The first movie is A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures hits the stores on January 3rd (I’ve already seen Walmart advertising it).  An animated film, the story follows  Sammy the turtle from being a new hatchling trying to make it to the sea and through the next fifty years of his life in the ocean.  Along the way he meets friends, the love of his life and learns about how things are changing in his enviroment.

Elle (age 7) and Enu (age 9) enjoyed watching A Turtle’s Tale and we passed it around to a few friends to watch. The under ten crowd has a lot of fun watching Sammy and his friends.

I also want to tell you about A Mile In His Shoes.  A Thomas Kinkade Production that comes to stores on January 10th,  is directed by William Dear (Angels in the Outfield) and stars Dean Cain and Luke Schroder.  Luke looks so much like his father it reminds me of Silver Spoons in the 80′s heyday!

Based on a true story A Mile In His Shoes  is a  DOVE approved PG movie that is perfect for the family.  The story about a young teen with Autism in the 1940′s and how he impacts the lives of others when he joins a baseball team.  This family film is great for ages 8-12 helping them learn that people who are different than them can be friends and be a part of a community.

(I received a copy of each of the above mentioned movies from Vivendi Entertainment  in exchange for my honest opinion about the movies. No other compensation was received.)

I asked her about her Christmas customs in Nigeria and what she thought of American Christmases.   The American gift giving is astonishing to her.  Her family does not exchange gifts with each other and this is the normal for her country. Christmas cards are also not the normal custom for her, but she has seen them before.  They very much celebrate Christmas though.

That got me thinking about how our Christmas might be like with no gift giving.  It is so ingrained in our culture to give gifts for Christmas that it would seem a bit empty, especially with the kids.  Could we celebrate without gifts?  Would we be able to maintain the holiday feelings and excitement without the boxes and bags?

Hubby and I will forgo gifts at times when money is tight or if we have recently made a big purchase.  It still feels like Christmas when that happens.  With my Dad out of work I  have told my parents to forget about my gifts. I don’t think they did, but it would still seem like Christmas if they did as I requested.  Of course I am an adult.

As a child I was aware that our Christmases were sparse compared to my friends.  I can honestly say that I didn’t mind, except that I knew my mom felt bad because of it.  If anything, the lighter Christmases made me a better person.  I am now walking that fine line of wanting my kids to have fun things and not wanting to train them to be materialistic.  Sometimes I think I am doing okay on this and sometimes I fail miserably.

I have often hoped that as the girls get older that we will do more with family projects in helping others and that they will understand that your truly do get more out of giving than receiving.  It, like most lessons, cannot be taught but modeled and realized.  I would love for them to give gifts of service rather than gifts of plastic.  This year our spare change collected from the year went to UNICEF to help the families in East Africa and we made Christmas cards for children in the hospital.  Activities that I hope taught them the importance of giving as well as made them feel good about themselves.

I have also noted in the last few years that they are very giving to others. Our tree has many, many gifts under it and they are all from the girls to other people. Some are homemade, others purchased or gently handed down but all are from the girls with no mommy-money supplemented.  This makes my heart swell with love that they love giving this much.

Christmas gifts can tell us we are loved and cared for.  Being able to give gifts to those we love makes us feel joyful. Not being able to provide gifts can make us feel desperate and  useless.  Presents are not villains of course, as they do teach us the art of giving, but they are not the reason for Christmas either.  While I admire and sometimes wish our Christmas culture was more like Nigeria’s, it is a fact that Christmas gifts are apart of our culture’s tradition and that it is here to stay.  Balance is the key and I think that if our hearts are sincere we will maintain the true Christmas meaning of Christ being born.

How have you come to terms with Christmas gifts?  Are they super important to your family or could you have a gift-less Christmas and be like the Whos in Whoville?

Artwork Credit

My brother and I started a tradition of waking up in the middle of the night and pulling everything out of our stockings and seeing our big gift from Santa. Santa always brought the big gift.  A big plus for in our house is that Santa did not wrap his gifts! That is how we knew the gift was from Santa.

What I didn’t realize was that Santa wrapped other kids’ gifts.When I found this out I was no longer a believer, so it didn’t matter.

Then I got married and had kids.  Hubby’s Santa did wrap!  He wrapped the big gift and the stocking stuffers!  It was a time for copermise and Hubby’s side won!

Santa wraps at our house now. I help him get special gift wrap so that his are different looking than ours…..this parenting stuff is so complicated!

There is my five minutes of Stream Of Consciousness about Santa Wrapping!  Life changing I know! Does your Santa wrap?

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post at AllThingsFadra.com
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

I quickly put in the DVD as I was getting dinner ready.  Elle loved it. She watched it twice, once alone and once with Enu.  (The older girls will probably watch it as well, but the appeal isn’t as strong since Selena Gomez isn’t in it!)  Enu has declared it a winner saying that kids from three to ten will love it.  She really did say that, I think she wanted quoted in my post!

The story is simple, yet funny. It has Santa and the naughty list as well as a Christmas Rock and great Christmas decorations such as fish scales and pine cones.  I was impressed by Elle’s music comprehension skills when she noticed that one of the characters did an ice skating routine to traditional Nut Cracker music! Ray Romano and  Queen Latifah are back as well as the other famous voices.

If you are looking for a fun Christmas movie for the family to string popcorn to this is a good choice!

It is in stores now and at Amazon for under $8 (DVD) and under  $9 for Blu-Ray!

(Disclosure: I received a free review copy of the above movie from Fox Home Entertainment and no other compensation.)

 I grew up with the humongous colorful lights on the Christmas tree. Every year it was a tree full of color.  Then sometime in the late 1990′s either I started paying attention or they really started pushing the white lights.

I fell in love with the white lights. Simple and crisp, very sophisticated.  That’s all I wanted to use and see.  Every once in a while I would appreciate the blue lights, but I hated the colored lights.

Two years ago Hubby bought a pre-lit tree with colored lights on clearance in a post Christmas sale. Now I have colored lights on my tree…and I like them again.  I could just star at the tree all night. I still like the white lights a wee bit better, but the colored lights remind me of my childhood I think and I like that my kids also have a colorful tree.

I must state here that they CANNOT be mixed.  Nothing makes me twitch more than white lights and colored lights on a house…if it is possible to pull off, I have never seen it.

What do you think? Colors or white? Are you a both kinds together person?

Is this fluff or what!?  I love it this Stream of Consciousness theme!

  This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spell checking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post at AllThingsFadra.com
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Deep Thinking Yahtzee Player!

It’s NoBloPOMo still.  Twenty-nine days and counting and I am happy to say this is the first day that I have not thought of anything to write. Of course writing about it doesn’t change the fact that I have nothing to write about, but I am writing so that should count for something. Right?

I thought that starting to write would make the creative juices flow, but no.

I’m going to play some Yahtzee  with Enu and come back later. With inspiration.  I’m sure of it.

So Yahtzee didn’t help. Enu beat me again.

I go to the plastic surgeon tomorrow to discuss my upcoming breast reduction. I’m nervous. A bit worried and of course the big question remains. What size should I go for?  I’m thinking C cup. Big enough to be familiar but small enough my back pain with go away.  What if they are to big still? What are your thoughts on the B cup? Anyone….anyone….?

Does this count as a post?

It is called CardStar.  You can put in all of your key chain/shopper rewards program cards in your phone! It makes life a bit more easy at checkout, and considering that I tend to have to dig for cards or forget them I may actually start saving more money.

What I really like about this program is that you can put your library cards in it as well. All four of my girls have their own library cards (so they have to pay their own fees and take more responsibility) but they always forget to bring them or loose them (where do they get that from?!). Now I have them on my phone. I know this seems counteractive  in teaching them responsibility, but I could never not let them check out books because they left their card at home…I mean they are books not candy! 

 Now one more little issue is solved.

Love. It. Forever.  What is  your favorite app?

 (Disclosure: I was not ask to promote this app or paid to do so!)

Art Credit

So once all the decorations were up (the kids did an awesome job by the way, it is great to have kids who are old enough to actually help with things!) we sat down and I read the letters.  They were simple questions like:

What was your favorite song in 2010?

What was your favorite movie in 2010?

What do you remember most about 2010:

What do you hope happens in 2011?

It turns out that none of the girls’ predictions came true, Elle doesn’t have long hair and Mita didn’t get to go to Washington State.  We did make it to Chuck E. Cheese as Elle had hoped for and Meg did get to perform more in 2011 between her choir and being in Children’s Letters to God.  Enu did not get to spend the night for a week at her friends house, but she did  start doing her hair better!

A nice moment for us. I think this year I will add a few more question and have Hubby and I do one to.  I am going to add this to our Advent activities (Oh yeah, haven’t started planning those yet either.)

I wonder if I will forget next year?  Maybe I should go back and see if I blogged about my idea?  Echinacea anyone?

Mita's First Pie - All From Scratch!

I thought about writing a snarky post blasting what I am ungrateful for as a direct contrast to normal Thanksgiving day blog posts, but I didn’t. I don’t have the time or energy to be snarky at this point!

Christmas is my favorite holiday and (not just for the gifts!) but Thanksgiving is growing on me. I, of course, like the food.  I can take or leave Turkey, but the sides I adore.  Noodles, stuffing, deviled eggs, pie…… I can east several helpings if I leave out the turkey!  Mostly I like the time we take to be thankful. I think all of us are thankful for our blessing, and I also know that we are all so busy we sometimes forget to take the time, the space, the moment to give thanks.

I am thankful for many, many things, but here are just a few:

My hubby for putting up with me, loving me and being such a great Dad.

My girls – all of the them for bringing laughter and pride into my lift as well as challenging me to be a better person.

My parents for their continued support and help with watching my kiddos when I need it and having a great home to go relax in.

My mother in law for her love and generosity.

My brother and sister-in-law for giving hubby and I a great date weekend last week and watching my girls.

My job, for letting me come back to work for a few hours a week to help new families and help me regain my sanity.

My friends for giving me a circle to have fun with and complain with.

My upcoming breast reduction -  No more back/neck pain or skin infections!

My puppy dog for cuddling with me nightly.

There is more, but I will stop there for now!

I don’t like blogging with this keyboard I must say!

I hope I don’t have to post this…I should think of something great to say… A quote maybe?

In honor of Breaking Dawn coming out today, one of my favorite parts of the book :

“You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster,” I screeched.

And then I lunged for his throat.