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When I was a child, I loved going to my grandpa’s house for Christmas. Every single Christmas I’d run into his house and glance at the mantle and notice the stockings, swollen to the brim with goodies.

“Looks like Santa was here Annie!” He’d announce.

I’d grin and run over and grab my stocking down. I was allowed to open my stocking first, before the rest of the adults arrived. I took out the heaviest thing and laughed – an apple and orange! Apparently, Santa cared about my health too. Mixed in were a few other “boring” gifts like socks and toothbrushes. But there was also money and small toys.

Opening my stocking on Christmas morning was always one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I have not passed this onto my kids yet, this will be the first year that I do. I can’t wait to show them the empty stockings on Christmas Eve and then watch their eyes get large when they see the full stockings the next morning.

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Less than a month before Christmas! If you are like me, you have family members calling and emailing you asking, “What do your kids want for Christmas?” I used to just rely on my memory and tell each family member a different 2-3 things per kid. Because let’s face it – if Lizzie got the same toy from two different people, someone won’t be happy (and that someone is not Lizzie).

Santa’s Hideout is a fun site where you can create and manage wish lists for every single family member you talk to.  So you can create a wish list of items and email the page to Grandma and then create and email a list of different items for Aunt & Uncle.  And what Lizzie loves the most is that it is kid friendly too. Kids can search for their favorite toys and drag/drop them into the wish list.

And as the parent, you can view who bought what and add/remove things as your kids change their minds. I love how simple this makes wish-list sharing.  I used to use Amazon.com but not everyone wants to shop from Amazon. This one is much easier to use.

Stay Connected!

You can connect with Santa’s Hideout on social media channels to stay up to date on their developments:

Twitter: @santashideout

Facebook: Santa’s Hideout

Google + : Santa’s Hideout

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I was compensated for this post. All opinions are 100% mine.
 

I was given a sneak peak (or sneak taste test) of the brand new Swiss Colony Christmas cupcakes!  They are very rich and decadent - a perfect hostess gift!

I sure giggled as I ate cupcakes topped with “yule tide cheer” in the middle of August!  It sure was worth the laughter, because these are some very delicious mini cakes. David ate his cupcake in about 3 bites, they are tiny little things but Swiss Colony did not scrimp on the sugar. The frosting is very thick, like cream cheese.  When they arrived at my door they were not messed up one single bit! Every cupcake was photo-ready.

And my kids ate them up before I could get my camera. I had to hide them out of their reach to keep them from getting stomach aches!  These are pure deliciousness and make me yearn for Christmas time!

Look at the other amazing products they have in their holiday catalog! (I know it isn’t even labor day yet, but think cold thoughts)

Ancho Chili Cake Balls

Gingerbread cake and petit fours

Peppermint Bites

Snowman cake

Disclosure: I was given the cupcakes to review.

The sun is beating down upon my back. The kids laugh and run through sprinklers and dig in the sandpiles. Christmas is the last thing on their mind.

But I still drift off into memories of Christmas. When the humidity is beyond humanly bearable, I dream of the cold snowflakes sticking to my hair, instead of my shirt clinging to my back drenched in sweat.  I wish we could have Christmas time and winter for a month instead of the long 3 or 4 months of freezing temperatures.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. Summertime popsicles and creek-wading are refreshing, but the warmth of the fire and the delight of Christmas carols cannot be beat.

I love seeing the wall behind the Christmas tree slowly fill up with Christmas cards.

Do you still send out Christmas cards?

I used to write out an entire newsletter, print it on fancy holiday paper and mail it out with a family photo. Then I was pregnant, and pregnant again. The cards and newsletters were forgotten. My blog became the way I wished people a Merry Christmas and updated them about our lives.

I have high hopes of bringing the cards down from the attic this year and sending them out again.

There is something so special about opening up physical mail, seeing the sparkly cards and reading the hand-written notes of holiday cheer.

I have boxes of unopened Christmas cards in the attic. I cannot wait to write my personalized notes in them and mail them off! Maybe next year I can use an online store for cards like Storkie, but for now I have plenty of cards and newsletter paper to use.

Today, it is hot, blazing hot! Christmas and the freezing ice and snow will be here before I am ready for it! I am trying to relish the overbearing hot temperatures, because in a few months I will be begging for warmth. But there is something so magical about Christmas time. I can’t wait!

Costumes are not just for Halloween. They are wonderful for playing pretend every day of the year. In fact, I need to get some more cowboy and boyish costumes for David, so he can leave his sister’s princess dress up clothes alone. (Even though those pictures are wonderful for future blackmail)

To save you time from running to the store and money, you can shop the wide selection and low prices of Costume Express.

This year, David was Santa. I searched the whole site and found the perfect santa costume. It is a light weight velvet with only two pieces – the outfit and the hat. David loved the hat, until I got the camera out. Isn’t that how it always works?

Here is the full body shot.  I tried so hard to get one of him happy, but that did not happen. Here he is wearing the “Velvet Santa Infant Costume” in Toddler size 2-4. David usually wears 24 month clothes and this size fit him perfect.  I love that it is one piece, comfy for him to wear all day, and not bulky.  I do wish the pants were longer and it didn’t come with attached “boot” covers.  I also wish it had an opening between the legs for easier diaper changes. But otherwise it is a wonderful costume.

Here is a picture of him smiling!  He wore it all day when my family came over and didn’t complain about the discomfort.

I will be checking out this site for more playtime costumes and costumes for other holidays and birthday parties.

Online shopping is the best because I don’t have to drag the kids through the store and I get to pick out what they get, versus hearing them cry and complain when I don’t buy them every costume on the hanger.

Check out Costume Express online, follow them on Twitter (@CostumeExpress) and Like them on Facebook to stay up to date on great deals!

Lizzie is in love with everything Cinderella.  She dances with her daddy and calls him her prince.  Mama is Queen Esther (you got that right!) and Lizzie will always be Cinderella.  She even loves to help mama do chores if she can pretend to be Cinderella.

So when I saw Night Owl Mama hosting a give away for a Disney Princess Toybox from CSN Baby I was all over it. I even blogged about it, tweeted daily and commented on as many non-giveaway posts as I could find.

The customer service from CSN Baby was phenomenal!  They shipped my box via UPS and got it to me before Christmas!  Josh took it to his work and put the box together and wrapped it up fully assembled. We put it under the tree on Christmas Eve and made her wait until Christmas morning to open it. It was hilarious!

She would go over to it and want to open it. When we told her no, she would reply, “Sun wake up!  When sun wake up den Zizzie open?”

And I totally would share her reaction on Christmas morning but she was not wearing any clothes!  That stinker is going through a nudist stage….but I’ll just tell you she named every single one of those princesses off and then hopped inside the box thinking it was her own little bed.

Thank goodness for a soft closing lid and plenty of air slits – and parents that don’t let her do that anymore after the first time of it being so cute!

Thank you CSN Baby for making this a wonderful Christmas!

Hooray for Monday! Christmas was amazing – I have a ton of photos I am working on putting up of Christmas. I’ll get those up later but for now….the house.

Oh I really want to ignore the house. I want to blog all day and let Lizzie and David play with their new toys. I am not looking forward to putting the house back together today.

After the goat was in my kitchen I had cleaned the house really well. Then we travelled for family Christmas and every time we came home I was too tired to clean. So there are layers to this mess.

One time I made a video of me cleaning and the kids playing – it made it fun for me. I have to make it a game of some sort to fool myself into thinking I am having fun. Well the first step is getting off the computer. So the next time you hear from me I will be blogging about my Christmas weekend in a clean and tidy home.