Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Finding Christmas

A few days ago I posted my Kids Holiday Book Favorites list that included the book Finding Christmas by Robert Munsch.  Last night it happened to be the advent book the kids chose to unwrap, so at bedtime we enjoyed the tale of the young girl desperately searching for her Christmas presents.

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Well, today I discovered my 4 year old has been doing a little Christmas finding of his own.  I have been tucking most of their gifts up on the shelves of our closet where there is no way they can reach them.  I thought I had done a good job keeping them hidden and out of reach, but this morning I found out otherwise.

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Our conversation this morning went something like this:

“Can I see that Minion toy up in your closet?”

“Which Minion toy?  Why would I have Minion’s in my closet.”

“Yes you do!  That one behind the Olaf bag.”

Well, yes there is.  I hid it behind the bag where there was no way you could possibly see or know about it.

“What do you mean?  I don’t see anything behind the bag.”

“Yeah there is.  Just come look over here.  There is a Minion toy!  I can see it says Minion’s right there!”

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Sure enough, in the farthest corner of my closet, there it was.  The kid can’t read yet but he sure can recognize logo’s.  Luckily he can’t see what the actual toy is so it will still be a bit of a surprise, but it seems I need to work on my hiding skills.

His guess is that it is a Minion spaceship.  For those who are curious, I have gone against my better judgement and the actual purchased gift in question is this:

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I guess it is time to get busy wrapping!

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Four Legged Fun, Gift Ideas

Friday Favorites: Santa is Coming to Edmonton Book

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It amazes me how quickly stores make the switch from Halloween into full  Christmas mode.  It is hard not to feel a slight bit of panic November 1st when the Christmas decorations fill the shelves, holiday music fills the air, and you realize Christmas is just around the corner.  I hate the crowds, but I love shopping this time of year and seeing all the Christmas themed clothing, toys, decorations, housewares and books.

This year I am hoping to start a new tradition with the kids.  One of the ideas I have seen floating around the internet is to wrap a stack of books for them to open in the night’s leading up to Christmas.  Books are already part of our bedtime routine so I thought this would be a great way to bring a bit more Christmas magic and excitement into our house.  I have seen it done as a 30 day advent calendar, but I think I will shorten it and have enough books wrapped  to read for the 12 days before Christmas.

We already have a few Christmas books that I will wrap, but I stopped at Cole’s bookstore yesterday to quickly browse and see if there was anything new that caught my eye.  I was immediately drawn to a stack of books titled Santa is Coming to Ottawa by Steve Smallman.  I picked it up, disappointed it wasn’t Santa is Coming to Edmonton and then was delighted to discover that exact title hidden beneath the Ottawa edition.  As I flipped through the pages and saw the references to neighbourhoods and landmarks in our city, I knew it was a perfect Christmas book to add to our growing collection.

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The illustrations in this book are beautiful and I love that they show the familiar landmarks like the High Level Bridge, Art Gallery, Muttart Conservatory and Rexall Place.  I am not sure my kids will be quite old enough to recognize and pick them out this year, but I see them getting excited over it in the upcoming years.  My three year old has just started asking about where we live and trying to figure the world around us, so I really love the relevancy of this book.

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This book is just one of many in the series.  Other major Canadian cities that Santa is Coming to include Calgary, Vancouver, Hull, Ottawa, Toronto or just Canada.  For my American friends, there is a wide variety of titles that cover states and major cities from across the country.  And, because he is a British author, there is a vast range of English and European titles such as London, Belfast, and Scotland.

And  if these still don’t work for you?  There is simply Santa is Coming to My House.

Visit the Chapters/Indigo/Coles website to find all the Santa is Coming to titles.