

congrats Ike... look for a surprise in your mailbox shortly! Thanks to all for your comments. happy holidays!

As I was perusing websites for the next great holiday gift, I came across this shrinky dink holiday kit. What a great idea, a craft for us to do before the holiday as the buildup starts for the big day. Which then sparked my memory that it's time to order my legos advent calendars.

so I found the littlest pet shop
and polly pocket advent calendars.
I see that they have My little Pony,
and Barbie calendars as well

Elf on a Shelf. Here's info on him here. We received him one year as a gift to enjoy early as well, you place the elf on a shelf somewhere in your home and he observes the children's and parent's behavior in the house each day and while we sleep reports back to Santa. Then next morning he appears in a different spot. The fun begins once you name him, read the companion book, and then trying to find him every morning. I must add that this tradition is a commitment as your elf needs to remember to report to Santa each evening, and finding new spots to appear can get challenging? My out of the area friends loved their elf on a shelf, my local friends already have one. I believe he's available at Hallmark now, so make sure he's still a novelty before you gift one. So this year I am back to the advent calendars, I even found that the legos from the years past are worth a substantial amount of money (unopened of course). As the boys get older one set will not do as they fight over whose turn it is, and some days are better surprises than others. So We really enjoy the playmobil sets.
We have, Christmas in the Park, and A Knight's Duel.
Compared to the legos, those pieces tend to last long as they don't have to be assembled.
I highly recommend amazon.com to order your calendars as they are very hard to find in stores, and amazon will mail them to the person you wish to receive them for you. I did see the legos advent calendar at Target with a $5.00 off coupon in their Christmas catalogue.
Some other ideas are Christmas cookies sets, you can buy sugar cookie mix, sprinkles and cookie cutters and send them as a kit. Or the gingerbread tree kit is worth the money.
Super easy to do and they come out pretty cute.
Have fun building up to the holiday. It's a memory maker for sure and adds to that reason for the season feeling.
Tell me some of your before Christmas, customs or traditions. I will pick a random winner Sunday November 15, 2009 at midnight and send you a shrinky dinks holiday tree for leaving a comment.
contest available to us residents only.
Suzanne