Our house is the one that gave up on Christmas.

It was 30 minutes later, and I was still staring at the giant wall of lights.

Nothing.

What the heck, Wal Mart? It was still weeks before Christmas. You couldn't have sold out already.

Sighing, I gave in, and approached the register.

The girl working in the Christmas department was around 20 years old. She seemed pretty normal- you know, not drooling or anything. And when I walked up, she smiled in a friendly way.

"How can I help you today?"

"I'm looking for some outdoor Christmas lights. Just the single-strand kind."

She frowned. "I've never heard of those."

"...Um, just a strand of lights? You know, the white ones?"

"Huh. Let's look at our wall."

We walked back over.

"Do you mean icicle lights?"

"No, um, just a single strand. In a straight line."

She stared at me for a second. "Yeah, I've never seen those before."

"Really? Just outdoor ones. That you can use to outline stuff."

"Oh, like rope lights! In that plastic tube stuff!"

"Um, well, similar. Only not in a tube."

"Uhm...."

"People sometimes put them on their houses? Or on a wreath?"

Nothing.

"Here. See these icicle lights? Imagine that they don't have little icicles coming off them."

"...."

"No? Ok, uh, there! Mini lights. On a 50 strand. Imagine lights just like this, only bigger."

"Ohhh! Big lights. Like these giant bulb ones."

"No. Not giant ones."

I looked around helplessly. By now, there was a crowd of people around us, all looking for the same kind of lights. I assume.

One lady jumped in. "You know, like on a Christmas tree? I just need indoor ones for mine."

The girl frowned in confusion. "No, Christmas tree lights are always green."

And then I gave up on humanity.

So if you stop by tonight, look for the house that is all kinds of festive. Lights on the house, the bushes, the trees, the porch. Lighted wreaths in every window. Three lighted deer on the front yard.

And then look next door. Because our house is the one that gave up on Christmas.





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How To End Christmas Gift Drama Before It Starts.

Hey guys, I am very excited. I interviewed one of my favorite people (my brother in law, Dave), about one of my favorite holiday products. Which happens to be free.

This might just change your life.
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Hey Dave, sorry this took so long to set up. Also, sorry my questions are so boring. Feel free to spice them up if you want!

Hmmm... spice them up. Should I sprinkle in suggestive pictures of myself after each question?

YES. Wait, no. My inlaws might read this.  

What is the Wishlist Factory?

WishlistFactory is a free website that lets you share wishlists with groups of people, such as your family, your in-laws, close friends, etc. It's great for any holiday or celebration and it makes keeping track of what gifts everyone wants easy. This can be especially helpful during Christmas, when it's hard to keep track of who wants what, and who has already bought a certain gift for someone so you don't end up buying the same thing (duplicate gifts are usually a bad thing, unless it's money). WishlistFactory keeps track of all that stuff for you.  

Why did you create it?

I originally made the website for my wife, who is very very into Christmas. You could even say it's an obsession, but you didn't hear it from me. She loved buying gifts for everyone, but this usually involved calling everyone to find out what they wanted, which resulted in answers like "Uhh... I don't know... a snuggie?". Even worse, she'd find out later that someone else already bought that person a snuggie! This made my wife unhappy, and when my wife is unhappy, guess who has to be unhappy? Me. Really I made the website for myself, but that sounds selfish, so the official answer is "to make the holidays a little easier on my wife".  

What are your favorite features?

There's a lot of features that make sharing gifts with others easier, but I particularly like being able to claim gifts, so other people know to think twice about putting their grubby mitts on a gift I'm giving someone. You can also print out shopping lists for people, so you can remember what someone wants when you go to the store. I also like being able to sort gifts by price when I'm feeling cheap. That's nice too.

Of course WishlistFactory has all those other necessary features, such as uploading pictures of gifts from your computer or the web. You can also include a link with a gift so you people know exactly where to buy it online. But these features really aren't worth mentioning.  

What is Surprise Protection?

Let's say you want someone to get some lingerie for your grandma, a spunky gal. You can add the lingerie to her wishlist and she won't be able to see that you added it. Your Grandpa checks her wishlist and excitedly buys the slinky surprise and marks it as Purchased on her wishlist. Now everyone know what she's getting, and your grandma's none the wiser. That's surprise protection.  

How about the Desire Meter?

The Desire Meter is a fun little slider bar that lets you tell everyone in your groups how badly you want a certain gift. For instance, my 16-year-old brother-in-law has 60 gifts on his wishlist. Normally, I wouldn't know what to get him, but luckily he set the desire meter to 10 out of 10 on some gifts, so I know which gifts will be a hit. Now if I can only think of a way to come up with three hundred bucks for a leather trenchcoat...

Adding a Gift

What if I find something not on Kurt's list? How do I make sure no one else buys the same thing?

You can add gifts to other people's wishlists, and they'll never be able to see the gift, even though they can add gifts to their own wishlists. Then, you can set the gift's status at any time. You have several choices from Purchased(I bought the gift), Claimed(I'm going to get the gift, don't even think about it!), Too Expensive(I'm a cheapskate), and much more. Other group members can see these statuses so they know what's up.

Some gifts, of course, shouldn't be shared, Helena. For instance, that prescription strength deodorant you were planning on getting Kurt would fall under this category. I wouldn't worry about anyone else getting that for him, except for those who hang out with you, naturally.  

What if I have multiple groups using it- my family, and Kurt's family? How does that work?

You can belong to multiple groups, so you can have one for your family, and one for your in-laws. Anyone in a group you belong to is allowed to look at your wishlists. I'm thinking about adding more options, such as Secret Wishlists that only people of your choosing can access, but I haven't implemented that yet. Once I do, I think people will feel a little more comfortable showing off gifts that they might not want their in-laws to see. You know what I'm talking about.

Yeah. I think we all do.

Thanks Dave, for sharing your masterpiece! Which you can all check out at wishlistfactory.com.

Happy Thanksgiving you guys! I hope this makes your holidays a little bit easier.






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It's like an English fox hunt. Only, with children.

Christmas trees are pretty important to my family. I remember going to the Christmas Tree farm year after year, all bundled up in our snow gear. We would spend hours looking for that perfect tree.

Well, my Mom would spend hours looking, while the rest of us ran around playing our traditional game of "Hunt Chantel Down And Push Her In The Snow."

It was similar to an English fox hunt, only it ended with Chantel in tears, and the rest of us in time-out for a week.

(I asked Chantel if she had anything to add to this memory, but all she did was glare and turn off her webcam.)

If we ever came across a particularly amazing tree, we would run up and suggest it to my mom. But she never chose any of the ones we found.

(They always look smaller before you bring them home)

Once my Mom decided, all bets were off. She had the final say.

But we didn't mind. That wasn't really why we came to the farm. Now, where did Chantel go...?

One year, we were chasing Chantel through the Christmas tree field, and suddenly she disappeared. What the heck...?

We stopped, and looked around in confusion. We had been right behind her. Where did she go??

After a few seconds, we heard a little voice call "Hey guys? I'm in the hole."

She had fallen into this giant pit, camouflaged by all the snow.

We were laughing so hard, we could barely pull her out. It was the funniest thing that had ever happened- at least, the funniest thing at the Christmas tree farm!

Even now, We still laugh about that one.

I've tried to get Chantel to recreate it, but she refuses to go with me to a Christmas tree farm. Or even a snowy field.

Weird, huh?

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I'm linking this to Chantel's carnival, Small Treasures Tuesday (which is open all week long). Because memories like these are a treasure.


.



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Now *this* is an awesome tradition.

Hi guys. I'm participating in Top Two Tuesday with the Undomestic Momma.

Today's prompt? Top Two Favorite Ornaments. Perfect.

First, let me show you our tree.

Nice, huh? And it looks much prettier in person.

(I'm kind of proud of it)

Ornament 1

On my parent's first Christmas, my Dad took about a foot off the trunk of the tree, and carved a Nativity into it as a present for my Mother (I wish I had a picture to show you).

And then when my brother Jimmy was born? My Dad took a couple of inches off the trunk, and made an ornament out of Jimmy's first Christmas tree.

A tradition was born.

My Dad made my ornament back in December of 1985. I have always loved holding it, and finding that perfect spot on my family's overcrowded tree.

And now that I'm all grown up, with a tree of my own, it's like having a little piece of home, or a snippet of my childhood hanging from those plastic branches.

Ornament 2

My Dad surprised us last Christmas, and bought us tickets out to Utah, to celebrate with my family. We went over New Years, and had a wonderful belated Christmas with my brothers and sisters. Sitting around their real-life tree, I was delighted to open this present from my Dad.

Of all the ornaments on our tree, these two mean the most to me.

I don't always notice them, but when I do, they make me smile.

Do you have any ornaments like this?


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I am also linking this to a few other Christmas parties I've found. Here are their buttons, if you want to check them out.





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What would you do if you lost your job right before Christmas? You know, hypothetically.

Let's pretend that you work for a struggling little Non Profit company. You get to be office manager.

Now let's pretend that a government grant for a lot of money, one you were depending on, doesn't come in. Even though it was promised. In writing.

And then let's say the Director comes up to you, and says "We couldn't meet payroll this month. And it's not looking good for the rest of the year. You aren't being fired. Let's call it a...furlough."

Right before Christmas.

And so that month you just worked? You did that for free.

And they only told you today.

What would you do?



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My Awesome Brother In Law (this might change your life)

Hey guys, Have you checked out my Sponsors? They are all there for a reason. BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME.

Do you see the one in the middle of the top row? Here, it looks like this:




That button leads to an awesome website, designed and run by my brother in law, Dave Hulihan (Amber's Husband).

I love it. It's called the Wishilist Factory, and it has made our birthdays and holidays SO much easier.

Here, I'll let him tell you all about it (and I'll even add more pictures, just for you guys).

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Hi, my name’s Dave, and I’m the owner and developer of WishlistFactory.com, a private wishlist website for friends and families. This website lets you create wishlists(for any event or person) that you can then share with a group of people.

A little background

I have a big family, and my wife’s family is also pretty big. As you can imagine, keeping track of what one individual person wants for their birthday or for Christmas can be a nightmare...

Growing up, I often received bizarre gifts like Volcano Documentaries, Oven Mitts, Socks, Thermometers, etc. Not bad gifts, but not always appropriate for a teenage boy. I think these were the result of people not actually knowing what I had on my wishlist.

Originally, I made this website for my wife, who loves Christmas and buys a ton of gifts for everyone. During the holiday season it can be tough to stay sane while keeping track of what people want and who has already bought a gift on someone’s wishlist. This website helps out with that.

WishlistFactory lets you create a wishlist for yourself or anyone else in your family, and you can create groups(like one for your family and one for your in-laws) of people that can then see that wishlist.

Surprise Protection is very important, the person who the wishlist is for must never know what other people are getting them!

Other people in the group can add gifts to anyone’s wishlist and change the status of the gift(if you bought the gift, you would mark the gift as Purchased and so on) so no one ever buys the same gift as someone else(which prevents awkward moments).

There’s a lot of other cool features on the website, so stop by and check them out. This is a free service, so create an account and try it out. Hopefully it will help with keeping your sanity when it comes to gift-giving.

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So here's the thing- this website has made holidays and birthdays so much easier. Especially since I moved across the country.

No more calling people over and over to say "Do you have any idea what to get this person?"

So go check it out. It's awesome.

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Candy Ornaments

Since making ornaments has become a passion of mine, I decided to include Kurt in the fun. So we made these ornaments last week for Family Home Evening. We just took some cheap holiday mints, and melted them. Instructions on how to do this are here.

We didn't have a ton of sprinkles to decorate with, so I just busted out the black paint and some dollar store pipe cleaners for the snowmen.

These trees are my favorites.

Kurt thought the wreaths were boring, so we only made a couple of those

He made me this heart. Because he is romantic like that.

The only thing I would add is the green mints took longer to melt than the red ones. We ended up with green ones that weren't melted enough (and needed hot glue), and red ones that were puddly. So I recommend doing all your green ornaments on one cookie sheet, and then your red ones later.

If you want these to last more than one year, you might want to spray your ornaments with a clear coat of paint, or some kind of varnish. I tried Mod Podging one- that did not go well. Or just leave them as they are, and make new ones next year- which is our plan. I think this will be a fun family tradition :)



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