Christmas Eve - Part One

Christmas Eve is always filled with family traditions in the evening but what do you do during the day?

This year we went to lunch with our wonderful friends, Ray & Deborah Cabrera and their kids Elizabeth, Caleb and Priscilla.

After a short visit at our house, we headed out on a family mission. No, we did not need to buy any Christmas presents. Dave did an awesome job of being the "Christmas shopper" this year while off work. What we still needed was a birthday cake for Jesus.

So, first we headed to Kmart. I know, not the place for a birthday cake. I was looking for something to make a craft/gift for a good friend to give to them today but I didn't find what I was looking for. Yes, even on Christmas Eve I still have crafting on the brain.

Our second stop was Shoprite, one of the local supermarkets, but all that cakes there were too big. We just wanted a little cake not one we would be eating for the rest of the week. Especially since Emily and Matt are not big on cake.

With our quest seeming unattainable, we decided to revive ourselves with a little refreshment. A new QuickCheck has opened on Route 46 and they are having a promotion of free medium coffee and 20 oz slurpees. Yum!!

Being once again up to the challenge as sugar and coffee pumped through our veins, we headed to another supermarket, Stop and Shop. With the kids not so keen on the idea of heading into another store, we bid Dave a quick "good luck" and sent him in. A few moments later he returned to the car victoriously with the goods in hand - a small birthday cake for Jesus.

With our task complete, we headed home to prepare for the night's regularly programed Christmas Eve traditions. God bless us everyone!!

Summer PJ's Finally Put Away....maybe?

I think Emily has hot blood running through her veins. This girl in the heart of winter is dressed in skorts and short sleeved shirts and her sleeping attire is no different. It usually consists of a short sleeved night gown. Well, all the recent clothing sales for Christmas motivated us to attempt at putting the summer clothes away.

Emily has decided she likes yoga/sweatpants so long as they are nice and colorful - check, she now has 4 pair. Oh, and the pajama dilemma has also been rectified with some nice, toasty, long sleeved/pant pajama sets. This is one of them....they have Christmas ornaments on them. Will we ever have her completely winterized? No, but hey no one can say we haven't given it an honest effort.

Party at the School

On Friday, I got to help out with Matthew's school Christmas party, after all I am a class mom for his class! The kids got to create their own Christmas tree out of an upside down ice cream cone, green frosting and plenty of candy for decorations. We even had coconut for snow!! They also made a Christmas tree ornament.

The most "amazing" part of the party is when we went around with a veggie platter of carrots, celery, grape tomatoes and broccoli the most requested vegetable was...........Broccoli! Can you believe it? They ate it too!! I really enjoy being class mom for his class. His teacher is highly organized and we know how much I like that attribute.

We did find out this week that his teacher, Mrs. Tronza, is expecting her first child in late May so Matt will have a substitute teacher for the last month of school. Matthew came home very excited to tell me about the baby to come. We'll have to see how excited he is when he is faced with the fact that she won't be in the classroom.

Rudolph is BACK!!!

Matt has a small stuffed Rudolph that makes his presence know around this time of year.

For most of the year, Rudolph spends his time hidden in Matt's bedroom closet but it seems the first of December Matt searches him out and makes him part of the Christmas season. Already Rudolph has been taken to school to meet Matt's teacher, Mrs. Tronza. Rudolph even spent the night at school, with Matthew's "approval" of course. It was cute...while praying that night, Matt asked God to keep Rudolph safe and not to let the beddy bugs bite.

So, when you see posts or pictures from this month don't be surprised if Rudolph is there. After all, he is Matt's sidekick for the month. :)

New Craft for Me!!

Crafting has become an obsession for me and when I see a great idea I can't help but imitate it. After all, copying someone's idea in my opinion is a high form of flattery.

I found my recent craft project on a sight called Pintrest - Shellie Papp knows what I am talking about. The woman who posted this craft listed it as an item she was making as teacher gifts and I loved the idea seeing Christmas is here and Emily alone has 4 teachers.

These are Post It Note holders. You never have to be searching for your Post It Notes because they are very "fashionably" displayed and when you use them up you just replace the pad. I love that they can be personalized by color and even initials or name. So, now I am crafting photo cubes, frames, letters, words and Post It holders......now if only I could find a market who would buy these things I am creating. Hoping to get that part resolved in the new year. :) In the meantime, I am a happy crafter!