Finding our Christmas Tree

On Sunday, we went out in search for our Christmas tree.  I wanted to go to the beloved Christmas tree farm that we've been to a couple of times.  I mean, they have bunnies.  Bunnies in Santa hats.  What more could you want in a tree farm?

Hubz did not want to go to the tree farm.  He evidently hates bunnies or Santa hats or something.  He wanted to go to Home Depot because it's closer.

Home Depot?  What kind of holiday memories can we make at Home Depot?  "Oh hurry!  I can't wait to get to Aisle 5!!!"

Nobody says that.  Aisle 5 is not Christmas-magical.  It's just the same dang Aisle 5 that's there all year long.  You know what I mean?

I wanted to go to a place where we could make beautiful, loving family memories that Hubz and I will be able to remember when we are old and grey and peeing ourselves in our rocking chairs.  You can't get that at Home Depot.

Hubz evidently hates family memories, too, cause Home Depot won out.

Bean ran all over looking at one tree and then the next.  She was having a ball.  "Make this one stand up, Daddy!"  "I wanna see this one, Daddy!"  "We have to get a really big tree, Mommy."  She was hard to keep up with.

Mommy ultimately chose the tree.   I think by that time they all looked the same to Bean and Hubz was too scared to say anything after my parking lot meltdown over family memories and pee-stained rocking chairs.

We even picked out a smaller tree for Bean.  We did this last year at the tree farm and she loved being able to decorate a tree her own size.  That one only cost $5 though. See, another "pro" for the tree farm.

I will say that I think I need to remember that we can make memories anywhere.  We don't have to go to any special place to create them.  It just really adds to the scenery.  The love and the time together is still there.  I know Bean had fun and I will always remember that.

So...that's all good and well but since Hubz messed up my "scenery", his picture is going up.

Here he is being manly by trying to get the tree on top of the car.  Work it!

Here's Bean taking a break from all the action and sneaking a sip or twelve from Daddy's Dr. Pepper.

Oh, look!  Hubz is still fighting with that tree.  If we had gone to the tree farm, the guys there would have put it up on the car for him. Hmmmm....

Our Advent Calendar - Bookworm Style.

I ran across this idea of a book advent calendar last year on several other blogs and thought it was brilliant.

We have a basket that holds 24 gift wrapped Christmas-themed books.  Well, there WILL be 24 books in it soon.  This is one advantage to having a kid that can't count yet - you can go right along after you realize you miscounted and didn't get enough books to make 24.

Don't tell her.  She loves this idea and is so excited about it.  Santa's helper will just sneak a few more in one night.

But here's our little basket of books.  She will open one book each night before Christmas.  (Sorry for the picture quality.  Once I showed it to her, Bean was too excited to wait so I could get a better picture.)  Preplanning is my not strong suit.

Last night Bean opened the first book.  She can choose whichever book from the box that she wants each night.  She has become an Olympic-style unwrapping fiend.

The book that marked December 1st was Gingerbread Mouse.

I can't vouch for the story yet as Hubz was the one to read it at bedtime.  I will try to share a picture of each night's book as we move along towards Christmas.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

We shared awhile back that Bean had decided to entertain herself by cutting her own hair.  I've been trying to let the side grow where she decided to chop a chunk off.  The waiting has been so long.  I've also tried and tried to get this haircut for awhile but the schedules never matched up.  (Sorry!)

So this past Black Friday, I stopped by my SIL's shop and she did the honors.

We went from this:

To this:

And the result is this:

And the only one that cried was me.

Holiday Gift Guides - The Men

*From The Graphics Fairy

Since the Holidays are coming up, I thought it would be fun to create a few gift guides for your shopping pleasure.  I've used Etsy (once again) to create a treasury showcasing some cool gifts I found.

Today I will share gift ideas I've found for the men in our lives.  I think men are hard to shop for.  Other people say no, but I get stumped every time I need a gift for Hubz.  Or maybe it's because I know that the things he likes aren't my taste and I don't want them "decorating" my house.  LOL

I do think he might like a couple of things on this treasury though.  Hope you can find some ideas for your guys.

Now I'm a fan girl.

Have you ever written a fan letter to a celebrity? I can neither confirm nor deny that I ever wrote one to someone in New Kids on the Block.  I didn't.  Really, I didn't.  But I did buy one of their videos and secretly watched it over and over and...nevermind.

Well, today I became a fan girl again.  Yep, I wrote another letter.  Don't worry, Jordan Knight.  You're safe.

This time I wrote a letter to...this girl.

Yeah, I wrote to Cinderella.

And I hope, hope, hope she writes me back.

Recently, I read this post by Couponing to Disney where she explains that you can write to your favorite Disney character and receive an autographed picture back from them.

Stop it.  Stop laughing at me.

I did it for Bean.  Bean is a huge Cinderella fan.  Don't you remember this?

She loves Cinderella.  She sings "Cinderella...dressed in yella" around the house all the time thanks to Hubz. She squeals with delight every time we're in a store and she sees something with Cinderella on it.

Yep.  Minnie Mouse has been kicked to the curb.  It's all about Cinderella now.

Bean even has several Cinderella wants on her Christmas wish list.  Whenever anyone asks her what she wants for Christmas she says "a Cinderella doll".  The kid might wind up with 12 on Christmas but even if she does I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she will be delighted to have them all.

So anyways, with Christmas coming up and then her birthday right after, I thought getting an autographed picture from Cinderella would be an amazing gift for Bean.  So I put my sarcastic thoughts (well, most of them) away and wrote a letter to Cinderella to see if she will send Bean a picture.

Couponing to Disney said she received her autograph in about two weeks.  I'm putting our letter in the mail today - November 21, 2011.  We'll see if we ever do receive a picture and how long it takes if we do.

If you want to write to your favorite Disney character, too, here's the address I used.

Walt Disney World Communications
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

Come on, Cinderella, have a heart!  Send this beautiful little girl an autograph.  It will make her smile which will make me smile.

I'll keep you guys updated.

So...what's up?

I can't believe it's been over a week since I've posted.  I'm a bad blogger.

I think I'm in a funk.  Do you know what I mean?  I just haven't had much to say in a blog post.  I realized today I haven't even taken any new pictures since Halloween.

I might get kicked out of the Mommy Club for that.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

I will give you an update on Bean.  She came home from school this week singing Christmas songs.  I asked her about it and she said that her teacher said they were going to learn some Christmas songs to sing to the mommies and daddies but that she couldn't tell Mommy and Daddy about it because it is a surprise.

Okay.  I'll still be surprised!

It's funny the little things that she says that I pick up on.  For example, there always seems to be a granddaddy long-legs spider or 12 on our front porch.  When Bean sees one, she starts that "ah ah ah" scream like the character Stuart from MAD TV used to do.  She calls them "granddad spiders".  They do kinda look like her grandfather though.  Hmmmm....just kidding.

She has already started asking if it's Christmas time yet.  So, in turn, I've already started saying to her "Santa is watching you.  You'd better stop doing that if you want him to bring you presents".  See, toddlers don't always have to win.

Wordless Wednesday - Trick or Treat