Advent Calendars 2015

Its really hard to believe that tomorrow will be December, where did the year go?

Since tomorrow is December 1st I thought I would share with you all the advent calendars we are using this year.

Before I get into what physical calendars we are using this year I thought I would share with you one that on I saw on the Book Riot facebook page and its A Literary Advent Calendar and behind each day you could find a holiday poem, essay or short story and its all online. To go to A Literary Advent Calendar all you have to do is click here.

The first one is going to be one I spoke about in a earlier post today and its the Christmas Book Advent Calendar.

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The second one is my favorite 24 Days of Tea by David’s Tea. I really love the idea behind the box this year as the whole kit can be reused again for next year. I love the drawers and the little gold colored tins.

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The third one is for Michael of course and its the Lego advent calendar. He is really exited to start opening this up. He loves lego. Once our basement is complete I will have to show you a picture of his lego table. Its massive.

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The fourth one is the Starbucks one. I picked this up at Costco a few months ago and this one seems like there is a lot of different items in it. Unlike the one you actually buy in a Starbucks from what I heard.

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Finally the last one is the Lindt one. Can you tell which one is Michael’s? This will be the perfect after school one to open. Who doesn’t love a little piece of chocolate after a long day at school.

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Do you do advent calendars? If so what are your favorites?

Give Away/ Santa’s Bag Sweepstakes

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Today I am very happy to share with my readers an awesome give away. Put Me In The Story is an amazing company that offers beautiful personalized books that are reasonably priced at $29.99 US

Put Me In The Story, the #1 personalized books site in the U.S., has hundreds of personalized books and gifts for newborns, kids, and even grown-ups! With a diverse selection of personalized story books, activity books, adult coloring books, adorable plush and more, Put Me In The Story is a fantastic spot to find personalized gifts that become beloved keepsakes.

As a huge thank you to their customers, Put Me In The Story is hosting SANTA’S BAG SWEEPSTAKES, just in time for Christmas! Now through December 8, enter each day for a chance to win the grand prize in Santa’s bag of goodies.

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Santa’s Bag Grand Prize Includes:

· One $750 Visa Gift Card for your holiday shopping!

· ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (NEW personalized book)

· Our Little Deer

· Santa is Coming to My House

Enter once a day for a chance to win and receive a 30% off coupon code for entering here:

http://books.putmeinthestory.com/santas-bag-sweepstakes/

Official Rules: http://www.putmeinthestory.com/santas-bag-sweepstakes-official-rules.html

Open to US & Canada only. Must be 18 or older to enter. Sweepstakes ends 12/8/2015 at 11:59 pm CST. Winner will be contacted on or around 12/9/2015.

Christmas Book Advent Calendar 2015

photo courtsey of Pinterest.
photo courtsey of Pinterest.

For the past few years I have been seeing the Christmas Book Advent Calendar and I have always wanted to do this. Not quite sure why I haven’t since we love books and getting books.

Hopefully I will be able to make this a new tradition and honestly its never to late to start a new holiday tradition right?

The Christmas Book Advent Calendar: What is it you ask?

Basically the idea behind this is you take 24  Christmas themed books (you can do picture books, chapter books etc but mostly picture books) and you wrap them up and label them 1 through 24.

So every day you get to open one Christmas book and read it with your child. Its a great way to spend quality time with them especially with the hustle and bustle of the holiday.

Over since Michael was a baby I always managed to get a new picture book for Christmas for him so we have quite the collection happening so I am excited to dig those out so we can read them together and there will be a few new ones bought this year to reach our goal of 24 books.

Would this be something you would do?

Check back tomorrow to see what our first book is.

If We Were Having Tea….#4

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If we were having tea… I would tell you that this was one busy week and I am happy to see it finally end. It was too many things and too much running around.

If we were having tea… I would tell you that this was a crazy hockey weekend again. Michael had off ice training on Tuesday night, a game Wednesday night against our sister team and we lost 3-1 (its too bad that they felt as though they had to be so aggressive) , Friday night we had a team practice, Saturday we had another game against another city and we won 3-2 , and then this afternoon we have another game against another city and I will tell you how that game was next week.

If we were having tea… I would tell you it was parent teacher interviews at Michael’s high school and I am curious to see and speak to his teachers and hear what they had to say and they all raved about how great of a student he is and wishes they had a class full of him.

If we were having tea… I would tell you that I am digging into my Christmas books to start reading. I don’t have a lot but a few to get me into the spirit hopefully. I am finishing up one now and

If we were having tea... I would tell you that I am contemplating going to Toronto in January for the Ontario Library Association conference. The train ticket isn’t that bad but the hotel rate is killing me and its getting harder and harder to find a place near the convention center. I am shocked at the rates because its only Toronto in the winter time.

If we were having tea… I would tell you that I have bought all my baking supplies for my Christmas baking which will begin next week. I have quite a few things I want to make and I will share that on my blog in December with a weekly recipe post.

If we were having tea… I would tell you that it was great seeing you again this week and that I can’t wait until next week.

Holiday Gift Guide Day 9/ Suggestions for the Make Up Lover

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Good Morning. Today I am featuring the final way you can use the  New York Liberty Handmade Pouch.  The pouch is all hand stitched and made with 100% cotton. It measures 9.5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. Its available in New York Liberty, Paris Eiffel Tower, London Big Ben (this is the one I plan on ordering) and San Francisco Golden Gate. It retails for $11.99 US

The final way you can use this is to make it into a make up bag. Everything that I am showing actually fits into the pouch. This would be perfect for a weekend away and you want just the basics with you. This is pretty much what I use on a daily bases and it includes the Neutrogena healthy skin primer, the Maybelline perfect skin foundation, the Maybelline Healthy Skin concealer, the Rimmel brow This Way, a NYC lipstick, NYC eyeshadow compact, Essence 24 hour mascara, NYX wonder pencil and a blush. You can also throw in a few brushes to complete the kit.

The ideas are endless.

Please note that I have included affiliated links to the products on Amazon to make your shopping easier.

I just want to thank Galison/Mudpuppy/Chronicle Books for reaching out to me asking if I would be interested in partnering up with them this holiday season to show case some awesome Christmas gift ideas.

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Meme/Waiting on Wednesday.. Secret Santa Edition #4

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“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and its spotlights upcoming books that we are eagerly waiting for. I plan on including upcoming releases and books that are already released.

This is my last Waiting on Wednesday Secret Santa Edition. Hopefully this has helped out my secret santa out. I tried to include a mix of everything.

My last five books are:

  1. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
  2. Endless Knight by Kresley Cole
  3. Invisibility by Andrea Cremer
  4. The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer
  5. Life of Committee by Corey Ann Haydu

Have you read any of these books?

Holiday Gift Guide Day 8/ Suggestions for the Book Worm

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I have been told that I am the hardest person to shop for being a book lover and all but in all honesty with a little imagination you can come up with the perfect gift for a book lover in your life or the person who loves to keep track of things with this Christmas suggestion I have for you today.

As a book lover and blogger I am always making notes so I thought this would be the perfect gift for a fellow book blogger. You could also throw in a gift card to a bookstore.

The first thing you need is the a  New York Liberty Handmade Pouch to hold most of the items I am showing you . The pouch is all hand stitched and made with 100% cotton. It measures 9.5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. Its available in New York Liberty, Paris Eiffel Tower, London Big Ben (this is the one I plan on ordering) and San Francisco Golden Gate. It retails for $11.99 US.

As you can see I am carrying over my love for New York City in this holiday suggestion gift guide. You could use any city that you think the person would like.

The next thing you will need is The New York Times pen set. It includes a pen and mechanical pencil. They are a matching set. The barrel of the set includes iconic black and white photos of NYC. This retails for $24.99 and comes in a beautiful box to hold them both in. If you like the pens you can also pair this up with a really nice journal and give that as a gift.

As a book blogger I go through a lot of sticky notes so adding the New York City Taxi Shaped Cover Sticky Notes is a must. This is a die-cut cover with cute illustrations that will make  the New York City Taxi Shaped Cover Sticky Notes a cute addition to the book lovers collections. The classic yellow taxi features windows that reveal some of the adorable designs on the sticky pads, while the Big Apple skyline stands tall in the background. It measures roughly 4.44 x 6.75 inches and comes with a total of 240 stickies. There is four pads total (2 large: 2.25 x 2.3 inches / 2 flags: 2.25 x 0.65 inches). It sells for $8.99 US. Its available in Paris Scooter, London Bus, Christmas Train and San Francisco Cable Car.

You can also add a pack of The Big Apple Mini Sticky Notes. This is perfect for annotating your books or brightening up your book/agendas/journals etc  with images from New York City! There is 300 stickies in each package with 5 decorative sticky pads in two sizes. It measures 4-3/4 x 2-2/3 x 3/8″. It sells for $5.99 US. It comes in London Town, Paris, Vintage Telephone and Kate Sutton Note & Flag.

Finally the last item you can include is the New York Shaped Memo Pad. This is perfect for taking notes and slipping it into the book or for any notes you need to take. The top of the pad shows an image of a big apple, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, and iconic yellow cab. This sales for $8.99 US. Its available in Cat, Paris, Avian Friends Birdhouse, Dachshund, Mr Fox, Vintage Clock, Vintage Telephone and Travel. Its one memo pad with two shapes with a total of 250 pages.

If you were looking for stocking stuffers to give someone this would also make a great idea as well.

Please note that I have included affiliated links to the products on Amazon to make your shopping easier.

I just want to thank Galison/Mudpuppy/Chronicle Books for reaching out to me asking if I would be interested in partnering up with them this holiday season to show case some awesome Christmas gift ideas.

2015GiftGuide