Santa Photos 2011

A Video, Cookies & Winners

Posted on December 21, 2011 Written by Tonya

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, but like you I’ve been immersed in holiday goodness: baking, socializing, wrapping and enjoying the sights and sounds of this special time of year.

I’ve fallen so behind on reading my favorite blogs and e-mails, that I may just delete and start fresh January 1. That’s allowed, right?

Lucas and I are about to head to the Bay Area to spend Christmas with my husband’s family, but before we go, I just had to share this.

Lucas’ preschool class performed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer last week and while he may have froze during the actual program, he knew every word and there has been a lot of practicing at home.

Here he is belting out the favorite holiday classic while enjoying a delicious chocolate chip cookie made by Jackie of With Just a Bit of Magic as part of Katie’s cookie swap.

For all of you that linked up your Santa photos, thank you! There were some darling photos this year.

Thank you also to Natalie (of Mommy of a Monster) for co-hosting this link up with me and to each one of our awesome sponsors!

Via random.org, here are our winners (hopefully you were each notified via Twitter):

Huggerz Kid Koozie
Amy of BabyBaby Lemon

Kimberly of Something Something

$20 Santa.com Gift Card
Jessica of My Time As Mom

$25 Raleigh Cake Pops
Sherri of Old Tweener

$50 Gift Card to One Hope Wine
Jamie of Roubinek Reality

Congratulations, everyone!!

Letters For You posts will resume on Wednesday, December 28.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a safe holiday.

Santa Photos 2011 Link Up: The Prizes!

Posted on December 8, 2011 Written by Tonya

Have you linked up to our Santa Photos 2011 yet? No? Well, you should!

Natalie of Mommy of a Monster and I are hosting and we’re giving away prizes too. Lots of prizes…

I’m not really in the giveaway game, so I relied on Natalie and her awesome connections to secure these great gifts:

Huggerz by Kidzies
Your kids will love these koozies for their sippy cups and water bottles! You will love that you can identify which sippy cup belongs to who simply by looking at their Huggerz. Natalie’s children LOVE theirs, and if you want to know more about them, she did a review over at SmartMomPicks.com.

Kidzies was nice enough to offer us three! You can choose from a wide variety of Huggerz and your children will think it’s so cool to have one on their cups!

Follow Kidzies on Twitter and Kidzies on Facebook…and right now, if you go to the Kidzies Web site and buy five Huggerz you can get one FREE through December 31, 2011! What a great gift idea for all the children on your list.

Santa.com
A $20 gift card to Santa.com? Yes please! Spend it however you’d like by going to Santa.com and selecting any retailer(s) where you want to use your Santa.com Gift Card dollars!

Gift Cards can be used at multiple retailers, can be redeemed for cash or donated to charity! Plus, a portion of Santa.com Gift Card sales goes to their non-profit partner, World of Children. Help Santa make the world a better place by doing good and giving well.

But that’s not all you can do at Santa.com… your children can create wish lists and receive a personalized letter from Santa, and more!

Follow Santa on Facebook and follow Santa.com on Twitter to see what Santa’s up to throughout the holiday season.

Raleigh Cake Pops
Cake pops are all the rage right now because they are so freaking delicious! How does a $25 gift code to Raleigh Cake Pops sound?!

Raleigh Cake Pops offers custom cake pops, cake pop gift sets, and gourmet gift pops. They are kind enough to let us give away $25 to their site and you can pick the product you want (excluding tax and shipping).

Follow Raleigh Cake Pops on Facebook and Raleigh Cake Pops on Twitter, too!

ONEHOPE Wine
Our grand prize give away is a $50 gift card to ONEHOPE wine! Not only does ONEHOPE offer a great selection of wines, they also believe in giving back and have made it part of who they are. If you aren’t familiar with ONEHOPE, head over to Have Wine, Will Drink for an overview of their mission and to find out why we love them so much.

We are also a huge fans of Hope at Home, ONEHOPE’s private wine tasting program that allows individuals the opportunity to fundraise and spread awareness for a cause of their choice.

Their blog is full of fun recipes, tips, and crafts dedicated to what we all love: wine. And while you’re there, check out Hope at Home’s Give the Gift of Hope This Holiday.

The gift package includes 12 gift bags and tags and one case of wine. You can either pick one varietal or select your own mixed case. Shipping is included, as well. The price of the package is $240…that’s 12 gifts for $20 a gift! You also get to give a charity of your choice 10% of the purchase price. It’s a win/win for everybody!

Please follow ONEHOPE wine on Facebook and ONEHOPE Wine on Twitter, and also Hope at Home on Twitter.

We only have 11 entries so far and lots of prizes, so your chances of winning are really good!

Click here to enter your link and be sure to visit others.

We’re picking random winners, so it doesn’t matter how “good” or “bad” your pictures are. Grab the button (the code is on my sidebar) and link up a post of you, your kids, or your pet on the big guy’s lap.

We can’t wait to see your pictures!

She Knows

Posted on December 8, 2011 Written by Tonya

Bound, determined and ready to deck the halls for the holidays this year, I dug out our Christmas decorations just after Thanksgiving; two enormous plastic containers buried under a box of clothes Lucas has outgrown, two boxes of books and a duffel bag full of tools.

It has been four years since we’ve decorated our home for the holidays. You can read why here (!).

As I carefully unwrapped each ornament, it was like seeing long lost friends for the first time in far too long. My mind flooded back to the time and place I had been given or purchased the ornament and my heart smiled; a small wooden Pinocchio from our trip to Florence, several miniature Eiffel Towers, a porcelain rocking horse and my alma mater mascot.

I laid all the decorations out on the guest bed and put a stack of flattened tissue paper back inside one of the containers. In doing so, I found a plastic bag containing a beautiful holiday table cloth my mother had given me. I pulled the table cloth out of the bag, shook in out and in the folds discovered something that had been missing for almost 10 years: a stocking handmade by my grandmother when I was six months old.

I swore my mom had it packed away with her holiday treasures and she was adamant I had it in mine.

All this time, she was right.

I wanted so badly to pick up the phone in that moment and call her and tell her I had found it.

My mother died four years ago so that’s a phone call I’ll never be able to make. Somehow though, I think she knows. She has always known.

We put up our tree last weekend and hung the stocking from the fireplace mantle with care.

This post was written for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop Prompt 1.) Have you decorated your Christmas tree? Share a favorite Christmas ornament.

Natalie (Mommy of a Monster) and I want to see your children’s photos with Santa , so link up to our Santa Photos 2011. There are some awesome prizes to win!

Ho Ho Ho!! Time To Link Up Your Santa Photos

Posted on December 5, 2011 Written by Tonya

Time to link up your Santa Photos!

Click here to enter your link and be sure to visit others.

Natalie of Mommy of a Monster and I are hosting a link up to share your 2011 Santa Photos.

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up a post of you, your child(ren), or your pet sitting on the big guy’s lap.

Click here for prize details!!

Link up begins today and runs through Sunday, December 18. Winners will be selected at random and announced on Monday, December 19.

Yay! We got lucky this year.

We can’t wait to see your photos!

Don’t forget to grab the button from my sidebar and make sure you tweet with the hash tag #santapix.

Good luck, everyone!

Santa Photos Link Up

Posted on December 1, 2011 Written by Tonya

They can go incredibly wrong or incredibly wonderful, but no matter what your experience is, we want to see your child’s photo with Santa!

My friend, Natalie of Mommy of a Monster and I are hosting a link up to share your 2011 Santa Photos.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, any holiday photo will do, as long as it’s festive. Old favorites will be accepted too, as long as they’re funny.

All you have to do is grab the button from my sidebar (coming soon) and link up a post of you, your child(ren), or your pet sitting on the big guy’s lap.

There will be prizes, so stay tuned for more details!!

Link up Monday December 5 – Sunday, December 18. Winners will be selected at random and announced on Monday, December 19.

We can’t wait to see your photos!

Don’t forget to grab the button from my sidebar and make sure you tweet with the hash tag #santapix.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Here's hoping this year's photo goes A LOT better!

Santa Photos 2011 Link Up: The Prizes!

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