Santa in the Digital Age

A week or so ago, I heard about the Santa calls being offered from Cincinnati Bell, so I arranged for Santa to call Kate that evening. It’s a pretty cute service – you go to the website, put in your child’s name and your phone number (only the greater Cincinnati/Dayton area works) and the time and date Santa should call, and voila, your kid gets a call from the big man himself.

When the phone rang that night, I asked Kate to answer it. I heard her say “Hello?? Hello??? Hello????” and then she hung up. She looked at me and said “Sammy must have called someone or something, because no one was there. All I could hear was ‘Ho, ho, ho.'” Being the genius I am, instead of just letting it go, I was like “Kate, who says ‘ho, ho, ho’??” A look of recognition came over her face… and then horror… and then she burst into tears. She was absolutely heartbroken that she hung up on Santa! It was so pitiful, and while Andy and I did our best to comfort her and convince her it was ok, she didn’t really buy it. I immediately got on the computer and arranged for Santa to call again 15 minutes later, and that time Kate let the man talk. Apparently Santa did a plug for Cincinnati Bell while he was at it, because Kate now says that he lives in northern Cincinnati.

While a phone call from Santa is cute, a video of him talking to your child is even better! Yesterday Emilie sent me a link to the Portable North Pole, where you can make a customized video of Santa. You answer a few quick questions about your child, what he or she wants for Christmas, and upload a picture, and within seconds you have a video of Santa talking to your child, and since he has all the “inside info,” his message is really specific and personal. It is so cute! I was hoping I could embed the video I made for Sammy in this post, but I don’t think there’s a way to do it. You can click here to see it though! Also, if you have teenagers, they’ll let you put them on the “Naughty” list – too funny.

Enjoy!

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Give Away a Day: Holly and Hal Moose

Today’s giveaway is from our friends at Build a Bear.

Build a Bear has a great line of seasonal furry friends – from Frosty to Alvin and the Chipmunks to Darth Vader, there’s something for everyone. Making a bear is such a fun experience for kids, so don’t forget that gift cards make great gifts too!

We are giving away two of the Christmas favorites, Holly and Hal Moose.
Holly Moose Hal Moose

Here’s how to enter to win:
1) Leave us a comment on this post telling us which of the holiday Build a Bears is your favorite.

2) Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and/or post it to your Facebook page and leave us a separate comment with your tweet URL.

3) Follow @BuildABear on Twitter and leave a separate comment saying you did so.

4) Subscribe to our feed & leave us a comment letting us know you did or already do.

Random.org will pick the winner on Monday, December 21. Good luck!

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And a Billboard full of Giant Meatballs

Yesterday was the 14-year anniversary of the day my husband asked me to be his girlfriend. (Insert *awwww* here.) So we celebrated by having a HOT DATE. To Ikea. Because we needed to get our kids a shelf for their toys for Christmas and really, we are running out of time!

But anyways, it was super-fun. We had a great time! I hadn’t been back to Ikea since Emily’s and my Ikea Adventure when it first opened. So I was ready for a night of Swedish furniture and design! And Bobby, being the wonderful husband that he is, was ready to be where I wanted to be.

When we got there we were greeted by this:

meatballs

Which I am fairly sure is the World’s Largest Picture of Meatballs. It was GIANT, and sent Bobby and me into a fit of giggles!

As soon as we entered into the big blue building, we saw what we wanted. It was literally in between the two entry doors, on a display. It was this:

expedit

The Expedit Bookcase! We wandered upstairs to where it’s actually located on display, found some bins to go with it, and then wandered around in wonder at the rest of the cool Swedish stuff on display!

As alluring as the many, many, signs we saw advertising $2.49 Swedish meatballs were, though, we passed on the cafe.

After successfully navigating the self-serve area where Bobby used his He-Man strength to put the big box o’shelf onto a flatbed cart, and then navigating the self-serve checkout, we were on our way out the door. We’d been there less than an hour and were feeling PRETTY pleased with ourselves.

Until we got about three feet into the parking lot and I realized we’d brought MY car (a sedan) instead of BOBBY’S car (a station wagon.)

Bobby and I looked at the box on our flatbed cart, looked at each other, and prayed to the lit-up giant meatballs that it would fit in the back seat of my car!! We could tell by looking that it was way too long for the trunk.

Because really, it was cold as frozen meatballs, and I did NOT want to wait there for an hour while Bobby drove 30 miles north to get his car.

Fortunately, the meatballs shone down upon us, and with lots of creative shoving on Bobby’s part, and me moving the passenger seat ALLLL the way up, it FIT! *Shew*!! My knees were in the dashboard all the way home, but it was WORTH it!

Thanks, a heap, meatballs!

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