Tag Archives: Christmas

Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide!

If you’re like me, you’ve waited until the absolute last-minute to get your gift list together for the Christmas Holiday. I do it every year, and I don’t know if I’ll ever learn to be proactive and do it earlier.

So what I’ve done is found some really cool gift ideas that are a bit outside of the norm, and only one requires actual gift wrap. Cheers and happy shopping!

Caffeine Crawl 2015 Tickets

The Caffeine Crawl takes place January 23-24 2015, and showcases 16 different coffee houses in San Diego. Tickets range from $23-30 per route, but it looks like you get some goodies along with your tickets. This is a great gift for the coffee lover in your life!

Tickets include an event packet with Crawl goodies and souvenirs, admittance to all stops on your selected route which includes a drink or chocolate sample provided and determined by each shop, and short, educational presentation.

Afternoon Tea at Mary’s English Kitchen

I had such a wonderful time during my own afternoon tea experience at Harrods (original post here), so I have been looking for another experience to match it. When Katie from the blog La Jolla Mom mentioned Mary’s English Kitchen in La Jolla, I thought about getting that as a gift for me and my girlfriends as a great afternoon out. If you want to do the same, you can call them at (858) 263-4614 to inquire about gift certificates or to make a reservation.

(Photo courtesy of Yelp!)

ClassPass Gift Cards

Recently, I was able to take part in a month membership to ClassPass (post here), where one month’s membership gets you unlimited access to participating exercise studios in the San Diego area. If you have someone in your life who would like to do the same, gift cards are available for one class, a one month membership or three-month membership. Click on the link for details! ClassPass Gifting

Duty Free City Gift Certificates

After I won my Furla bag from Duty Free City and attended their grand opening (posts here and here), I truly feel it’s a wonderful place to spend a day with family or friends because it’s not just about the shopping, but the experience. Gift certificates are available to give that experience to someone you love by calling (619) 621-2600.

The Sand Cloud Beach Towel

Finally, the only gift in my little gift guide that may need actual wrapping paper: The Sand Cloud beach towel. When I first posted about this fantastic little beach blanket/towel (post here), it was merely a start-up. Now they have a full-blown shop where you can purchase one for $32.50 and they come in six cool colors. I have two of them myself: one in Ocean Blue and the Mint Green one pictured above. Stay tuned…I may have a surprise in the new year for you regarding Sand Cloud!

See Santa by Appointment at The Simon Photo Experience at Fashion Valley!

Over the weekend, my hubby and I took Dominic to the Fashion Valley Mall to have lunch, make a stop at the Lego store (we always go there first), and to take in the sites of the season. It’s that time of year when places like Fashion Valley Mall are completely decked out in their holiday finest and seeing such gorgeous seasonal décor makes for a lovely shopping experience. There’s so much to look at and I know Dominic loves it as much as we do.

As we made our way to have Dominic’s traditional Christmas photo taken with Santa, we found the line had grown! I guess we took a little too long enjoying the walk around the mall. Thank goodness there is a new feature at the Simon® Santa Photo Experience where you can now make an appointment and avoid the line. Click on http://simon.noerrsanta.com, and you can reserve your magical moment with St. Nick (I set our new appointment for Dominic for this coming Saturday)! I’ll be sure to post our boy’s picture with Santa later this month.

Check out another fun feature through Noerr Programs:

The Noerr Programs, providers of the Simon Santa Photo Experience, will be sharing the heart of Santa online this holiday season through “BeMerrySanta®”, where families can keep up with Santa’s daily musings on his Facebook page at facebook.com/BeMerrySanta, on Twitter @BeMerrySanta or Instagram at BeMerrySanta. Parents can also share their child’s good deed with Santa by going to his Magical Badge Generator at simon.bemerrysanta.com. After their child creates their badge, they can show Santa on a mobile device or print out their child’s customized badge. He will merrily reward each child for their kind act with a very special chocolate treat from Lindt, while supplies last.

Want to make a date with Santa for your little one? Here are the remaining dates and times for Santa’s appearances at Fashion Valley. Keep in mind, Santa does take occasional breaks throughout his stay:

12/10/2014, 10:00am – 8:30pm

12/11/2014, 10:00am – 8:30pm

12/12/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/13/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/14/2014, 11:00am – 8:00pm

12/15/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/16/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/17/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/18/2014, 10:00am – 9:00pm

12/19/2014, 9:00am – 9:00pm

12/20/2014, 9:00am – 9:00pm

12/21/2014, 9:00 – 8:00pm

12/22/2014, 9:00am – 9:00pm

12/23/2014, 9:00am – 9:00pm

12/24/2014, 8:00am – 6:00pm

For your shopping convenience, here are the special holiday hours for Fashion Valley:

12/08 – 12/13/2014: 10am – 10pm (Holiday Hours)

12/14/2014: 11am – 8pm (Holiday Hours)

12/15 – 12/23/2014: 8am – 10pm (Holiday Hours)

12/24/2014: 8am – 6pm (Christmas Eve)

12/25/2014: Closed (Christmas Day)

12/26/2014: 8am – 9pm (Holiday Hours)

12/31/2014: 10am – 6pm (New Year’s Eve)

FTC Disclosure: I received a gift card as a courtesy to enjoy the Simon® Santa Photo Experience, but not as compensation for this post. Although I did receive a gift card, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

Give Thanks, With a Grateful Heart

The holiday season is always a wonderful time to give thanks for all the blessings you have. I’m thankful every waking moment for a wonderful and loving family, from my immediate nuclear family to my extended family of friends and relatives, and also to my blogging and social media friends. I’m blessed to be gainfully employed, which I wasn’t last year at this time. I’m also blessed for myself and my family to be relatively healthy (although we do have history of diabetes and asthma).

Heather Von St. James is a mesothelioma cancer survivor, who was originally given only 15 months to live prior to her treatment. She is now an 8 year survivor and has asked me and other bloggers to think about what we are thankful for, and to share her story to spread hope and awareness for others who are going through the same thing. You can read her amazing story here. Thank you Heather for reaching out to me, and I would like to wish you, your family, and everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Smile for Santa!

Each Christmas season, we take Dominic for his annual photo with Santa Claus. This year, we decided to try out the Simon® Santa Photo Experience at Fashion Valley. From the crowd gathered outside of Santa’s quarters, it seems to be quite the popular photo spot! Although there was a bit of a wait, the results were well worth it. My favorite is where Santa’s helpers directed Dominic to have a chat with Santa, which ended up being an Iron Man wish list.

Below you’ll find the remaining dates and hours of Santa’s stay at Fashion Valley, before he takes flight on Christmas Day:

12/13/13 Friday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/14/13 Saturday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/15/13 Sunday 11:00 AM 8:00 PM
12/16/13 Monday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/17/13 Tuesday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/18/13 Wednesday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/19/13 Thursday 10:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/20/13 Friday 9:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/21/13 Saturday 9:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/22/13 Sunday 9:00 AM 8:00 PM
12/23/13 Monday 9:00 AM 9:00 PM
12/24/13 Tuesday 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

(Santa typically breaks from 1-1:45pm and 4-4:45pm daily. Hours and break times are subject to change.)

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like the Holidays!

It’s that time of year where my family travels to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with our in-laws. We will be en route as this posts, so here are a few pictures from when the boys and I attended the tree lighting at Fashion Valley last Saturday to kick off this holiday season.

Wishing you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving, cheers!

Dominic digging his holiday hat!

Images of Christmas 2012

DSC00045 (2) (1280x1279) I can’t believe that Christmas has already come and gone! Christmas Eve was celebrated at our house this year, which meant a lot of baking, cooking and preparing the house to receive dozens of our relatives. My husband played Santa this year, and Dominic asked why. Deon’s explanation was a very good one: Santa asks parents to help him because he gets so busy during Christmas Eve with all of the deliveries he must make before the morning. After the party and the clean up Dominic and I prepared milk and cookies for Santa’s arrival. He woke to find all of his wishes were answered: a train, a helicopter, and a Lightning McQueen Hawk. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well, and here’s to a happy and healthy 2013!

Eggnog Cookies (recipe here) and Bibingka (made by my mom)

Mini-pies and mini-cupcakes

What do you think: Facebooking or Tweeting?

Deon – I mean Santa – getting ready to give out gifts to good boys and girls!

Everyone patiently waiting for their turns…sort of!

I think Dominic got what he wanted

My sister and her family

My cousin’s husband, Absame and their son, Makai

The next morning, Santa brought over everthing that Dominic asked for!

Deon and Dominic flying his new helicopter. I think daddy loves it just as much as Dominic!

Reflections of This Christmas

This has been a difficult month for so many out there who have lost, especially those in Newtown, CT. When I think about those families and the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I hold my boy a little more tightly than I ever have before. They are all in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and remember to enjoy these precious moments with all of your loved ones.

Holiday How To: Pine Cone Christmas Tree

Pine Cone Christmas Tree by Mei-Lin Jiao

My niece brought this pine cone Christmas tree project when I picked her up from school recently, and I thought it was completely adorable! I remember a time a few years ago during the holidays, when I first moved out of my house right after college. I came home to visit my parents and was greeted by the smell of pine. As I entered the kitchen, I saw dozens and dozens of pine cones. As I made my way towards the family room, the amount of pine cones multiplied. My mom decorated those pine cones with glitter and hung them up everywhere: on the Christmas tree, on the garland on the walls and doorways, in bowls and vases. In addition to those sparkling conifer cones, I think my mom could have added an array of these pine cone Christmas trees. With just a few more days before Christmas, I included the instructions for this festive and easy DIY. Have a great weekend!

Pine Cone Christmas Trees

By Jane Lake

Turn pine cones into pretty miniature Christmas trees with three easy steps in this free Christmas craft project.

Craft Supplies for One Ornament:

fully opened, dried pine cone
assorted beads, small silk flowers or other small embellishments
soda bottle cap or metal bottle cap
green acrylic craft paint and a paint brush, or green spray paint
craft glue
tweezers
optional: glitter or glitter glue

Project Instructions:

1. Paint the pine cone completely green. If desired, you can add sparkle by dusting the pine cone with glitter while the paint is still wet. Alternatively, wait until the paint is dry, then randomly add glitter glue to the tips of the pine cone.

2. Glue the bottle cap to the bottom of the pine cone.

3. To add beads, small silk flowers or other Christmas embellishments, use tweezers to dip each piece into a small puddle of craft glue, then into a space on the pine cone. Make sure that you push each bead or embellishments firmly into place.

(From AllFreeCrafts.com)

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish you all out there a very Merry Christmas this weekend. We will be celebrating again with my family locally in San Diego, with the festivities starting on Christmas Eve, ending with ringing in Christmas at midnight with Santa giving gifts to all of the kids, our beautiful boy included (Dominic actually smiled for his annual Santa picture this year). I hope you have a wonderful, safe and blessed holiday!

Weekend in Pictures: Our Christmas Holiday

We had our traditional Christmas Eve get-together on Friday night which went into Saturday’s wee hours. It was a potluck, and I made “Pumpkin Pasties” served with Cool Whip (I will put up the recipe tomorrow); my mom brought a baked ham; and my sister made amazing chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies (baked with Splenda).

Every year, one of us dresses up as Santa and distributes the gifts at midnight. Until then, we had plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. My cousin has a great little entertainment “nook” where he has reclining theater chairs where one can either watch TV, DVD’s or play video games. In the garage was a poker game and this year, my cousin added a Bingo game with prizes brought in by married couples.

For a long time it was my father who did the dressing up. When he passed away, we all took turns being Santa. I had my turn last year, which really confused my son. This year, it was my cousin-in-law, Robert. Once it hit midnight, Santa came down and the kids all went crazy because they knew it was time for the gifts! I love the picture of my husband and son sitting on Santa’s lap. I was amazed at Dominic’s ability to stay up late and keep up with the older kids. One of the last pictures of the night was of my great-aunt holding my son.

We arrived home around 3am, only to wake up by 8am so that Dominic could open up all his gifts. I’m always thankful that we can have a relaxed Christmas because all of the activities take place Christmas Eve. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!