Most Excellent

So I have to start with the Playmobil nativity scene that we bought years ago. It only comes out at holiday time. My kids who are 10 and 13 by the way, still love to set it up and play with it. I believe there should be a few toys in kid's life that only come out once in awhile. They are special and cherished like our nativity scene. The only question becomes who will get it when they are older for their own kids?

My friend had a box of toys that she could only play with when she was sick. She said it actually made her feel better. This can be created for rainy days and bored days too. I also made sure that nothing that was at either grandparents house was duplicated. Those toys were special because they were only there.

My husband & I did our annual Christmas shopping & dinner date last night. First stop was the mall. Yikes! We have older kids & it is now a necessity to go there. Urban Outfitters was a great store to buy kitschy presents for all of the teenagers. I especially liked the long photo display for the 16 year old that I need to buy for. Plus the table ping pong set might be good for my 14 year old nephew who has everything! Oh these kids today!

Ping pong: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&navAction=jump&id=15212475&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=SEARCH+RESULTS&color=00

I also can't wait for my sister to get here today to enter this contest for $$.
It is a wildest holiday card contest. I think between Sue & myself that we can do something cool.

http://wileydesignchallenge.smugmug.com/

I am thinking of a silhouette of Rudolph drinking out a martini wit a red nose. Shine on into the new year!


Everybody likes Christmas cookies but I am always in the mood for hot chocolate this time of year. I like to experiment too. I am big on cinnamon & vanilla right now but I am willing to try anyone of these:

http://coffeetea.about.com/od/chocolate/tp/tophotchocolate.htm

I am seriously nervous about two whole weeks off with my kids. I have a list of things to do but I also found this web site. I know we can find 1 or 2 things that they may want to do or create.

http://crafts.kaboose.com/crafts-for-teens.html

The countdown to Christmas begins....enjoy!