Out with the old...in with the new...

The wrapping paper is gone. The cookies have all been eaten (or thrown away, when everyone was SO over cookies). The stockings are strewn about the floor. The laundry is taking over. The lighted deer is tipped over on his head in the yard (actually, ours has been like that for a few days...)

The party is over.

And so the new year begins. Full of new adventures and opportunities. Full of potential and promise. So many ways to make it great.

We started our morning (later than I meant to...oops) with pancakes shaped like the numbers "2009". FYI - "2"s are the absolute hardest to flip.

Last night I told the kids we were going to have 2009 pancakes for breakfast. After giggles and jokes about not being able to eat that many pancakes (ha!) Tater asked, very seriously - "How can you do that?"

To which I replied - "Because I am AMAZING!"

And without skipping a beat, he said - "No you're not."

Ouch. Puts a bit of a damper on all of the "I can do anything" vibe of the New Year. But I will rise above it. I think.

I did manage the pancakes - despite my apparent lack of amazingness. So I am game for anything!

Hope it was and will be great for you all, too!

Christmas Is Coming

One of the sure signs that Christmas is getting nearer is the appearance of the Christmas Book Box.

We have been collecting Christmas books since the kids were little and each year add at least one new one to the collection.

The box comes out after Thanksgiving and goes back into hiding on New Year's Day. In between, bedtime stories are given over almost completely to the exploits of Santa and the reindeer.

We have the classics, this AMAZING Pop-up version of The Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman...

But even more fun are the lesser known stories:The Christmas Crocodile ,
The Chicken Who Saved Christmas, How Santa Got His Job, and Olive, the Other Reindeer.

Now that the kids are getting a little older, they like more involved stories, especially if they have "extra" features. One that they have enjoyed for the past few years is Dear Santa Claus, which has actual letters from Santa in little envelopes. They fight (of course) over who gets to read which letter and who gets to hold the tiny advent calendar and "Reindeer Guidebook" while we read.

Today, after we got the box out and placed it in its place of honor by the fireplace, we went out and found the book for this year. Santa Claus is a very impressive book with lots of fold-out sections that give lots of hard-core factual information about the North Pole and the "magic portal" that leads to Santa's headquarters. We only got through about four pages tonight, but we are all set to work on it for the next few nights!

The kids spent part of the afternoon sprawled out on the floor revisiting their old favorites. They love the tradition of getting the books out each year.

This made me think of the kids that First Book is helping, who don't have collections of books to bring out each year and pore over. I can't even imagine a life without more books than we know what to do with, but I know that there are lots of kids who aren't as blessed as we are.

It is easy for you to help kids get access to books. During this holiday season, as always, 2% of any on-line orders from Stuff for Sprouts are donated to First Book. In addition, you can add extra donations to your shopping cart. While everything is on sale (40-50% off!) you could consider donating some of those savings to helping make books available to needy kids.

You could also click through on any one of those links up above. Any purchases from Amazon through a link will result in a percent of the price of the book going to First Book.

If you don't want to do any of those things, and are donating gifts for children through some other organization, consider making books part of those donations. Kids who learn to love reading can learn anything.

And that is the best gift there is!