The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 18

[mommykds]

Hi Anne Marie!

I'm slowly catching up. I guess with 7 of us at Disney, there wasn't as much chatting as normal because I only have 50 pages to catch up on from being gone 5 days.

Yes, it had been..everyone is either at Disney or so busy shopping & decorating!

 

[UP Disney]

I read that alot on the boards too..that the gifts from Santa were unwrapped. I always had mine wrapped as a kid from Santa so that is what I do...everything is wrapped & Santa's gifts have special Santa paper that the kids have never seen before..but thats just what I was brought up on..I see some people don't wrap from Santa (which is a heck of alot easier!!!! )

We do the same thing. The Santa gift is also at the back of all the other presents so it is the last to open. I don't want them to lose the excitement of all the smaller gifts by seeing the best one first. They only get one present from Santa (unless there are accessories to go along with it). The wrapping paper is only used for the Santa gift and Santa has different handwriting on his packages. He always leaves a note by the cookies as well since my kids wanted to leave a note for him with his cookies & milk. It's a good thing that I can write with my left hand when necessary!

 

[UP Disney]

Riley lost another tooth last night. He showed me that it was loose & went in the bathroom. He came out with the tooth in his hand. I told him to put it in a baggie & not forget to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. His reply "mom don't wake me up when you get under my pillow to take my tooth & leave money"


I know they don't believe anymore, but it would be nice if they could pretend for my sake

I always made comments like Santa (fill in with Tooth fairy, Easter Bunny, etc.) doesn't come for anyone that doesn't at least pretend to believe. It worked for me. They still either believe or pretend to believe to keep the magic alive for me!

 

[mommykds]

Tammi,
Beautiful tree! That was the location Alyssa wanted???? Very nice.

Bernadette,
Those stocking are great..wish I was that crafty!

Becky,
Wow you must have had great seats at Radio City..we saw the show last year but we were way back. Nice shots.

Deb,
Hi, have a great day!

Jen,
Hi!!!!!!!

Speaking of wrapping..I haven't had any time to wrap the kids gifts yet. I was going to do it last night but Katie's been up late with her homework.

 

[UP Disney]

I hate those darn google ads at the top & bottom of the screen. However, I thought it was funny on the pages that you were talking about the Panthers and where they were from, one of the ads was for "Carolina Panthers tattoos". I guess if you have a question, you can post it on this thread and you'll get an add that will help answer the question.

 

[UP Disney]

I believe the wedding was to be here if the weather is nice:

Too bad there isn't a live webcam!

Yes, that was the location!

 

[babytrees]

Good Morning all!!

Welcome back Vicki!!

At our house Santa wraps in his own special paper...that mom gets the rest of in her stocking.

Enabler alert!!!!!

I went on disney shopping this morning to find something for Santa to give Cassidy and they are having a lot of discounts....best one (for me at least) was 42% off clothing!!! Cassidy will be getting a hooded velour jacket and long sleeve tee. She's going to be surprised!!

 

[UP Disney]

I'd love to! I have several versions tell me which you want:

Peach French Toast
Toffee Apple French Toast
Strawberry Banana French Toast

It's become a tradition for our Christmas breakfast! Alan likes to have a large breakfast on Christmas morning, but I was always tired after a LONG Christmas eve. So, now, I make the french toast the night before, then in the morning I put it in the oven, scramble some eggs, make some caramelized bacon, and make fresh orange juice. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll put together a fruit salad the night before and let it sit in the fridge. It makes for a yummy breakfast that I don't have to slave over!


Let me know which you want, and I'll get the recipe for you. It will have to be tomorrow, as Alan wants the computer.

That sounds like an absolutely yummy breakfast. Chuck makes us waffles on Christmas morning. That has been a tradition for us for at least 10 years. The girls and I love it.

 

[my3princes]

I read that alot on the boards too..that the gifts from Santa were unwrapped. I always had mine wrapped as a kid from Santa so that is what I do...everything is wrapped & Santa's gifts have special Santa paper that the kids have never seen before..but thats just what I was brought up on..I see some people don't wrap from Santa (which is a heck of alot easier!!!! )

Sometimes Santa wraps with special paper, sometimes the gifts are out and set up. The kids don't seem to care one way or the other

 

[my3princes]

I'm running late, gotta get Colby to school now. At least the awards are done!!

Welcome back Vicki

Later

 

[Glynis]

Also just wanted to share a news story from this morning...Hopefully it will make sense!
Our local grocery store sells gift cards to many other stores in the area - like Old Navy, Best Buy, Target etc...Thiefs are writing down the gift card numbers from these cards - then putting them back on the selves so they can be sold...meaning you buy a gift card for someone for Christmas - but a thief has the account number...they can then "check the balance" and buy something from that online store...leaving you with a gift card with a zero balance. PLEASE take cards from the back of a display - or from behind a customer service center where no one has access to the cards. Keep a receipt with the gift card - and give it to the recipent too so they have record if something was to happen to the $ on the card. There was also a news article I was reading about a store employee from Best Buy that was swapping out gift cards with an invalid one right at check out...so if you buy a gift card direct from the retailer - have them recheck the balance before you leave. FYI! It's amazing what thiefs can come up with!

Holy Cow!!! Thanks for this information. It's scary how dishonest people are becoming! I'll pass this along.

 

[Tammi67]

Hi!

I'm trying really hard to be as productive as possible, so I'm not a crabby, stressed-out mommy by the time Christmas gets here. Last year, my morning sickness was awful (how are you feeling Robyn?), and I didn't feel like doing much. This year, I'm concentrating on the things I really enjoy doing.

I'm sorry I don't address everyone individually anymore. I just can't keep up. I have really enjoyed all the pictures posted lately. From Christmas trees and children with Santa to new babies (congratulations Grandma Ellen!) and cute animals, we are a talented and blessed bunch!

I hope you all have a great day (and a great week, since I only post every few days! ).

Amy

Hi Amy. Great pictures of the kiddos. You have a good Santa too!

Santa wraps at our house. But I have another question along those lines? How many of your kids get presents from both Santa and you? All of my kids' presents come from Santa. I don't know why, other than that's how my parents did it. For those of you that give your kids presents as well, how do you determine which are from you and which are from Santa?

 

[Glynis]

Hi!

I'm trying really hard to be as productive as possible, so I'm not a crabby, stressed-out mommy by the time Christmas gets here. Last year, my morning sickness was awful (how are you feeling Robyn?), and I didn't feel like doing much. This year, I'm concentrating on the things I really enjoy doing.

I'm sorry I don't address everyone individually anymore. I just can't keep up. I have really enjoyed all the pictures posted lately. From Christmas trees and children with Santa to new babies (congratulations Grandma Ellen!) and cute animals, we are a talented and blessed bunch!

I hope you all have a great day (and a great week, since I only post every few days! ).

Amy

Hi Amy!

Isn't it amazing how much less time you have with 2 children? Trust me, though, it does get better. Have you done your cookie baking, yet? How's the new counter space working out for that?

 

[Tammi67]

I'm back!!!!!


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YAY!!!!

 

[Glynis]

Bernadette raised my curiosity with her comment that Santa doesn't wrap presents at her house. Does anyone else do this? We have two trees, and I was thinking that we'd put wrapped presents from Mommy and Daddy under our traditional tree (in the living room) and an unwrapped Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and accessories from Santa under our Disney tree in our family room.

We have two trees this year for the first time. We put one in the family room downstairs by the fireplace, and my new Disney tree is in the upstairs living room. We're going to encourage Santa to leave his presents and the stockings by the downstairs tree (unwrapped) so he doesn't have to trudge upstairs to the other tree. Family gifts are wrapped under the Disney tree. It gives me the added bonus of being able to keep an eye on the wrapped gifts to make sure no one is getting into them.

Also, on Christmas Eve, my kids all sleep together in one room, and it is upstairs, so Santa can have free reign downstairs without waking any of the little ones. It's a win-win situation for us this year.

 

[UP Disney]

Okay this morning it is around 18-20 degrees. DS18 told me his heater in his car does not work.

My dryer want dry my clothes and don't have money to fix it right now.

I am behind in my work. BUT I HAVE WORK and that is a good thing.

We don't have the money to buy a christmas tree and the one we had broke.

It sure is a funny thing this MONEY business kind of like men You can't live with it and you can't live without it.

and the biggest thing:

DS6 who we have custody of asked me who his real dad is. When he was 4 months old his dad, my brother, was killed in a car accident. I started babysitting him while his mom worked afer that. Finally things in her life got so out of hand (men, drugs, etc) that I asked her for custody and she let me have him. She comes to see him about every 2-6 weeks. Never a set time just whenever she remembers she has a child. What gets me is he ADORES her.

Well he has been saying things lately about me not being his real mom. (He calls me mom and his real mom by her first name.) We have both explained to him that she had some things going on in her life and it was best for him to live with me and he seemed okay with that. BUT now he wants to know who his real dad it.

We did not intentionally not tell him about my brother but he started calling DH dad and we just never really knew how to deal with it so we thought when he got old enough we would sit him down and explain it. By old enough I was thinking in his teens. NOT.

He asked me on the way to school if his real moms latest man friend was his real dad since she was his real mom. SO TONIGHT we will have a talk with him. I sure hope he can understand this and deal with it okay. My heart just breaks for him because his real mom, although she loves him, she does not want the responsibility and it is already hurting him that she gave him away.

If you all have any advise on how to handle this just post away.

Well that is my update. Hope everyone has a great week.

I think it helps that she loves him. All you can do is keep letting him know that she wants what is best for him and that is to leave with a "family". My cousin adopted two children. The oldest was pretty much abandoned - the couple were putting him up for adoption but didn't sign the paperwork. They had to be threatened with child abandonment to sign the paperwork to make it legal. They didn't want any contact. It was an open adoption, so they could have communicated through the agency. At the time, my cousin thought that was great. Then they adopted their second. They met the mother before their daughter was born, got to the hospital shortly after she was born, and have contact through the agency as she has grown up. When she was 16, she met her birth mother. When she was younger, my cousin was worried about the contact. Now she sees that the one that knew about her mother & father is the one that is more adjusted about being adopted. She knows that it wasn't that she wasn't wanted but just that she wasn't the best person to take care of her.

My point is that I think it is best that you fill him in on his birth dad and everything you can. Remind him that his birth mother loves him but just couldn't take care of him. Let him know that his birth father loved him. So he has 4 parents that love him: his birth mom & dad, and you & your DH.

 

[Tammi67]

Tammi thanks for the phone call! Becky left it on the answering machine for me to hear! As I posted earlier, we made it with no problems. I'm catching up first and then will start a trip report and post some pictures.

I was worried about everyone travelling from the Midwest area. Glad everything worked out A-ok!

 

[Glynis]

I'm back!!!!!
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Hooray!!! Vicki's back!!!! Did you have a marvelous time?

 

[Tammi67]

I'm sure you all know by now that Kristine took an earlier flight and got out before the airport was closed. It was fantastic meeting her & her family. Wow, do she & Bill look awesome! She looks skinnier in person than in the pictures. Bill had to show me his belly and it is quite flat!

Yes, I called her too!

So Bill is just as crazy as Kristine??!

 

[Tammi67]

Tammi,
Beautiful tree! That was the location Alyssa wanted???? Very nice.

Yes it was. Thanks!