Christmas re-cap

I'm not really good at doing re-cap posts these days. So instead of trying to recap our amazingly wonderful Christmas, I thought I would list my top 6 favorite Christmas memories from this year.

6. Winning this awesome giveaway hosted by Jen!!! It's been almost forever since I've won a giveaway. I know exactly what I'm going to get too!

5. My son asking Santa for markers.

4. Getting some ah-mazing gifts from my loved ones including reaping the benefits of my brother freelancing for Coach AND my brand spanking new iPad (and some other swoon worthy gifts to boot!!)

3. Accomplishing my mission. And for $4, plus I gained a $20 gift card to Shutterfly- winning!!! For the future- remind me that this is something that I want to do every year, so don't procrastinate.

2. Making it to Christmas with everyone alive (my family has a knack for facing tragedy in the month of December).

Why, yes my husband's Christmas stocking is being held up by a bottle of Jack Daniel's!

1. Getting my Christmas wish 2 years in  a row :)

I hope you all enjoyed/ are enjoying your holiday celebrations! We don't really do Kwanzaa but I know a lot of people who do. Also, New Year's is right around the corner. And I've got a whole new set of goals brewing for 2014.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas PJ party!

I'm way, way behind on this but I had a rough two weeks. I mean obviously- 'cause I accidentally published this last week with NO pictures. Well here' why: It seems as though the stores near me are Christmas PJ scrooges. Not one single store in a 20 miles radius had Christmas PJ's for boys. Not even Target. I don't know what gives but I've never seen anything like it. If I had known that I would have gotten some while we were visiting with our families back in New Jersey over the Thanksgiving break. So this is officially becoming a throwback Tuesday post. I'm throwing it back a whole year, ha!

I'm kind of disappointed because I have been dressing this little guy up in Santa gear since his very first Christmas back in 2011. Boy how time flies!

Actually I think I'm going to make it a mission to find this kid some Santa PJ's for Christmas Eve. Bonus points if I can find him a festive outfit for Christmas Day. Double bonus if I can find a Santa hat for our annual Candlelight service at church.

Alright guys, I'm off on a mission to get this child some festive Christmas gear this year- I can't let my streak be broken!!!

This post is being included in the Christmas Pajama Party link-up with Darci, Natasha, Ashley, Jenny, and Julie!

100 more days

I know, I know. Thanksgiving isn't even here yet... Hell, neither is Halloween! But it's one of my favorite holidays and I plan all year for it. I've already taken advantage of holiday sales from throughout the year and I've got a few presents already wrapped up and hidden :)

This year I wanted to do something a little special for my husband. He tells me I always get too stressed out over Christmas and I need to enjoy the holiday more for what it is. Now granted, he's right but I do enjoy the holiday even without all the fan-fair.

I also wanted to do a little more decorating. We'll likely be spending Christmas out of town but I know my mom wouldn't care if I turned her living and dining room into a Christmas explosion. We do lots of traditional decorating but this year I am hoping to do some things a little different.



And then there's my little guy. My hope is to take him and his cousin out on a Christmas tree farm for some Christmas fun Thanksgiving weekend. I really want a fresh holly wreath to put on our front door this year. And, I'm also thinking of giving him his own "tree" to decorate this year:

I know, I'm worse than the department stores. But I can't help it! 

C'mon there must be something you plan for way ahead of time for... let me know in the comments!

WW: good times

Merry Christmas!

S+T Monday: Christmas

1. Tell us what your favorite thing about Christmas is.
Food, fun, and family. Christmas is probably my favorite holiday!

2. Tell us what your plans are for Christmas this year.

Since we recently moved 200 miles away from our families we have a lot of rounds to make. However, our most concrete plans right now is spending Christmas Eve with my husband's family and Christmas Day with my family. I hope to make it a tradition of doing Christmas Eve-y things with hubby's fam and Christmas Day things with my fam. And then one day I hope to have everyone celebrate with us in our home!

Here's how it goes in my head. The day before Christmas Eve we will head to my sister-in-law's. We will probably get there late afternoon then have dinner, hang out and watch the Polar Express about 15 times. Then Christmas Eve morning I want to make these:

Source: cookingwithjax.com via The Mrs. on Pinterest

Doesn't that just scream Christmas?! Then I would like to head out to something holiday-ish like have pictures taken of my son, his cousin, and Santa. Or, go sledding or something... whatever is festive. Then head home and do some really cute Christmas crafts with the kids and just hang out.


3. Show us a picture of Christmas in the past. Or present.

Christmas 2009: I love my parents Christmas tree, (top right) I like to wear really festive Christmas attire. That year my shirt was a Christmas gift and I gave myself to my husband- clearly he was unimpressed, (bottom right) The tag on this read "to my sister, from fail" I think he ordered me some Uggs offline and clearly did not check the size before clicking 'buy now' we still laugh about that to this very day.

4. Do you wrap your presents all in one box, or do you like wrap each present separately?
Each present is wrapped separately! It's funner that way :)

5. Tell us about any special traditions that you or you and your family like to do.

My family has a big Christmas dinner every year. Because there is so many of us (anywhere from 11-13) we started a grab bag about 5 or so years ago. At Thanksgiving dinner we out every ones name in the bread basket (okay not really but that would be funny) and draw then on Christmas after dinner we exchange gifts. We always try to come up with new ways to reveal who we had. I remember one year laughing so hard until it hurt.

WW: Grateful

WW: Holiday Spirit

I really thought I published this yesterday.

Merry Christmas!!!

From our house to yours!

A Christmas Tradition

This is another funny tradition started by my hubby a few years back. Are you familiar with Elf Yourself? If not get on over there and get acquainted- it'll be the funniest 20 minutes you've ever spent trying to entertain yourself. My husband has been 'Elfing' people for probably about 4 years now. I clearly remember when he first did it- my entire family called each other and spent a good half hour on the phone cracking up. I wish I could share that first one with you but I never actually saved it to my computer and the web link must have expired but for your viewing pleasure- here is this year's Elf... I hope this serves to brighten your day and you hop on board the Elf train!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

What's Christmas to you?

I know I've been MIA for awhile. Things have been 'getting' to me.

Last year this time (within a week) my dad was robbed at gun point and my brother was in a car accident. I thank God every day that they are both here to tell their stories. Neither my dad nor my brother was physically injured but it was scary as all get out. It makes me even more grateful to have my family during the holidays. My mom lost her own dad a mere 4 days before Christmas in 2005 and needless to say she didn't feel much like celebrating. This makes me know that God never gives you more than you can handle...

Every year I plan my Christmas gifts with intent. Gift giving is a big deal for me. I am so grateful to have some of the best people in the world in my life and I feel like giving a good gift is the least I can do plus it shows my deepest gratitude and appreciation. Well, things don't always work out that way. The other day hubby was having a conversation with our son about what he likes about the holidays: 'getting together with family, Christmas songs, good food, etc.' But he made it a point to tell him that he isn't so thrilled about gift giving. He said people get too caught up in buying/giving/getting gifts. Surprisingly I agree. I feel so stressed out when I can't find the perfect gift... heck I even started a blog series about gifts - I can't believe how jaded I've been.

I'm sure you've must have gathered by now that I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday (only missing if I'm sick or not in town...or just had a baby), I'm involved in church functions, a member of the Usher board, I'm an ordained Elder currently serving until Jan 2012, I was in the choir in high school, and I used to be the youth group leader. So yeah Church is a huge part of my life. Even when I held jobs in retail and the medical field I made it to church (and that's a big feat considering both industries are open on Sunday's). So how have I allowed myself to get side tracked by the real reason for the season??

Quite honestly I have always been slightly annoyed with the fact that only Christian holidays have become commercialized and totally taken out of context. When was the last time your favorite store had a Hanukkah sale? How about a 24-hour Ramadan blow-out? Yea- quite frankly this is rude. And you know what else gets to me "X-mas". Really replacing 'Christ' with an 'X' *rolls eyes*. And the doggone Santa Claus debate. Right now in the parenting inter-webs there is a huge debate on whether or not their children's Christmas gifts will be from Santa or Mom and Dad "because we worked so hard to buy these gifts". People are going as far as choosing what should be from Santa because they don't want mom and dad to seem cheap and 'Why should Santa get all the credit'. Don't get me wrong I'm not judging you if this is a serious issue in your household but it makes me wonder if people even know why we exchange gifts on Christmas day. Let me guess... Saint Nicholas... *sigh*

In actuality I plan on teaching my little guy about it all. The birth of Christ, Saint Nicholas, and the commercialized version of Christmas. In fact in Higher Ed (on some campuses) there is a saying

"Happy ChristmaHanukkwanzaakus"

That makes me giggle a little every time I say it. Diversity is important to us so my little guy will have a diverse knowledge of "The Holidays". And speaking of giggling... why is Best Buy picking on Santa so much?!


Whew! Glad I have a few of 'things' off my chest.

It's makeover time!!!!

I've been jonesing for a blog holiday makeover. I actually like to switch it up every now and again. So... what do you think???

I did it myself so it's okay if you say it looks horrible. I know a few elements don't match but I'm teaching myself HTML code and I have to take it one step at a time.

So let's talk about some updates. FMTM (from mrs to mom- cause I needed to clarify that) is now social networking!!! What's a blog without social networking and an Etsy shop? Nope don't worry I'm not selling any handmade crafts cause...well... you don't want to see how that would turn out. But go on, don't be afraid- you can email me, like me, follow me, and pin my stuff. Check out my new contact me page. And then really... email me, like me, follow me, and pin my stuff... pretty please??

No, really I need at least 25 likes on facebook to get a vanity url. What's that? It would be www.facebook.com/frommrstomom- yea that instead of a bunch of random numbers. If you follow me on twitter- I will follow back but I'm still learning how to navigate the twitter thing and I'm sure most of  my tweets don't make sense. But I'm obsessed with #hashtags and will #hashtag just about anything. I'm not on pinterest that often cause I don't have time to peruse all the great things out there cause I got a baby that needs feeding and changing. But I'm sure once I'm back at work that will change (shhhh... don't tell them).

Oh! and I'm doing the instagram thing too but I haven't got the patience to be posting pictures all day long so I'll just look at yours. Search for FromMrstoMom until I figure out how to link my profile in this blog.

I added my social networking profile to the right ------> in Christmas Ornaments! How cute!!!

It took me days to figure out how to change my background paper and jazz up those stupid ornaments. I cant imagine how much more time I need to add candy canes, boughs of holly and all that jazz- but still I can't believe how far I've come in self-taught HTML.


I'm sorry that's it for now. I was so proud of myself I had to do a whole post to unveil it and now as I'm writing it I feel like it's kind of a let down. Oh well at least this little guy showed up to help put the star on top of the tree...

... I love this kid!

Wishlist Wednesday

I'm on the hunt for baby boy's first Christmas ornament.


In the past couple years I've really become interested in Christmas tree ornaments. Growing up, my mom used to decorate the tree in 'color' themes. I remember one year she did an amazing all red Christmas tree that included red and gold ornaments, candy canes, little red bows, and the tree topper was a beautiful burgundy bow. I hope I can find a picture of this to show you. While my mom's Christmas trees were very pretty- we never really used specialty ornaments. I'm not sure why- we just didn't.

While in undergrad I worked for Victoria's Secret. One year the holiday display included a HUGE Christmas tree that was filled with VS ornaments. When it was time to take the display down my manager told use the ornaments were going to go in the garbage (I think that's right- unless they sent them back to the branding department). So each of the ladies who closed the store grabbed an ornament and there began my obsession. In hindsight I wish I would have grabbed at least two. You see I was still living with my parents back then and my mom refuses to relinquish the VS ornament to me. I'm not mad about it at all as that was a part of my life when their house was my house so I think it's rightful place is with my parents tree. But it's so pretty I want one for my tree! Since then I have been trying to collect ornaments that reflect some of the important things that make me who I am. Now, I don't go over board and collect an ornament from every place I've travel, every store I shop, etc. That's what magnets are for.

One of my favorite ornaments is an two-parter (if that makes sense). The ornament is basically a pair of mittens that says 'friends' on one side and 'forever' on the other. I have one mitten and my bestie has the other... so sweet! I also have ornaments for the year hubby and I got married ('Our first Christmas'), the place where hubby and I work ( I've been there almost 4 years and he's been there almost 6), and a coca-cola ornament I won as a free gift from the Coca-Cola factory.

So now that you know the FULL back story of my recent obsession with ornaments- you'll understand why baby boy's first ornament is so important.


 I want something classic, timeless, personalized, and not cheesy.

Not Cool (I apologize if you have this ornament)

I'm leaning towards something more like

photo credit

It's clean, modern, timeless, and sleek. I also like this

photo credit

but I think this signifies more of a baby born during the Christmas season- but I still like it.

So, what do you think? Which ornament would you order? Or do you have an even better ornament suggestion. Feel free to leave any links in the comments!