Aidan’s first time ever seeing Santa. December, 2003.
It didn’t go well.
It Did Not Go Well
christmas
Best December Ever
Sitting here, listening to my *Best Christmas* playlist and thinking about decorating/wrapping presents/addressing Christmas cards but really not doing any of that. 🙂
We’re five days into December and it’s already pretty awesome. We’ve had really mild temperatures (which I am loving). December 1 kicked off with the Moksha Yoga holiday party.
moksha’s “tree”
amber dazzling us with a really hard pose
friends
i love these folks
reshma, julie, me, graham
Sunday, I started off the day with brunch with Reshma, then that evening, I headed out to King Spa for a night of relaxation and pampering. I LOVE King Spa. $25 admission gets you access to so much. Then you can spring for extras like massages and facials and body scrubs. The best part is that it’s 24/7, so I can go anytime I get the urge!
Monday was another brunch date, this time with Jen. Adam and I headed out that evening to see the zoo lights, not realizing that they only turn them on during the weekends. Honestly, I’m not sure of their thinking. The lights are on only weekends leading up to Christmas, then after Christmas, they’re on every day for two weeks. WHAT? Only Chicago. Always doing stuff that MAKES NO SENSE whatsoever. *shakes head*
I was pretty disappointed, so we went to Molly’s Cupcakes for a consolation prize. I got the Mint Velvet cupcake.
how jealous of this are you?
Tuesday, Adam and I headed out to Naperville for shopping, where I scored tons of this awesomeness:
yes i am a snack hoarder why do you ask?
Then we headed to a Heather Dale show, consisting of traditional Yule carols. Oh, her voice is pure and sweet. And she can play so many instruments. She was a joy to watch and listen to. (And you can listen yourself if you go to her site and download her free album!) We got to experience beautiful singing and music, talk to cool people, and HUG A S00J!!!
s00j, me, adam
YAY s00j!!!!!!
sj tucker and heather dale making beautiful music
sj tucker and heather dale making more beautiful music
It was a lovely night. 🙂
And randomly…I like seeing people’s trees in their windows, and I like the trees that are up in the stores. They look really pretty this year. I am not sure when I will put my tree up. Maybe this weekend. I haven’t even decided if I’m going to go for the Disney theme again or just do a generic theme like I’ve done in the past, or a combination of both. I sometimes wish we had room for a 7- or 8-foot tree so I could have room for all my ornaments, but my 6-foot is OK. I once had a huge tree and the bottom half was bare because of cats and toddler Aidan. See?
my tree in 2003.
notice how bare the bottom is? lol.
So…our three cats tend to leave the tree alone for the most part. Crookshanks likes to lie under it and sleep, and Helena will nibble the branches and ignore the little tree I set out for her to enjoy, but once I get the gifts underneath, they tend to leave it alone. 🙂
There’s still a ton to look forward to this month. Two birthdays, Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, shopping, music, family, friends, food, decorating, cookies, the 24 hour A Christmas Story marathon, and more! YAY Best December ever! 😀
Hello December/Holiday Wish Meme 2012
My favorite time of the year is here again! It’s officially the holiday season! The stores are all decorated and playing Christmas music, ABC Family is doing its 25 Days of Christmas, and people have lights on their homes and trees in the windows. I’m listening to Christmas music, Trader Joe’s has yummy Christmas treats everywhere, and my birthday is in 19 days!
For the 2012 holiday season, I have so much to be excited about and thankful for!
– My awesome Aidan. He’s now nine years old, in fourth grade, and absolutely the best little boy ever. EVER.
– My husband. It’s amazing to have someone so supportive of me, so ready to defend me, and willing to do anything to make me happy. And he puts up with my wackiness, which is no small feat, let me tell ya.
– My families. All of them.
– A trip Disney World in which I got to be in a PARADE!!
– My work study opportunity at Moksha Yoga. I get to do work I love in exchange for what I love. It’s a win-win!
– Teacher training at Moksha Yoga. Oh my goodness, it has been a wild, crazy ride, but you know this already.
– My friends, old and new!
– My Plurk crew. They are hilarious and fun. Love them!
– The abundance and blessings that have been and keep being rained down on us.
It’s now time for the Holiday Wishes Meme. I started doing this in 2006, and I encourage you guys to do it as well.
Step One
– Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered…whatever you’re comfortable with) to your LJ/blog. The post should contain your list of up to 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun (“I’d love a Doctor Who icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is to make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
– If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
– Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your entry, or link to this post (it’ll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.
Step Two
– Surf around to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use—or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free—do it.
– You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf—to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not—it’s your call.
There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just…wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you’ll have the joy of knowing you made someone’s holiday special.
With that said, here are my wishes for 2012.
1. A gift card, or for you to make donations to, DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose focuses on education. Teachers ask for classroom project materials. We donate. The kids learn. Most of these schools are high poverty, and the teachers are already doing all they can. Any amount is welcome.
2. Donations to Paws Chicago, the shelter where we got Helena. It’s a cage-free, no-kill shelter, and they are run completely on donations; they receive no city, state, or federal funding. It’s a great place. A shelter situation is stressful for the animals involved, and every animal I came in contact with there was happy and friendly. They have an extensive screening process to make sure you’re aware of your decision and commitment, and if somehow things don’t work out, the animal always has a home at PAWS.
3. Anything from my Amazon wish list.
4. Gift cards to bookstores. I love bookstores. And books. But you already know that.
5. I also wouldn’t mind gift cards to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Target, or Kohl’s.
6. A mailbox FILLED with Christmas cards. I remember the days I’d open my mailbox and find loads and loads of cards. I would barely have a place to display them all. Every year, the number of cards I get dwindles. 🙁 So, I’d love to get tons more cards again. I miss that!
*Comment with your email address if you’re interested in fulfilling this particular wish and I will email you my address.
The things that I’d like your prayers/happy energy for:
1. My mom to be as healthy as possible and to live a long time.
2. My friends and family to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.
3. Myself to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and secure.
4. A mild winter.
Happy Holidays! It’s December now, the holiday and giving season really is here! YAY!
Now, go download my Christmas Bucket List!!! Also pin it on Pinterest. Share it. Link it to me. It’s my gift to you. 🙂
*** Oh yeah! If you do this meme for yourself, be sure to leave a comment with a link to your post, OK? I want to read your wishes!
A Review, A Giveaway, and a Freebie!
Now that Halloween has gone and I actually saw SNOW FLURRIES (and bought wrapping paper), I figure it’s time to unveil a few holiday surprises!
(I know most people want to wait until after Thanksgiving to talk Christmas, but THANKSGIVING IS NEXT WEEK GUYS. THAT DAWNED ON ME TODAY WHILE I WAS AT TRADER JOE’S LOOKING AT THEIR TURKEYS AND WONDERING WHY ALL THE STORES ARE GOING CRAZY OVER TURKEYS LATELY….)
ANYWAY. Take a look at this adorable wish list.
The nice folks at Harrison Media supplied this for me to share with you, so if you want one of your own, all you have to do is click here for a printable version. I’ve already had Aidan fill his out. 🙂
(my printer is annoying. i’m pretty sure i just put some ink in the thing….)
The awesome people are Harrison Media are amazingly generous. They’ve sent me a copy of the Original Christmas Classics and let me tell you. IT IS AWESOME. Not only does it have my favorites like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, but IT HAS MR. MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL. You guys. Oh my God. I LOVE Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. You just don’t know! And speaking of little known classics, this set also comes with Cricket on the Hearth, which I’d never even heard of, and Frosty Returns, which I have heard of but not seen too often. So yeah, this 2-disc set is pretty awesome. Get it for Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol alone. It’s worth it.
They also sent me the VeggieTales Ultimate Christmas collection. This comes with six specials, AND a 25 song Christmas CD. I remember listening to and dancing to VeggieTales with Aidan when he was a toddler. They are a lot of fun. AND….guess what! I have a copy to give away! Want it? Well, you know the drill. Rafflecopter, blah blah blah. DO IT and introduce more Christmas classics into your home this holiday season. 🙂
More giveaways coming up this week. Stay tuned….. 🙂
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Holiday Wind Down
The main celebration kicks off on December 25,
and the fun should continue until January 6.
(this may just be my way of justifying waiting so long to take down the decorations)
Check out the cookies we indulged in:
We did leave some for Santa, though. See the big Mickey Mouse one?
Santa was very pleased with his selection, and he rewarded Aidan with Aidan’s Holy Grail present:
The crown came from the Christmas Crackers we opened. This is the first year I did it and it was a big hit, what with the crowns and the silly jokes.
I got a Mickey Mouse watch from my mom, a pretty necklace and an awesome sweatshirt from Adam, plus this neat thing for my computer:
But the main thing I got from Adam was a trip to Disney World! We’re going in 45 days!!!
He was going to have Snow White holding up the trip information, but then he realized that part of the fun of the Disney trips for me is planning them. So he basically gave me a budget and told me to have at it. All he asks is that we have Garden Grill and that he gets to ride Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. I think I can live with that.
I’ve been reading around the blog-o-sphere, and it sounds like even though we’re all worn out from the festivities, that we’re happy. I know I feel worn out. The mere thought of doing anything more ambitious than what I’m doing now makes me feel exhausted. Still, now that the place is cleaned up a bit, I feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed. It’s time to gear up for Aidan’s birthday on Friday, and for New Years. We’re planning a small gathering, but I don’t think anyone is going to show up, and honestly, I’ll be just fine with that.
December keep us busy.