christmas mornings at our house are usually pretty hectic. With two teens and two little ones my organization and order usually get thrown out the door within the first two minutes.

You see, the night before I plan very strategically how the gift opening will happen. I know every gift that is going to be handed out (because I have shopped and wrapped them all). After Santa visits, I go through every one and put them in a certain order under the tree so that I can give them out to the kids in an orderly fashion. For the teens I try to save the biggest and best gift for last so this order is most important for them.

When morning arrives, I wake up before everyone else (I was trained at an early age to wake up in the wee hours on Christmas morning). I turn on the tree lights and put on the Christmas music softly. I then go back to bed and wait for the troops to get up. My thinking is that when they wake up they will see a beautiful tree with beautiful presents and hear beautiful music just as it was meant to be.

Usually it doesn't pan out that way. By the time I get them all in their "gift opening spots" in front of the tree things go a little crazy. I give it my best shot to let them each open their gifts one by one so that everyone can see each gift being given. I am also in charge of making sure that the wrapping paper gets thrown in the trash can without anything of value going with it. That's a particular challenge.

But this year was a little different than in years past. My teens are actually growing up. This was the first year that they didn't count presents and each present that they opened they were grateful for and were very thankful. In years past the first words out of their mouths were usually "NEXT!". Not this year. This year was the first year that they got me a gift and I think they were more excited to see me open this gift from them than they were to open their own gifts. This left me most puzzled but in a good way. And I did love the gift. It was a new wallet that I so desperately needed and they knew it because I complained about my old one almost every day for the past 4 months. And then for the first time I saw my older boys exchange gifts for each other. That was something that I had never seen before. I actually witnessed them smiling and laughing at their respective gifts. It was a sight that I was not used to.

I have been thinking about that sight for the past day and I think I like that gift better than the wallet. The memory will certainly last longer and made me so much more happy because it was what motherhood is all about...and I am a very proud mother.

Merry Christmas to All

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. - Luke 2:10-12

I Don't Really Need Another Hobby

I was watching Martha Stewart and she was making candles with this expert candle maker. The process looked really, really simple. So simple that I found myself uttering the familiar mantra "I can do THAT." I was intrigued by the fact that you can make your own candles any color and any fragrance that you desire from materials that you can purchase from your local Michaels. There is no real science to it.

I happened to be in Michael's today to get a few last minute Christmas things when I happened on the candle making department. ***Alert - Digression about to take place*** Whenever I get these hobby ideas I try not to invest too much money into them in case I don't like the hobby. There was a cute candle making kit that was available to purchase and with the familiar 40% off coupon in hand I thought this would be a perfect test for me and my candle making abilities. I purchased the kit and am eagerly awaiting making my first few candles this weekend.

I will blog later on how it goes. And hopefully I won't report back any major scalding burns, rather some beautiful scents for this holiday season.

The Gift I Really Want

I remember growing up and year after year I would ask my mom what she wanted for Christmas and her birthday. I was willing to work odd jobs as a kid to get her whatever she wanted because I knew her taste was simple and anything she asked for wouldn't be too expensive.

Her answer was always the same boring old gift...Peace and Quiet and No Fighting.

Was she serious? What kind of a gift was that? It didn't sparkle or shine and didn't provide entertainment. It didn't cost anything. It was what she REALLY wanted. But man was that the most difficult gift to give.

Because in order to give it we would all have to reach within our kid minds and kid bodies and do something we had never done before....BE QUIET! I don't think we were ever successful in giving her that gift but I do know now why she was asking for it because I, too, am the mother of 4 kids.

So for my kids who keep asking me what I want for Christmas...my answer is "Peace and Quiet and No Fighting."

Changing seasons

Today is the first day of Autumn....that is for those of us who live in sunny South Florida. Hurricane Noel assured us of that. Thank Goodness because this is my favorite time of year...Halloween to New Years Day. During this time I feel a total change in myself. I am more energetic than ever. I play more outside with my kids. I run better (which is a blessing because Disney Half Marathon is coming up in a few months and I need to pick up my running mileage).

The temperature is 69 degrees right now and while that is warm by most standards it is not here. Humidity is 81%. Joy of Joys. I don't consider that cold, in fact I am wearing a tank top and shorts as I write this. But I am excited that all of the windows are open and the A/C is off.

I love preparing for the Christmas season. This weekend I will start to get down the Christmas decorations. I will load up the car with Christmas CDs. I will start to plan the Thanksgiving Day menu. I will start Christmas gift shopping. This year I will start to plan my gift basket gifts...and I have a lot of ideas floating in my head. I will start to plan all of the goodies that I will make during the season such as cookies, muffins, and unique cupcakes.

I love the joy that the season brings me because it always reminds me of home and family and I love that most of all. Now that my brother and his family live closer that is all the better for us.

This year I will focus less on the gifts and more on the things we make and the memories we will share together. I will focus more on packaging the gifts so that the recipient fells ultra-special and especially loved. Because that is what this season means to me. Home, family and love.

Happy Halloween

I have decided that my top holidays of all time besides Christmas and Easter is Halloween. I really got into it this year. At the last minute I went to Party City and bought some really scary things for the front of the house including a fog machine, some scary screaming CDs for the CD player for approaching trick-or-treaters, and some scary signage. I was reminded by my older kids that our house was too nice and pretty boring and it needed to be more scary. I even bought a costume for myself so I could get into the mood. I was the Greek Goddess Venus.

The Great Pumpkin

I often wonder what a real pumpkin patch looks like because I have never been to one that wasn't off to the side of the road and across from a Publix grocery store. I have never been picking pumpkins when it was cooler than 80 degrees outside.

But that is what life is like in the tropics of South Florida in mid-October.

I dream one day of visiting a real pumpkin patch and a real apple orchard in the middle of Autumn.

Christmas Shopping Discounts

Yes it is fast approaching and I just found an awesome website for great discounts even this early in the season..CouponChief. You can find discounts and savings in almost every popular store. I have navigated around this site and have found the latest and greatest discounts that I could have never found all on my own...or at least if I did it would have taken me lots of hours.

I plan to use my personal favorite, Target, where I will most likely buy everything for all of the kids in my family including jewelry, games, and a flat screen TV for my older boys. I will also splurge on a Dora the Explorer tent for my young daughter who goes crazy for Dora.

I will most likely head on over to The Gap for carpenter shorts (his favorite) for my dear husband. You can get discounts for online shipping and in store savings as well. I may even root around for a really nice coat or jacket for myself.

Leaps and Bounds will be where I will head for my little nieces and nephews. There are so many learning toys there. I am certain to find lots of nice things for them.

And last but not least it will be Zappos where I can get free shipping on handbags or win a free pair of shoes...maybe a nice pair of Steve Madden or Kenneth Cole.

I better stop talking now so I don't give all of my surprises away.