Smart Cookie Tip Exchange #3 - $hop $mart

I love nice things - who doesn't, right. Christmas time is especially difficult because I want to get nice gifts for everyone (and myself too) but after I make a list, I'm broke.

So, here are a couple tips that may work for you:

1. Give presents to families rather than individuals. You may find it much smarter to give a present that the entire family can enjoy rather than buying 4 or 5 separate gifts for kids and parents (if you're so inclined). So maybe give your family friends a dvd pack of family movies or large basket of goodies.

2. Save for yourself while shopping for others. This is a great strategy for kids shopping. I buy most of Princess' clothes at Gymboree and for most of the month of December a member can earn Gymbucks - a program whereby every $50 spent entitles you to a certificate worth $25 which is redeemable at a specified time in January. So, I don't get any clothes for princess in November or December and buy clothes as Christmas presents for the kids on my list, and then I return in January to get stuff for princess. So, I get a savings for stuff I would have had to get anyway. (BTW, to all my personal friends, your kids are getting clothes from me AGAIN this year).

What are your shopping tips or strategy?

Smart Cookie Tip Exchange #2: Holiday Cards

Ah the Holiday Card. They mean so many different things to different people. To some they are the ultimate excuse to show off their precious families - smiling in matching sweaters - and to also show off how capable and organized they are by sending their cards out the day after Thanksgiving. To others, the Holiday Card symbolizes oppression, stress, another expense and yet another opportunity to feel like a Beta Mom for getting their cards in the mail just before New Year's. Count me in the latter category.

But this year I have it all figured out. Instead of the yearly expedition to the photography studio where we shell out too much money for photos that take way too long to process, we are headed one of 2 places: my living room or the mall. Yes, I said it. If you're on our mailing list, you can expect a happy photo of the Fergies in front of our very own tree or in the very festive Santa sleigh at the mall. Christmas backdrop? Check.

I also stumbled across a very lucrative clearance rack at Gymboree last weekend. I was able to scoop up holiday outfits for the kiddies for a steal of a price. Seasonal ensembles? Check.

Finally, Justice Ny put me on to a little known gem called the Costco Photo Center. I knew you could get your photos developed at Costco, but the discount store never came to mind when I was ordering holiday cards in past years. For $0.13 a card and turnaround time less than 1 hour, you can't beat it! Cute and Fast Card Design? Check.

Wahla! Just like that, my holiday cards will be ready to go by Sunday. An entire 11 days before Christmas. How's that for a Smart Cookie?

Do you have any tips for simplifying your holiday card process?

The Oven's Preheating!

Holiday Baking Days in the Fergie Household are underway! No, I don't have time for this! No, I don't need to be eating desserts! But it's Christmas, people! The girls and I are going to be making holiday treats every few days from now until Christmas. I'm in a Southern state of mind these days, so most of our confections are gonna be tried and true recipes from the South. First up is...Chocolate Pie! [Ok, wow there is an entire website devoted to Chocolate Pie recipes.] Next on the menu is White Chocolate Bread Pudding - a special request from Hubby. After that we're gonna tackle a Layered Caramel Cake and I can't wait. If you have any secret, scrumptious family recipes for any of these or if there's something that I absolutely must try, let me know and we'll add 'em to the list. I will make sure to post pictures of our masterpieces before they're devoured.

Stop & Think: Holiday Edition

It's funny; the students in Chatterbox's school are participating in the "Stop and Think Social Skills Program" which teaches kids interpersonal, problem-solving and conflict resolution skills (and I could think of an adult or two who could benefit from this exercise). Anyway, each week they focus on a different topic - from "listening" to "teasing" to "being brave." Stop and Think day is once a week and I dare say that I had mine on Sunday.

I carted the three kids to a children's holiday event for a group that I am a member of. The event started at 9am (on a Sunday). By the time we got to the place and parked, it was already 9:45am. So then we were rushing to make sure that the kids were able to decorate the cupcakes, color the pictures, listen to the performer, and watch the magic show before it all ended. The holiday event was supposed to be even more exciting because there were vendors selling all sorts of fun, luxurious, yummy and stylish items so that folks could do some holiday shopping. I invited my sister along for this very reason. And she did enjoy herself.

It was only by the time we got to Aisle No. 3 of the collection of shops that I realized I needed to Stop and Think. The girls were all sugared up on cupcakes and were running amuck. Touching expensive pearl bracelets on display and stabbing each other (and anyone in striking distance) with their balloon swords. L'il Buddy was not in a good mood. He didn't want to be in the stroller, he didn't want to be picked up, he didn't want to eat a snack, he didn't even want a balloon sword - nothing. The only thing he wanted to do was holler and scream and wriggle and throw. It was then, in Aisle No. 3, that I stopped and thought to myself: "Fergie, this is not keeping the holidays simple."

Why did I subject myself to a 9am event, 40 mins. away from home, without bringing along Hubby? I basically asked for trouble.

And so, I am pleased that it is not too late for me. Thanksgiving is a couple days away and I can still salvage my sanity this holiday season. In fact, I will have no choice but to relax and slow down when Hubby and I leave for our spa vacation on Thursday. Yep, that's right! Grandma is coming to town to take care of the kiddies. And clearly she already had her Stop and Think moment: the first thing she said was: "Turkey? Who wants to cook a turkey? Let's order one!"

Mama does know best.

And you know who also has her mind right? Simple Mom. She has a checklist for 12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas. Don't worry that Christmas is less than 12 weeks away - you can still jump in now at Week 5 and save yourself loads of drama and stress.

Stop. Think. Don't feel the need to trek the kids all over town for various holiday events. Order the turkey. Heck, order the pies too. It's all good.

Mission Accomplished!

Look at Oldest, he was a Wiseman in his Christmas Nativity play. Yours truly made the costume, from scratch using a pattern. Great-Grandma Jonesie had to help with the blue robe because I messed up the sleeves.

So I waited last minute to do my shopping for the kids. We drove 11 hours to Washington DC to see family, friends, and snow. So far, we are two out of three. Although it was about 20 something degrees on Monday, there is no snow. We froze our buns off site seeing the Monument, and one of the Smithsonian museums. The entire time I kept thinking of how much I love DC and how much I miss DC. Such a beautiful city.

Anyhoo, with all this traveling and site seeing, I knew that I would not be able to do my Christmas shopping until today. I pulled into the Target parking lot at 8:44 am, and by 9:30ish, I was all done. I couldn't believe it. The store was empty in a scary type of way. Scary because people aren't spending any money. When you think about how many people have been laid off, or behind in payments, it's scary. It's not just stories I'm hearing on the news either, but I personally know people that are behind in their bills and mortgage. People who I never thought would be in this position. Crazy!!

I don't want to depress anyone but I couldn't help but think about all that while I made my purchases. I was real careful not to over spend and made cautious decisions. In the past, this was not an issue.

With all that said, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!! May Santa bring you all that you wanted and don't forget to wish Baby Jesus happy birthday tomorrow!! I have a picture of a beautiful birthday cake for Baby Jesus but I forgot my cord for my camera. Until then, here is our Christmas photo.

Hugs and Kissess all!

Come On In!

Fa-la-la-la-la...

Due to technical difficulties that I won't dare bore you with, I am late in getting photos of our holiday swag up, as part of BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes, but all's well that ends well, so without further ado...Season's Greetings from the Fergie Household!

And I really wouldn't be a good hostess if I didn't offer you something to eat, so please try some of my tasty Bourbon Meatballs. I've made then for two holiday parties already this year, and they were a huge hit. Here is the recipe from Southern Living, with some of my own modifications:

Ingredients:
2 cups barbecue sauce

1/2 cup bourbon

1 cup honey

1 cup prepared dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 (32-ounce) package frozen cooked Italian-style meatballs, thawed


Preparation:
Cook first 5 ingredients in a Dutch oven over medium heat 5 minutes. Add meatballs; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes. Yields 10 to 12 appetizer servings

But save room for dessert. You must try my White Chocolate and Peppermint Cookie Brittle. It's heavenly. Which is, you know, appropriate at this particular time of year.

And now it's time to survey the decking of the halls.


Our front door wreath.

The tree. And if the star looks a tad crooked, well, it is thank you for noticing. Hubby promises to fix it for us any day now. The kids really hand a big hand in decorating the tree this year. And it's killing me.

The kitchen mistletoe.



The dining room buffet. Notice the vases filled with the pretty tree ornaments that I couldn't put on the tree because Conan-na the Barbarian, and her sidekick, the Mini-Destroyer wouldn't let them last one day on the tree.



The dining room table centerpiece. And if you have the nerve to suggest I iron the tablecloth, well you can just see yourself out. You know where the front door is - it's the one with the wreath on it.

Ahem.




One living room endtable. That's a Russ reindeer that I got at a holiday party gift exchange. He's much cuter in person.


And the other endtable with my glittery holiday tree. Are you trying to block out the toys that keep creeping in the pictures? Me too.

The mantel. You can't see it, but the stocking holders spell "PEACE."

The Kwanzaa table. "Habari Gani!"

And that's it! Despite what I just realized may come across as a very sarcastic post, I really do love our holiday decorations. Especially at night when everything is a glow. To see more holiday homes, visit BooMama and house hop away.

*Happy Holidays! *

The (Perfect) Christmas Photo

I am a perfectionist and can't leave well enough alone. I will do something as many times as needed until I think it's perfect, or as close to perfect as possible. Two weeks ago I took the annual Christmas photo of the kids to put on our holiday cards. It took about 45 minutes to get enough photos where they were all smiling, or at least looking, at the camera. It was a huge fiasco and I kept going until I was satisfied with one. After sending out a large batch I decided that the card should be a family portrait, and not just one of the kids. So this weekend I set out to try and do this all over again.



This was no easy task. I got ready almost two hours before everyone else. Then I washed and untangled daughter's hair and braided it all pretty and nice. We fought the whole time but I tried to maintain a Christmas spirit about it. Next, I convinced Oldest to get dressed in a nice shirt. Any shirt with buttons is considered a church shirt and he's not into it. Last, I dressed youngest in cute jeans, white shirt, and a Christmas colored tie. He discovered how fun taking the tie off was so keeping it on was a fiasco itself. Meanwhile, Hubby was still on the couch shouting at the TV. I convince him to get ready so that he can participate in a memorable picture with his beautiful family (not exactly how I put it but after several failed attempts at the nice way, I resorted to more "assertive language").


After setting the camera up on the "adjustable tripod" (baby highchair with adjustable height), we were all ready.




Here are my first practice pictures. Doesn't Oldest look so handsome! Never mind that he hadn't put his shoes on yet. He was such a good sport.






I wanted a few with just the just kids and this one represents most of those photos. Oldest is the only one smiling and looking, while Daughter intentionally does not look. For each photo, she intentionally tried to scoot her way out of it, just to drive me crazy. She was still holding a grudge about having her hair done. This was about our 15th picture.


















More practice photos, just wanted to make sure that we had the right height. Hubby was just having a blast.

Finally, the perfect picture! Oops, we're missing someone. We almost didn't catch it. Daughter of course, she slowly wiggled her way out of the photo, again.

I ultimately went with the photo on the left. I was not satisfied at first because Oldest had his eyes half closed and was chewing a piece of candy. But Youngest and Hubby were done with the entire process. But after looking at the picture though, I thought it was perfect. It makes me laugh. Daughter has a sneaky smirk, Youngest is jamming the 10th piece of candy I had given him to try and keep him still, Hubby was seething under his breath because he was missing the game, and I'm just praying that we are looking. Perfect!

Tis the Season

This is usually my favorite time of year. Last night, in the spirit of the season, I took the kids to a tree lighting ceremony. There were lots of carols, Gospel music (for a second we thought they were going to pass the collection plate) free giveaways (like Starbucks coffee and undies from Aerie), and an appearance by a former American Idol contestant. The event ended with a huge fireworks show and was just really nice.

But somehow, the whole thing put the pressure on and made me more anxious than anything. I started thinking of all the shopping I had to get done, the Christmas cards I have to order (and the picture to take), the winter clothes I need to sort out (the weather has finally cooled down and of course, the kids fit into nothing), the new clothes I need to buy, so on and so forth. To make it worse, my in-laws, whom we always spend Thanksgiving with, have decided they want to travel for Thanksgiving. And now they are talking about flying somewhere, hoping we'll follow. Flying all of us anywhere will blow the entire holiday budget so that's not going to happen. Basically, I'll be cooking. Not that I don't like cooking, but my mother-in-law is such a great cook and her down-home favorites do not compare to anything I'm capable of doing. Sweet potato souffle, real creamed corn, a fried turkey, the works! Who's going to make all of that?

My shoulders are all tense just thinking about the holidays. It's so not like me. I'm going to have to get back into the spirit of things. And to make things more manageable, I'm going to adhere to MamaLaw #2. I already have some holiday to-do lists and I will stay on top things. After all, there is still plenty of time.