A Jazzy Christmas Playlist

This post is by special request from Aiden's Dad, code name Blizzard, and for anyone else who is looking for some groovy tunes for today's festivities...

A Jazzy Christmas Playlist
1. Merry Christmas Baby - Lou Rawls -Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails
2. Let it Snow - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
3. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
4. Sleigh Ride - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
5. Frosty the Snowman - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
6. Jingle Bells - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
7. Winter Wonderland - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
8. White Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
10. Angels We Have Heard on High - Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas
11. That's What I Want for Christmas - Count Basie and Lena Horne - Blues Christmas
12. Jingle Bells - Count Basie and Lena Horne - Blues Christmas
13. Winter Wonderland - Peggy Lee - Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails
14. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Jackie Gleason - Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails
15. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
16. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Dean Martin - Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails

Happy listening and Happy Christmas!
Creatively and Christmas-ly yours,
Maya, code name Mistletoe :)

A Thank You Letter to Santa

This morning Aiden, Aiden's Dad and I watched part of the Phineas and Ferb Christmas Special. In this special Phin and Ferb decided to make a rest stop for Santa as a thank you present. Phineas and Ferb also asked their friends if they had ever written a thank you letter to Santa, to which their friends replied with a sheepish no. So I ask you, why don't we do that? And why don't we make this part of our Christmas traditions? If we want our little people to grow up to be thoughtful, caring citizens of the world I think we should encourage our little ones to do this...I will definitely be doing this with Aiden. And to get the ball rolling, here is my thank you letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,
I know you are extremely busy today with all the present delivering and the cookie and milk eating, but I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for everything that you have given me this past year.

BEST GIFTS EVER!!!

Thank you for my beautiful, sweet, lovely, smart, thoughtful little guy (he is the only gift I will ever need) and for my equally beautiful, sweet, smart, thoughtful bigger guy (again, I don't need anymore gifts than these two!). And thank you for arranging things so that I can stay at home with my aforementioned little guy. I am truly blessed that I have the opportunity to watch him explore the world and go on amazingly fun adventures with him every day.

Thank you for my family and my friends. They are a wonderful group of people and I am so very lucky to have them in my life.

And thank you for the gifts that I'll be opening tomorrow. I'm sure I will be very pleasantly surprised!

I wish you the absolute best for your travels today. Please give my regards to Mrs. Claus, all the Elves and the reindeer crew who make it all possible.

Happy travels,
Creatively yours,
Maya :)

For The Love of Christmas Movies: Disney Prep and Landing

For me, Christmas and movies go hand in hand. Perhaps it's because when I was young we went to Wales every year to visit my Aunt and Uncle and I remember watching classic musicals (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) with my uncle. And what's Christmas Eve without a little bit of "It's a Wonderful Life"?

Now that I have a little person I intend to pass this love of Christmas movies on to him. And in terms of family friendly movies my list of favorites is short and sweet : A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Garfield Christmas Special and Home Alone This year I am happy to say that I have a new addition to my list: Disney Prep and Landing.

Disney Prep and Landing gives us a unique, behind the scenes look at Christmas Eve from the perspective of a special ops Elf, Wayne, who is part of the Prep and Landing crew. When Wayne is passed over for a promotion, which was given instead to his partner, he is assigned a new partner, Lanny, an idealistic, straight out of the academy rookie. Wayne is supposed to take Lanny under his wing during their first mission together but instead, because of his disgruntled attitude, he lets Lanny go solo while he sits back, has a ginormous cup of hot chocolate and eats a Santa cookie. Trouble ensues when the kid in the house wakes up and a snow storm subsequently forces Santa to divert from the house. This forces Wayne to reevaluate his attitude, and come up with a plan to save the night.

And why is this one on my favorite's list? Well, first of all, it captured Aiden's attention for the full 22 minutes (as you'll recall if you've read my posts Aiden is not really the sit-down,-for-more-than-five-minutes-let-alone-a-full-movie type of kid). Second, the spy gear was awesome, and what's not to love about neat spy gadgets (yes, I do have my gadget geek moments). Third, the idea of telling a story from a special ops elf, and a disgruntled one at that, is brilliantly creative. And finally, I love the teachable moment of the story: It's ok to be on the naughty list once in awhile but what matters the most is what you do in the end to make up for your mistakes.

Check it out:

Oh, the sequel is pretty darn great too by the way!

Happy movie watching,
Creatively yours,
Maya

Choose Your Own Activity Advent Calendars

Alright, so I know it's way past the point of creating advent calendars but this brilliant idea, via Dawn McManus, floated into my inbox yesterday and I felt I had to share it with you.

Choose Your Own Activity Advent Calendar
Materials
Poster board
Construction paper
Glue
Sticky tack
Markers
Various art supplies

Directions
1. With your little person draw your chosen Christmas themed scene on your poster board. Decorate the scene using various art supplies.
2. Cut out 25 shapes that go with the scene (e.g. Tree decorations for a Christmas tree). Have your little person decorate one side of these. Number each shape from 1-25.
3. On the other side of the shape wrote down a special activity. Enlist your little person to come up with ideas. Examples: Decorate gingerbread men, go sledding, go to an indoor playground etc.
4. Stick the shapes to the scene using tack.
5. Each day have your little person take down the appropriate shape. Rear the activity and make time in the day to complete the activity.

Dawn said that this is the second year that her colleague has done this project. Her little guy loved it so much the first year that he asked if they would be doing it again this year.

I wish I had heard about this one before the season started but I will definitely do it next year. And if I can't wait that long I just might make a birthday advent calendar for Aiden in June.

Happy calendar making,
Creatively yours,
Maya :)