Tis the Season…

The holiday season is upon us and I am most excited about it. I've been preparing for several months now and it is almost here. Having children has breathed new life into the holidays for me. Although my 8 year old son is officially a non-believer and that hurt my heart he still enjoys Christmas. Last year I convinced him to still believe after some dumb kid told him Santa was a fraud; this year no such luck. Yes I want him to believe that a big fat white man in a red suit smokes a pipe, rides on reindeer's and comes down a chimney we don’t have to deliver his gifts I spend my hard earned money on. SO!

All isn't lost though this year is my baby girls first Christmas so I have at least 5 more years to pretend Santa is real. Since this is Nori’s first Christmas my holiday cheer started early. By cheer I mean spending, shopping, researching for this and that and so on and so forth. I get a kick out of people’s reactions when they open my gifts. I pride myself on getting something I KNOW they will love. Even if they didn't even know they would. Here are a few things I did this year to maintain my holiday cheer.

Décor: Last year my Babe promised me we would get all new Christmas ornaments and stockings. I made sure he kept his word. I/we/us/me decided our tree color would be silver and turquoise. Pronounced TUR-QUA ©Chakaar (I really wanted silver and pink but whateve!) So I went to Wal-Mart (please don’t tell Target) and picked up a ton or ornaments.

Majority of these ornaments were $0.97 with the most expensive being like $2.00. SCORE!! We had a tree and pretty LED lights up in the attic so we were good there. I needed a tree topper (ours was a crappy star that looked yellow because the lights weren't LED like the others on the tree) and after seeing my sister’s pretty tree I decided to make my own like she did. I hit up Wal-Mart (I know that is twice I've been there) in NC while visiting for Thanksgiving and founds some glittery twirly stuff that would do the trick. I didn't have a plan but was determined to “make it work” © Tim Gun. 

It turned out really cute and my girl hasn't really been messing with it.

I'm obsessed with personalized things this year. I ordered our stockings and an ornament from Personalization Mall. They have all kinds of cool things and I had several Google offers to ease the cost.

I absolutely love the way they turned out.

Shopping: Plan this year was to start early so I started Nov. 1^st… Hey that is early for me. I am a to do list type of person so I knew what I was getting whom. I just needed to make it happen. As I purchased things I would check folks off my list. I ship things to my sister’s house so my Babe doesn't see it and because I don’t have to worry about anything going missing. 

Volunteering: My son is getting older (we will talk about this later) and is really at a stage in life where he needs to understand the fundamentals of giving back. When I was his age I used to help out on my churches food truck. We plated meals and handed them out in the community. I enjoyed doing it and look forward to participating frequently. My girl Tia found a great opportunity for him to do just that. It’s hard to find kid friendly volunteer work these days. However we found an opportunity that had us sorting sweet potatoes into 2.5lb bags, tying them up and then boxing them. This was the kid friendly work I was in search of; the facility is called SHARE and they are located in Hyattsville, MD.

Exercising: After 6 days of the Insanity Workout I QUIT. I had to find something more my speed. Thanks to my Babe and an excellent Groupon deal I have been doing ZUMBA. Its fun, you sweat, move, twerk, dip, pop and body roll. If you know me then you know I loves me a good body roll; but I’m working out. The instructors make it fun and I’m enjoying it.

Wendy Williams Show: If you aren't new around here then you know I've been to the Wendy Williams show several times. This week made trip number 4 but this was my first time getting a “giveaway”. YOU GET A CAR, YOU GET A CAR, YOU GET A CAR. Well not exactly but I did get some really snazzy things. *WAIT* Nigel Barker the former judge on American’s Next Top Model and noted Fashion Photographer was a guest on the show. *Clutches pearls* That man is all kinds of fine okay. In case you live under a rock and don’t know who Nigel is allow me to assist you with a visual.

Okay, back to the show. We received the following things as audience giveaways.

• $75 Gift Certificate to Tasting Room for all the wine a non-drinker desires.
• Gift Certificate to Posh Mommy for a 18K gold vermeil stamped initial disc w/ birthstone necklace. (retails for $185)
• Rabbit Wine-Chilling Crystal Carafe ($45)
• Rabbit Wine Aerator and Pourer ($25)
• Rabbit Wine 6 piece Tool Kit ($55)

This is the last shopping weekend before Christmas. My baby girl decided to get us both sick just in time to celebrate. O_o Merry Christmas to you and yours.

- Mi