Happy New Year ~ 2010

New Years Widget by Widgia

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday

'Tis the season for winter sports, but ice skating in Florida??? Who would have thought. Chris and I both grew up in northern states and we often wish that our kids could experience winter and the Christmas season the same way that we did.

This week they got to experience a small piece of northern fun. We took the whole crew skating at a local ice skating rink.

I was a little unsure of what to expect prior to taking the kids skating. They all said that they wanted to go...however only CJ has skated before and that was once or twice about seven years ago.

We let them know before we went that they would fall on the ice and it is not as easy as it looks.

When we got to the rink everyone was anxious to get their very stylish rented skates on and hit the ice. To my surprise, they all took to it right away.

The girls traveled around the rink holding the sides and one of our hands for the first half hour. CJ headed right out and gave it his best shot. He fell...a lot...but he never gave up or got discouraged. He loves to play hockey in the garage and would love to try ice hockey. I believe his desire to play was all the motivation he needed to keep trying.

After the first half hour, Caley was skating like a pro. She stopped holding the side, was pulling me around the ice, and spent quite a bit of time skating on her own. Caitlyn was a little less adventurous, but she eventually stopped holding the side and ventured out on her own too.

The boys had a great time and loved being able to wear their hockey jerseys on the ice rather than just around town.

By the time open skating was over, everyone was having a great time and loving the ice. The girls cried when we had to leave the rink. Who would have thought of all the activities I have ever asked them if they wanted to do, it would turn out to be ice skating. It looks like ice skating lessons are in our future.

You can take the people out of the North...but you can't take the North out of the people!!!

For more WW go HERE and HERE.

Ready for Santa

Christmas Eve dinner is over, the Candlelight service at church has come and gone, a few of the gifts have been opened and played with...

The cookies and milk are in place and waiting for Santa...

The new Christmas PJ's are on and everyone is in bed.

Now we wait for the Santa to arrive!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ 2 days to go!

Counting down the days until Christmas at Downtown Disney.
For more WW go HERE and HERE.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday ~ Santa Sightings

We have been seeing Santa all over town this year. We saw this Santa at Norway in EPCOT.




This Santa showed up to our Pack Meeting on Monday night to had out Pinewood Derby cars to all of the scouts.

For more Wordless Wednesday go here and here.

I WON!!!

Last Friday night our town held it's annual Christmas tree and street lighting festival. At the festival there were lots of local vendors with things to sell and give away. Several of the vendors had raffle ticket drawing for cute holiday baskets full of all kinds of Christmas stuff. I entered several of the drawing, not for a minute thinking that I would win ANY of them. Well, of all the great surprises, I got a call yesterday from our local power company. I actually WON the raffle that they were holding. I won this cute sleigh full of all kinds of cute stuff. The sleigh was filled with 4 scented candles, a candle snuffer, vanilla scented potpourri, an oil lantern, two leaf shaped candle stick holders, a light -up snowman, a fleece blanket, and a Manheim Steamroller CD.

How fun!!! I guess I should enter raffles more often!

Why We Should Believe in Santa Claus

Whenever my kids question me about wether or not I believe in Santa Claus I always answer them with a very confident, YES! For the last few years they have come to me with stories from the kids at school and in the neightborhood who do not believe in Santa or who say that there is no Santa Claus. My response to them has been that I think those kids are silly not to believe in Santa. I expain to them that it is harmless to believe in Santa, and if you don't believe in Santa you might not get a gift from him on Christmas morning. So, wether they really believe or not, we continue on with the myth and the tradition.

This week I was thrilled to read a story in the Sunday Parade magazine that helped me to justify my continuing belief in Santa. Here is a short exerpt from the article...

"There is a moment in J.M Barrie's Peter Pan when the audience is invited to revive the dying fairy Tinkerbell and told, 'If you believe in fairies, clap your hands.' And every time, the theater breaks into sustained applause. That is not to suggest there are theaters full of seriously deluded people. What it does tell us is that there are times when we need to pretend to believe in things we know not to be true. We know that the world is a place of suffering and hardship, and we know too, that justice and kindness and love and such things will not always prevail against these hard realities. Myths help us to get by. The day they all die and we tell our children exactly how things are, the world will be a poorer, less enchanted place. So don't be ashamed to clap your hands at Peter Pan or act as if Santa exists. He stands for kindness and generosity, and those things are alive and will continue to be alive --as long as we believe."

~ Alexander McCall Smith

To read the article in it's entirety go to Parade magazine online.

Question of the Week ~ Favorite Holiday Movies

The question of the week over at Multiples and More is..."What are your favorite Holiday movies?" Here are a few of mine.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (it is not Christmas without this movie!)
2. Miracle on 34th Street
3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
4. The Santa Clause
5. Polar Express
6. Christmas with the Krank's
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas
8. A Christmas Carol
9. Home Alone
10. When Harry met Sally (I know this is not a traditional Christmas movie, but there is Christmas in it, and I love to watch it at Christmas time.)

To see what other people are watching at Christmas time...head over to Multiples and More!
Happy movie watching!!!

Light Up Winter Garden

Tonight we went to one of the events that I look forward to every year at this time. Our town hosts an event call "Light Up Winter Garden." This event is normally held on the first Friday night in December. This year it had to be moved back one week because we had torrential rains last Friday. If we were living up north, it would have been a blizzard. In Florida it was just an ALL day rain.

Light up Winter Garden is a festival in which the West Orange Ministerial Association organizes a public reading of the traditional Christmas story accompanied by the singing of Christmas songs. Yes, in Florida we are actually allowed to read from the bible in public. I hope that tradition never ends. At the end of the Christmas story the City of Winter Garden "flips the switch" and turns on the downtown Christmas lights for the first time of the season. After the Christmas story has been read, the City shows a Christmas movie on a large outdoor screen, brings in "snow" for the kids to slide in and play with, has vendors in the street selling all kinds of foods and crafts, and of course Santa sits in the center of the street and visits with the kids. We really look forward to this festival each year, and I am glad we were able to be there tonight.

Caitlyn holds her candle while the crowd sings "Joy to the World" at the end of the reading of the Christmas story. All of the lights along the main street are dimmed. It is very cool to see everyone holding a candle and singing together.

Caitlyn gets a chance to sled down a snow hill for the first time, ever! It was a cool night, about 55 degrees, but this is as close as Florida kids get to real snow.

CJ spins his way to the bottom. He really seemed to enjoy himself. He is the only one of our three kids who has actually seen and touched real snow.

Caley makes her way to the bottom of the hill. Not bad for a Florida girl!

Three Florida kids playing with "snow." We told them to make snowballs. We forgot that they did not know how to make snowballs. Oopse, eventually they figured it out.

A little bit blurry, but here are some of the lights that are brightening up in our little town. It is finally starting to feel like Christmas!!!

Win a $100 Visa Giftcard!!!

"Common Sense With Money" is hosting a great giveaway, just in time for Christmas. A $100 Visa Gift Card is up for grabs!!! Head on over here to find out how you can enter to win.

You will also find the recipe for this very yummy looking Holiday Chocolate Fudge. There are also ideas for several other fun Homemade Christmas Gifts. Good Luck!!!

See A Free Movie Tonight

Head on over to Attention Target Shoppers to find out how you can earn FREE movie tickets & enter a giveaway to win a General Mills Movie Prize Pack!!!

You will also find links to coupons to save $$$ on your favorite General Mills cereals.

Thanks Ginger!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Ready for Christmas!!!

For more WW go here and here.

Six Word Saturday

Morning ~ housework, Afternoon ~ Parade, Evening ~ Party!

For more 6WSaturday's go here.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday

Is there anything better than a new puppy?

Today we are super excited and happy to welcome "Bailey" to our family!!!

For more WW go here and here.

A Bit of Christmas

What this blog really needed today was just a touch of Christmas. I am trying to get into the spirit. I have been so busy with other stuff, I have hardly had time to think about Christmas. I just hope I can find time in the next few weeks to enjoy the season!!!