Exhausted

I am so exhausted from the holidays, and they haven't even started yet! I hope you were able to finish all of your shopping, planning, cooking, etc. I have everything wrapped and am just about done with shopping. I have a few more gift cards to purchase tomorrow, and then I am done. Thank goodness!

I wish you peace, happiness, and relaxation as the holidays approach. Hopefully you are not feeling as wiped out as I am!

Come back tomorrow night. I promise to post a story about why my son is now being called corn boy by my students. How is that for a teaser?

-Denise

Fun Christmas Activities

This is such a busy time of the year, but we all need to make sure that we have some holiday fun as well. Here are a few suggestions for some holiday, family fun.

1) Check out your local amusement park. Many parks that normally close in the winter months re-open with a holiday theme for a few weeks before the holidays. In PA, two of these are listed. below.

Hershey Park-http://www.hersheypark.com/index.php

We went here this past weekend. It was REALLY cold, but we had a lot of fun. It is $9.95 a person and kids under 3 are free. The park looked beautiful and was covered in tons of lights.
For some pictures, check out this link. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47960
I will tell you these are NOT my photos. I just think this poster did a nice job catching the park in its holiday finest.

Dutch Wonderland-http://www.dutchwonderland.com/events/winter_wonderland/index.php

For Christmas themed amusement parks in your area, check the web pages for your local amusement parks to see if they are open for the holidays.

2) Visit a local train display. Many model railroad clubs set up holiday displays. Search the internet and local newspapers for displays in your area.

3) Take a drive to look at the holiday lights. Simply driving around your town can provide hours of holiday lights to enjoy. Then there are the houses that are so amazing that you could simply spend hours staring at them. In our area, one of these houses is at 15 Glen Farms Dr., Collegeville, PA. It is amazing! You should really go check it out if you are in this area. But every town seems to have the house that decorates over the top. If you can't see the one I am writing about, I am sure you have one that is just as outstanding in your town.

There are also web pages that are dedicated to mapping neighborhood light displays. Try searching for your town name with Christmas lights after it. You might just find a site that helps you plan a night of light viewing for your family.



No matter what you do to celebrate the Christmas holiday, make sure you have fun! It is easy to get caught up in the craziness of the holiday season. Take a few minutes to enjoy this special time of the year before rushing off for another holiday errand or party.

-Denise

Say Thanks To A Soldier

One bright spot in a soldier's day is receiving mail from home while serving our country in a foreign land. You can easily brighten a soldier's day without spending a dime by visiting a web site. Got to http://www.letssaythanks.com to send a soldier a card or postcard thanking him or her for serving our country. You could even add a holiday wish in your message.

How does it work:

1) Visit the web site above.
2) Select a design.
3) Type your message.
4) Click send.

It is that easy! Xerox brand sponsors this project and will deliver your card and message to a soldier bravely serving our country far away from home.

-Denise

A Few Updates

The days are just speeding by me as far as getting ready for the holidays. I feel like I will never get everything purchased and wrapped. I did make a nice dent in my wrapping tonight. That makes me feel just a little more prepared. The tree is up, the house is decorated, and at some point all of the gifts will be ready for giving. I hope you are almost ready for the upcoming festivities.

I posted a few weeks ago about a website called www.anysoldier.com. My family collected items on Thanksgiving day for a soldier and his other unit members. We shipped our packages out the day after Thanksgiving. We were very pleased to receive an email this week saying that our package was delivered and a nice thank you as well. I have been very pleased with this site. The information is kept up-to-date, and it helps soldiers that are so far from home know that they are remembered. The school I work at is now doing a collection for this same organization. We had students write letters the other day and are collecting items over the next few months. We hope to send several packages over the upcoming months. If you want to share some holiday cheer, this might me a nice way to do it.

Tomorrow I will be back with an even easier way to send a soldier a note to say thank you for serving our country.

-Denise

Hello, Hello

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas will be here before we know it. I am trying to get caught up with school work, wrap up a fundraiser for B.'s school, and get ready for Christmas. I am a bit swamped right now, but I will be back later in the week to post more frequently.

Happy Holidays!

-Denise

Being Thankful And Spreading Our Happiness

This Thanksgiving is very special for our family. My father-in-law is cancer free after a very tough battle with stomach cancer this year. This year we are extremely thankful that he is recovering and healing. We are thankful that we can spend the day together knowing that this tough year is behind us.

This Thanksgiving my husband decided he wanted to share our thankfulness and good cheer with others. We are having Thanksgiving dinner at our house for eleven people. He has asked everyone to bring an item that we can include in a box to send a soldier currently serving in Iraq. Our guests have jumped right on board and are very excited about this idea. We found wish lists for packages at http://www.anysoldier.com/. We will be putting together our package and shipping it out immediately, so the soldier we picked will hopefully get his package before Christmas. This is very easy to do. Maybe you will be inspired to help out a soldier serving our country as well.

-Denise

Target Will Price Match Walmart This Holiday Season

Check out this article.
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/news/ap/finance_business/2008/Nov/17/target_plans_price_cuts_despite_lower_3q_earnings.html

Sorry for the crazy length of the link. It gives details of how the current economic situation is effecting Target's profits and why they have decided to price match some products this holiday season. My best advice is if you see a product cheaper at Walmart, ask Target if they will price match. With the holiday toy coupons Target is pushing this year, you could really get big savings. If you have not seen them, check out this link. http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=toy_coupons_main


Here is the most important piece of the artice as far as price matching.

During the holidays, Target will remain "keenly focused" on offering low prices on national brands and its own products and will match Wal-Mart prices on identical items in local markets, said Kathryn Tesija, Target's executive vice president of merchandise.
The company will also offer half a dozen "value items" online every day at special prices.
"We have taken a very aggressive point of view this year in terms of our promotional pricing, so we expect to be price leaders on selected items in our circular," Steinhafel said. "This is not unlike what we've done in the past. But given the current environment and recognizing how challenging it is, we will be even sharper than we have in prior years."

It's Begining To Look a Lot Like....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Okay, not really, but I am starting to get prepped for full out shopping and wrapping sessions. We shop throughout the year for deals and special items we see for family members where ever our travels take us. We do have at least 50% of our shopping done, but there is still quite a bit more to do. I made a run to Target this morning and picked up Scotch tape (yes, the brand name stuff) and some metallic rolls of wrapping paper in the dollar spot section. This, added with the paper we bought on sale the day after Christmas last year, will have me set to start wrapping what we have already purchased. I like to do a few big wrapping sessions throughout the weeks leading to Christmas, so I am not toally overwhelmed at the end.

I would probably be wrapping items right now, but our secret hiding place is actually under B.'s crib. He is napping right now, so I will not be waking him to start this project. And yes, after this year we will ahve to find a new hiding place. B. will be a in a big boy bed soon and will be able to search around his room a little more easily. Our little guy isn't so little anymore.

Feel free to ignore Christmas for a few more weeks, or join me and mebracing the craziness that is right around the corner. The 24-hour Christmas channels have already begun their stream of carols. maybe they can get you in a holiday mood.

-Denise

Toy Savings At Target

If you plan on purchasing any toys for holiday gifts, you may want to check out the coupons available from Target at the link below.

http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=toy_coupons_main

There are many coupons available for a wide variety of toys. Holiday gifts add up, so save some money by using a few coupons. I hope there are a few that will work for you.

Later this week I will give some of my favorite sites for finding good deals on baby and kids products including holiday gift reviews and ideas. Stay tuned!

-Denise