Holidazzle Memories - Minneapolis Christmas just is not the same.

Long ago and far away we used to have a Christmas parade in Downtown Minneapolis called Holidazzle - they now have a market they call the same, but it's not. 

Here take a look at one from 2009

Attention - This Post is from December 23, 2010 - I just love it and needed it again.

Note from 2017 Mommy Lisa, We have this Santa Photo framed so I just pulled it out decorating for Christmas and wanted to share the joy!



Yesterday I played along with Wordless Wednesday and put up this picture of my Dear Sweet Child, Boo Boo La La. 
I got lots of nice comments about how cute she is - Thank you - and I wanted to tell you how it came to be that I found myself paying for a picture with Santa Claus for the first time EVER in her life. 

You see my husband is in a union and every year they have a Christmas Party for all the kids to come and see Santa and Mrs. Claus - she sat on the SAME Santa's lap (or at least near it) every year since she was 11 months old.

The Evidence:

At 11 months

Just about Two

At almost three she didn't think she liked the big guy...

Almost four and starting to get the picture...

This year however my husband had to WORK on the day of the party...and while I would KNOW people there, including my BIL and his family, it was essentially my husband's WORK Christmas Party and who goes to their spouse's Christmas Party without their spouse? 

I thought to myself...you DO have a backup Santa.

THIS is what I call a good backup Santa!

Boo Boo's Pre-K ALWAYS has a visit from Santa!

wah wah wah

Remember what happend at Boo Boo's Pre-K Christmas Pagent?  Snow-maggedon 2010?  The blizzard of SEVENTEEN INCHES OF SNOW that took down a football stadium? 

yeah, no Santa that day either.

So what does a mama do that PROMISED her Boo Boo she could visit Santa?

She takes her to the mall on the COLDEST night in December that is possible and does it on the night they ALSO allow people to bring their pets. 

I am a genius.

But Boo Boo was soooo excited.

As we stood there in line for nearly two hours she was as patient as any four year old could possibly be...having to wait for THREE dogs to sit with Santa ahead of her...hair dirty and in a scraggly pony...not dressed up in her Christmas Best like years past...but you know what?

She chatted with Santa for the longest time.  And this Dear Santa really listened and talked with her on a whole other level than our Santa's of the past. 

And T-Bone still got to watch The Vikings at Applebee's.

You have three days to be done with Christmas Shopping!

Quick, what have you forgotten?

Last night we realized we had forgotten to have our youngest go pick out a fun gift for her brother and sister - sigh.

Are you missing something?

Did you buy a child in your home some type of electronic device?

Do you need these for YOUR sanity? Let your child enjoy his or her favorite tunes with these ReTrak Animalz over-the-ear headphones, which feature 85dB volume-limiting safety control to help protect hearing.

If you live near a Best Buy you can order them online for in-store pickup.  No, Best Buy didn't tell me to tell you this, I just find it highly convenient.  :)

But Retrak did send me* and Boo Boo La La these cool bear headphones to try out.  In fact they were kind enough to outfit her school media center with THIRTY of these great headphones - watch that story here: KSTP - 45.

Boo Boo really got excited to open them up - and they had a cool eraser inside the box.

We are pretty happy with these new headphones - Boo Boo can hear her games or videos AND she can hear me if I call her from the other room.  Boo Boo loves that the cord retracts into the headphones - NO MORE TANGLED CORD!

Plus, how cute are they?

*I got these headphones for free to try out, but the opinions are purely mine and Boo Boo's. 

Happy Shopping and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We are creative!

My Mom and I went to a glass class a few weeks ago.  I thought we were creative and crafty.

Yeah.

Glass stuff is hard and uses scary torches.

That doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for creativity!  I love taking classes OR just letting Boo Boo La La play.

Like today.

She decorated and decorated with us all day. Christmas, we are ready!

Holiday Lights 2013

Yes.

A jogger called 911 thinking we were stalking her...

Yes.

The police officer laughed.

Yes.

All photos taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4 - not paid to say that!!!  But I KNOW it worked way better than when I used my digital camera.



Oh - I did this before in 2011, 2009 and 2008 I toured you around my home.
P.S. My house looks more Christmas-y inside now that I have RED Curtains.  :)

Santa Claus is coming to town...and I found out what he is bringing too.

It has been pretty busy for me both at work, at home and with my extra-fun activities.

I can't tell you how many pricing requests I have had, contracts I have written and hours of meetings I have attended.  No really, I have no idea any more.  It.is.just.a.lot!

I took last Monday off - I was at school to meet with the team reviewing our school's IB accreditation and for parents to pickup poinsettias from the fundraiser.  But I worked the whole time due to the crunch I am under, so yeah - that was 8 hours of PTO well spent.

My director was in town - we report to someone in Boston now - and he took us out to dinner Wednesday. That was actually really nice and I enjoyed being out with him and the members of our team who could make it, there was about 6 inches of snow, so....

I went to a FUN cookie exchange on Thursday after working until 7pm. My son has been eating ALL the cookies. Yesterday I put a stop to any further consumption of the Russian Teacakes.

Friday night - a real live, grown-up, dress-up, holiday party with the other couples from our church!

Saturday? All us moms, and some dads, get up for 9:30am  Christmas Pageant Rehearsal at Church. Cuz we are JUST THAT SMART in our planning of fun!

Then off to see Santa with the in-laws:

It was a good thing we got to see Santa too - I had NO idea he was bringing a Crayola Crayon Maker!

Then Saturday Night? Oh YES. More real-live holiday fun. This time with SAILORS!

My friend Julie married a Navy guy - he has Navy buddies and they invite along my Sailor and I to the fun!  I think I almost peed my pants twice. 

Sunday - church and then ALL THE ERRANDS I had no time to do the rest of the week.  

Please do not look to closely at my floor.  I have not vacuumed in - ummmm. yeah. 

Laundry? I will get to the mountain. 

PTO tonight - Girl Scouts tomorrow night - then I give up. Oh wait, I promised Boo Boo La La we would make peppermint cocoa to give as holiday gifts to various and sundry lovely people. 

And I need to stop and pickup gifts as they arrive for my ship-to-store orders.  

What have a gotten my self into?  I remember when I actually used to blog about

1) Hot guys I would want to sit on.

2) Which scooter should I purchase?  

3) Daddy getting chased by Old St.Nick! 

4) AND SNOW!!! 

I hope your holiday season is not nearly as hectic, but just as fun!

Joy to the world, peace on Earth, and Merry Christmas! 

This? This got all the press at Christmas...

Okay - this thing is "cool" obviously.  I mean it keeps your WINE CHILLED perfectly.

However...look at it.

And it is filled with a viscose fluid.

Yes, I am ten. But, I made my BIL titter when I said "viscose fluid". 

My favorite Christmas Videos - You're Welcome!

 We love BACON!!!
 
 Last year it was WARM here in Minnesota.

 And SANTA shops at OUR COSTCO!!!

The OPPOSITE of Bad Santa Pictures

I saw way too many screaming unhappy children this week.

Here is the antidote:

Merry Christmas To All

Cheers Darlings! Merry Merry.

Not a toy did she get for Christmas at my mother's home - some craft kits and some clothes and fuzzy crocs.  But she had the BEST afternoon ever cuddled up in Grandma's big comfy bed with her cousin and their little imaginations.  

Enjoy your holiday peeps!

Are you wondering?

So - I LOVE where I work now and have for the past year.  Yes, like all workplaces there are challenges and obstacles and stupid people (duh!), but the good FAR exceeds anything else.

Exhibit A: My co-workers and I gathered in a cube this morning to giggle over this song on someone's Samsung.



Garfunkel and Oates from better thanyoufakeit on Vimeo.

Don't you want to send that out this year???

Merry Christmas Peeps!

I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates...

HELP!  

Last year Boo Boo got a new scooter from Santa and it was love.

See?
 

But as you can see since that day Santa brought the scooter it was borderline for her height.  She runs this thing all around the house and loves to take it outside to scoot anywhere.  Loves the scooter - hates to bike ride, for now.   And a wheel is also cracked.  Stupid plastic wheels.  (T-bone, Sair and J-Dogg are giggling at that line.)

So which new scooter should she get this year?  And should it be from Santa?  Then we could give her the Brave Wii Game and Jewel Encrusted Merida....

Hmmmm.

Please weigh in...I am clueless on scooters as the one she got last year was a Zulilly.com impluse buy that worked out!

And thank you for your support, I approved this message.

Source: toysrus.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

Source: toysrus.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

Source: toysrus.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

Source: toysrus.com via mommylisa on Pinterest

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus is Coming To Town - just like in ELF!

Boo Boo La La wanted me to record her singing "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" after she watched Elf for the millionth time.  ;)  We love that movie.

Merry Christmas Peeps, may you enjoy all the joy and peace of the season.

I know that you've been good.

Santa's of Christmas Past

And lo, Mama Kat Angel came from the east and said...

Write about Santa's past.

Santa, Mrs, & Boo

Which means of course I can show cute pictures of Boo Boo.

But also that I can re-hash my Santa tale from Holiday 2010.  In case you had not noticed I am not blogging a lot lately.  The first reason was I felt uninspired because I had no job, and now it's because my job is keeping me SUPER BUSY (and Kid-fu, Girl Scouts, Sunday School teaching, volunteering and kindergarten...whew!)   So here you have it - What happened LAST year:

  

Yesterday I played along with Wordless Wednesday and put up this picture of my Dear Sweet Child, Boo Boo La La. 
I got lots of nice comments about how cute she is - Thank you - and I wanted to tell you how it came to be that I found myself paying for a picture with Santa Claus for the first time EVER in her life. 

You see my husband is in a union and every year they have a Christmas Party for all the kids to come and see Santa and Mrs. Claus - she sat on the SAME Santa's lap (or at least near it) every year since she was 11 months old.

The Evidence:

At 11 months

Just about Two

At almost three she didn't think she liked the big guy...

Almost four and starting to get the picture...

This year however my husband had to WORK on the day of the party...and while I would KNOW people there, including my BIL and his family, it was essentially my husband's WORK Christmas Party and who goes to their spouse's Christmas Party without their spouse? 

I thought to myself...you DO have a backup Santa.

THIS is what I call a good backup Santa!

Boo Boo's Pre-K ALWAYS has a visit from Santa!

wah wah wah

Remember what happend at Boo Boo's Pre-K Christmas Pagent?  Snow-maggedon 2010?  The blizzard of SEVENTEEN INCHES OF SNOW that took down a football stadium? 

yeah, no Santa that day either.

So what does a mama do that PROMISED her Boo Boo she could visit Santa?

She takes her to the mall on the COLDEST night in December that is possible and does it on the night they ALSO allow people to bring their pets. 

I am a genius.

But Boo Boo was soooo excited.

As we stood there in line for nearly two hours she was as patient as any four year old could possibly be...having to wait for THREE dogs to sit with Santa ahead of her...hair dirty and in a scraggly pony...not dressed up in her Christmas Best like years past...but you know what?

She chatted with Santa for the longest time.  And this Dear Santa really listened and talked with her on a whole other level than our Santa's of the past. 

And T-Bone still got to watch The Vikings at Applebee's.

MAKE.IT.STOP.

If you need a reason to dislike Rob Lowe or Kimberly Williams...this is it.  Or CBS for that matter.

I love Christmas music...the radio is set to our all Christmas music channel from Thanksgiving to Christmas -- Pandora too -- EXCEPT when this creepy dang song comes on.

Seriously, it's not sweet.

It's creepier than Tom Cruise in a makeout scene with Nicole Kidman.

Yes, that's how I really feel. 

You may now feel the freedom to bash my opinion. 

Not Necessarily In THAT Order...

Just how many people in this photo?  It is a trick question...

Snow Bunnies

I want to rock...

Eat your heart out Giselle...

They're cousins....

New things are good.

Mama is smart after all...

Boating

Fishing

Pillaging

Nesting

Flying off from the nest...

Mugging for Mommy

Spending time together...

The answer my friend is in the bubbles...

ARGH! The last year of Pre-K!

The first year on a snowmobile for Boo Boo!

Fun Family visits - and another guess how many are in THIS photo....

Lounging on our deck...

Riding the Hog with Friends.

Being Proud

Always Goofy

And Stylish!

Roofis got older...

Mommy did too...

Hey Ma, What's for dinner???

Wild Child

Friends

Art Critic

Sculptor

Pickin' & Grinin'

Trick or Treat



Cheese



Pie!

Happy Holidays

Haaaaa!

See you round like a donut!