Christmas Day

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Day that I thought I would share!  My two most favorite gifts that I received were a bread maker and Scrabble Flash, but I was most thankful that I got to spend Christmas Day with both sides of my family! 

My children received WAY too many gifts this year!  My husband's mom, sister, aunt, and niece came to visit Christmas Day and brought bags and bags of gifts for everyone!  We went to my parents Christmas morning and received a lot of stuff too!  Next year, we might put a limit on how many gifts they can buy per child...or just put money in their college saving accounts!

The tree is up!

We went out yesterday, in between breakfast with Santa and the city's Christmas parade, for our first ever family Christmas tree hunt!  We found a great tree...or so we thought.  The tree was on a hill and looked much bigger outdoors than it really is in our house! 

The best family picture I could get!

The hunt.

My husband cutting the tree down.

All set up and decorated!

The stockings are even hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St.Nicholas will soon be here!

150 Stocking Stuffer Idea

1. $5 gift cards (Starbucks, McDonalds, Amazon, Borders etc).

2. A favorite candy (my mom always got us those plastic candy canes filled with M&M's)

3. Decorative cupcake liners (I found some great ones here)

4. A favorite magazine

5. Camera strap cover (like the one I gave away here) - note, that giveaway is closed!)

6. Packets of flower or herb seeds for planting

7. Personalized stationary

8. Slipper socks

9. Silly putty (another thing I always got as a kid)

10. Rubber coated paddle attachement for a mixer like this one

11. Monogrammed iPhone Case

12. Nail polishes

13. Sharpie Pens

14. Chapstick

15. Hair bands

16. Small crosswords puzzle book

17. Crayons

18. Body wash

19. Piggy Bank with coins

20. Personalized M&M's that say Merry Christmas

21. Clip on book reading lamp

22. Measuring spoons or cups

23. Cute wine stopper

24. Scarf

25. Stickers

26. Monogrammed coasters (there's a great how to here)

27. Lottery tickets

28. Deck of playing cards

29. Rubix cube

30. Loofa

31. Hair clips

32. Cuticle set

33. Jewelry

34. Batteries

35. Cooking extracts - vanilla, mint, orange etc.

36. Mittens

37. Scented candles (this site always has things like that & you get a credit for signing up)

38. Bookmarks

39. Fishing lures

40. Knitting or Crochet needles

41. Lotion

42. Play Dough

43. Golf tees or balls

44. Matchbox cars

45. Memory card

46. Cd's

47. Tools

48. Wash/Dish rags

49. Diaper genie refills (you laugh, but I would love those in my stocking!)

50. Specialty olive oils such as this one

51. Eyeshadow

52. Unusual pastas like this red chili linguini

53. From the Kitchen of labels like these

54. Gardening gloves

55. Tickets to the aquarium

56. Address book

57. An orange - to shape out the toe of the stocking!

58. Ice scraper

59. Small digital camera

60. A teasing comb for all the southern girls

61. Cookie cutters

62. A good book

63. Retractable ID or key holder

64. Makeup bag

65. Nice wooden spoons

66. Gift card to go see a movie

67. USB Drive

68. Small photo frames

69. Wallet

70. Personalized water bottle like this one

71. Speciality teas - here is one of my favorites

72. Garden markers (for herbs etc)

73. Scented antibacterial kitchen hand soap

74. Pumice stones

75. Travel sized games (connect four, uno, etc)

76. Gourmet spice mixes

77. Small sketchbook

78. Fridge magnets

79. Stencils for crafting

80. Tickets to go see a musical performance

81. Kid paint set

82. Extra Wii controllers

83. Small calendar for your purse/backpack

84. PJ's

85. Wristlet to hold a small digital camera like this one of mine from one of my 1st blog posts!

86. Wine glass charms

87. Freezable teether's

88. Osis Dust It click here

89. Monogrammed onesie or tee

90. Money clip

91. Set of markers

92. Gourmet hot chocolate like this one

93. Ring holder

94. Wine aerator

95. Cufflinks

96. Pedometer

97. Personalized purse mirror like this one

98. DVD's

99. Cell phone car charger

100. Child sized harmonica

101. Luggage tags

102. Personalized coffee cup

103. Travel alarm clock

104. Baby legs

105. Personalized mom bracelet or necklace with children's birthstones

106. Perfume/Cologne

107. Speciality chocolates such as See's

108. Mini tripod

109. Cute umbrella

110. Earbuds

111. Flower bulbs

112. Monogrammed baby wipes case (this site always has unique kid gifts on sale - you have to sign up for free, but it's a great resource!)

113. Passport holder

114. Raw honey like this

115. Small digital picture frame

116. Webkinz

117. Snow cap

118. Digital luggage scale: here's one

119. Chalk

120. iTunes giftcard

121. Digital measuring tape

122. Bubbles

123. Watch

124. Wine thermometer

125. Tickets to the zoo

126. Speciality coffee such as this one

127. Bath toys

128. Monogrammed burp rags

129. Makeup brush set

130. Binoculars

131. Barbies

132. Child "character" flashlights

133. Jewelry box

134. Recipe cards

135. Swiss Army knife

136. Belt

137. Small lint roller

138. Key chain

139. Baby rings to attach toys to a carseat

140. Coloring book

141. Birthstone earrings

142. Throwback candy - Pez dispensers, pop rocks, nerds, fun dip.

143. Kindle

144. Scrapbooking supplies

145. Personalized fortune cookie (you can have your own message put into them)

146. Universal remote

147. Hand sanitizer

148. Silly Bandz

149. Family Christmas ornament

150. A handwritten note from Santa

Thanks to Jenna's Journey for the list of ideas!  I have already gotten started stuffing a bag for my stocking stuffers! 

Christmas Gifts

Have your children made their Christmas list yet?  Mine have made several and I continue to find these lists laying around the house!  My husband even found one last night in a DVD case!  We have started to shop around to find the best price on some gifts.  We have decided that we will be going Black Friday shopping at 10:00pm on Thanksgiving to grab a few deals for the kids this year.  Here are a few things we have found that we would like Santa to bring our kids:

Wyatt- 1 year

Fisher Price Milk Wagon

Fisher Price Clock

Lillian, 2 years:

Owen, 6 years:

Alex- 8 years old:

I hope that Santa Clause decides to bring the entire family a portable basketball goal on Christmas morning!  :)

Christmas is coming!

Here are two more gifts that I bought this week for Alex, my 8 year old.  The Snuggie was $5.00 and the book was $7.00.

Christmas is coming!

As Dave Ramsey says, "You will be sitting at the Thanksgiving table and start to choke on your turkey bone, because you just realized that Thanksgiving is in December this year!"

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? Do you have a set amount of money that you will spend on each person? I can happily say that I have started it. I cannot brag though, because all I have is some stuff from Claire's that was on the $1.00 sale rack. This is going to be stocking stuffers for Alex, my 8 year old daughter.

I have had my eye on this Radio Flyer Tricycle on Craigslist for $15.00. I thought about purchasing it as a Santa gift for my 2 year old, but I'm not 100% sure we need another bike! Our shed is already full with two Power Wheels, six bikes, a baby bike trailer, two Big Wheels, and a scooter!

I told my children this year that we are not going to ask Santa for anything electronic! Last year Santa brought my daughter, Alex, an Ipod Touch. My son, Owen, got a DSi XL. I don't have any desire to drain the bank account this Christmas on electronics for my kids! Owen has informed me that he wants a violin and that he wants to start taking lessons. Alex has asked for a marionette puppet. I like their requests this year!  What kinds of things are you kids asking for this year?