Holidays 2012 - Christmas & New Years!

The holidays are always soooo exhausting! I feel like the older I get, the longer that drive to New Jersey feels.

We got left around 3am and a 12hr drive took us about 15 to 16hrs b/c of the traffic. It was nuts! We saw an accident that was pretty bad on 95N. The top of the car had to be cut off in order to get the people out. Horrible. Other than that, the ride was alright. Alexis didn't get sick and the kids didn't kill each other.. my husband was entertaining, as always. I love driving with him lol On our way home, it took us 12hrs b/c the traffic was non-existent.

A Poem for the Sandy Hook tragedy ♥

This is beautiful ♥

twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
...they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing ...of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

By: Cameo Smith

((Found on FB))

The Meaning Behind "The 12 Days of Christmas"

Curious as to where the song came from and what it means? Here ya go!

The song was composed by Catholics in England during the 16th century, who were forbidden by law to practice their Catholic faith. The only legal church in England was the state church. To teach their children basic doctrine, they used nonsense songs that would not raise the suspicions of the non-Catholics around them, but would remind the children of their faith.


On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
The first day of the Christmas celebration is counted from December 26, the day after Christmas, to January 6, the traditional day for celebrating the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus, also called the day of "Epiphany."

Santa's not Real, I'm the Devil!

I was participating in a post on Facebook and the question was about telling your children if Santa was real or not. When I was little, I believed in Santa. When I found out he wasn't real, I was heartbroken. I hated that I was lied to about it. So I made the decision to not lie to my kids.

My kids know all about the spirit of Christmas and the stories of Santa Claus. They know that there was once a man named St. Nick who gave gifts to children. They love all the Christmas movies, including the ones about Santa..they love all the Christmas songs.. They also know about some pagan traditions when it comes to Christmas and they know the beliefs of Christmas from the Christian point of view. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the Story of the birth of Jesus. My children are well rounded when it comes to this.

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World Videos

Here are a few videos from our trip:

The beginning of the Christmas parade -


Car Stunt Show -






Fantasmic Show -

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (days 4 & 5)

We then went to Animal Kingdom - where we did the Safari ride and saw "Finding Nemo, the musical". The boys and I rode on Mount Everest and braved the 85ft drop and the Yeti! (Yes, I screamed like a baby.) At Epcot, we saw all the countries of the world, ate in China and saw the CandleLight Processional..very beautiful. Our last day was spent in Downtown Disney and finishing up Magical Kingdom. In Downtown Disney we did some shopping and watched "Mission Impossible 4" at the AMC dine-in theater - it was awesome! More pics:

My next post will contain some videos from our trip =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 3)

The kids chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We saw the car stunt show with a special appearance by Lightening McQueen! We saw the parade, the lights show and went on the Tower of Terror... American Idol was cool too. There was also a show called "Fantasmic"...it was an awesome show about Mickey's Fantasia. They used sprayed water as a "screen" to play video clips off of. Loved it! Here's some pics from Hollywood Studio:

More to come =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 2)

Our first day actually on Disney was exhausting, but SO FUN!! We always do Magic Kingdom first because it is the biggest park. We ended up going back on our last day as well to finish it up.

We took the ferry across to the park... I love the ferry!! I also love the view of the castle from the ferry -

Here we met Mickey and Minnie -

More pics from Magic Kingdom -

Fun Fun Fun!!
More to come =)

Christmas Eve/Day 2011

Santa went a little overboard this year =) The boys got phones and sports stuff, cds, cologne... Alexis got a Justin B. CD and a hello kitty cd player, a princess palace, a barbie text thingie and some other junk lol... Santa brought Darrell some stuff for his car and a clock docking station for his ipod touch/i phone 4... Santa brought me elmo slippers, elmo footie pjs, elmo snuggie blanket and a snowglobe that plays "cherish" and is engraved "jamie, my wife, my best friend"... we had scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Now we're getting ready for the second part of our Christmas Vacation - a trip to New Jersey to visit family friends =)

Here is a cute pic from this morning... Daddy and Daughter dancing to Justin B..."Baby" lol

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 1)

This year we were unexpectedly blessed with some extra money. One of my dreams was always to go to Disney World at Christmas time. Thanks to my mother I was able to share my childhood dream with my kids =) Thank you mommy (RIP) for helping make this a great Christmas.

Our Disney vacation started in Kissimmie, FL. When we go to the area we always stay at the Seralago. The rooms are a decent price, there is a little arcade, a bar, a pool and other "pluses" there. The room we got was a "kids suite" so the kids had their little area and we could have some privacy =)

Down in the Lobby they had all kinds of Christmas trees. My fave was the Santa one:

Here is the kids part - it is like a little fort with bunkbeds, a tv and an xbox:

We used our first day to just relax from driving so we got some food and played miniature golf...

More to come =)

My Secret Santa and My Special Friends...

There is a group of ladies, most of whom I met in a group on myspace (a few others just came along lol), that I talk to on almost a daily basis. When I am having problems, I know I can go to them and they will coddle me when needed but also tell me to "suck it up" lol... They are always there to listen with an open heart and they are never judgmental. I love them so much =)

Anyways! We did a Secret Santa in our little group and I just got my gift tonight. Just thought I would share and give my secret santa and all my fave gals a public "Thanks! I love you!!"...

To:
Stephani - thanks so much for my gifts...I love them!
Rissa
Staci
Laura
Kristi
Renee
Kimberly
Amy Jo
Kristin
Audrey
Amy M.
April
Marla
Tonya
Jamie B.
Amanda

Christmas Treats!

During the holidays I love baking cookies and some years I make candy...this year is one of those years! I didn't make much tonight, but we did one little batch. Alexis helped me and she thought it was the coolest thing ever lol... When she was coating the mold with the red & green she said, "mom, it's like edible paint!"

Making candy is easy, but it can get time consuming and expensive, depending on how much detail you put into it and what you actually make. One year the candy melts went a little further for my money b/c I made chocolate covered pretzels instead of just candy.

I have a double broiler specifically for melting chocolate. The water goes in the bottom half and the chocolate in the top half. When it is melted I put it in the molds and tap them on the counter to get out air bubbles and to make sure the mold is filled. When only using a few chocolate melts for the decorating details I put them in a glass bowl and "nuke" them. Once the chocolate is in the molds, I put them in the freezer to harden and it makes it so much easier to pop them out..

Here are some pics...of course lol =)

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree -

Between last night and this morning, we got the tree up =) Alexis made a mess with the garland all over playing with it...so much that I didn't put it on the tree lol...

Normally we have a tree with multi-colored lights, my fave, but like a dummy in a rush, I didn't double check the box to see if it was multi or white. *Smacks head on wall* lol

Here is the tree and Alexis with the garland -

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