In So Many Words

I got an email about this yesterday and thought it was too fun not to share. Let me know if you enter so I can see your ugly sweater!!

Christmas is a time for traditions, food, merriment, family, and…horrific seasonal sweaters. It’s the only time of year where you can sport apparel with a Rudolph nose that blinks red lights without being teased (too much).

Enter the 2nd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest and you could win a $500 Visa Gift Card…just in time for Christmas shopping!

Spread some Christmas cheer! Share your picture to win!

There are two ways to enter:

1. Enter the contest on Facebook
2. Enter the contest on WaterBrook’s Website

You can also check out the ugly Christmas sweaters from 2010!

Title: On Christmas Eve
Author: Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Inspirational Fiction
Publisher/Date: Berkley, 2010
Source: Library copy

About the Book
Lucy and Charlie’s relationship has been on the rocks, but just as Lucy’s about to call it quits, a runaway teenager crosses her path. It turns out this girl has been shuffled from home to home and has decided to make her own destiny-landing in Cape Light. Lucy takes her in despite Charlie’s protests. This could be the thing that makes or breaks their frayed relationship…

With a grown son embarking on his own life, and an ex-husband starting a new family, Betty realizes it’s time to find a partner of her own. Then Santa bears an unexpected gift at the Rotary Club’s Christmas party: himself. Beyond the red suit and the padding, she notices a twinkle in his eye. Has the holiday cheer gone to her head, or is she really attracted to a struggling magazine writer who plays dress-up? But things aren’t always as they seem, especially in Cape Light-and unless Betty realizes that good things come in different packages, she risks Santa passing over her this Christmas.

My Thoughts
I know, I know – another Christmas book. It must be because it’s so hot outside. We haven’t even been able to go to Hersheypark this week because it has been in the 90s every afternoon and I just can’t take the heat!

This is actually Book 11 in the Cape Light series focusing on life in a small New England town. While you could read this on its own, it would probably be more enjoyable if you read them in order. The narration flips back and forth between Lucy and Betty’s stories, both of which touch on the areas of love, family, career, charity and faith.

I have always found these books to be a pleasure to read, with good writing and a comforting message of hope, and On Christmas Eve didn’t disappoint.

Note: This is Book #57 of my 2011 Reads (master list here).

So I am sitting here on Christmas night, writing my first blog post on our new iPad. My brother and his wife gave it to us for Christmas, so we are looking for any suggestions on the best apps for Michael. He doesn’t really need ones for communicating since he is verbal, but anything related to schedules, social skills and pragmatics is worth us looking into, I think.

Just from what I have seen so far, this is an amazing machine, although I think I am going to use my birthday money for a case with a keyboard. Typing a full length blog post would be a bit of a challenge for me from what I can tell.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas, if you are celebrating. Otherwise, have a wonderful Saturday!

Sunday Best is a collection of my favorite links from blogs I have read in the past week (or sometimes a bit more if I get behind!) Posts may range from thought-provoking or challenging to instructive or informational, with a dose of fun and light-heartedness thrown in occasionally for good measure.

Tips for Reducing Christmas Break Anxiety by Chynna Laird at Hartley’s Life With 3 Boys – This is a common topic on a number of blogs this time of year, and guest poster Chynna shares a lot of great tips in this article. I especially liked her description of how her daughter Jamie is involved in planning the activities they will do during Christmas break. You may have to adapt this for your child based on his or her level of communication and planning ability, but I can see how it would be helpful for a lot of families.

Autism Night Before Christmas – I have been noticing a lot of hits on a post of mine from December of 2008. It is a poem by Cindy Waeltermann of AutismLink and was reprinted with her permission. Just thought I’d mention it here for any of you that haven’t seen it – enjoy!

Last week, I mentioned the new blog carnival being hosted at Help! S-O-S for Parents. Well the first round is up at Carnival of S-O-S, Edition 1: Autism and Treatment Options, and I would encourage you to check out the submissions.

Please feel free to share your favorites from the week in the comments – I’ll be sure to check them out!

Michael with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Last Sunday, we took some time out of our day of rest to go to the annual Autism Society Christmas Party. Every child receives a present from Santa, and Mrs. Claus is there as well to greet each family and get a photo op.

Although it is loud and crazy, I enjoy getting to see some of the parents and kids I don’t see all the time. Bob and Michael don’t care for it as much as I do, though, as both of them hate sitting and waiting our turn in the noisy, chaotic environment. After we had been there about an hour, Michael asked why we hadn’t gotten on the VIP list!!

Michael did enjoy doing some karaoke and getting to select a small prize for that. This year, I was also successful in distracting him when they were drawing raffle prizes, so he wasn’t aware that we didn’t win anything. He loved seeing and talking to Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Once we got back to our table and opened his present (a Lego Hero Factory item that had been at the top of his list only a couple of weeks earlier), he declared that he was tired of them and didn’t want it. Now after we got the present home and started playing with it, he was happy to have it. Also, we talked about he could use some of the money from his grandmother to buy a toy related to his newest interest, and then he admitted that he still liked Hero Factory but had thought that meant he couldn’t get anything else.

I’m guessing this might be the last year we go as a family as both Bob and Michael were completely stressed out once it was over. Maybe next year I will sign up to help in some way so I still get to see everybody and hear what’s been going on over the last year or so.

Check out more great pics at Special Exposure Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday.

Thanks to those who entered the giveaway for the two Hallmark Recordable Storybooks. With the help of Random.org, two winners were selected and they were emailed for their address info and choice of book.

The winners were Jean Lasher and JoyMama!

Jean wrote:

I would love to win one of these books for my granddaughter. She lives in NC and I live in NY. We are not able to travel anymore due to my husband being sick so will not be able to see her for the holidays. Do miss seeing her grow up and change. This way she can hear my voice and know I still love her.

and JoyMama shared:

I think a recordable-book would be a great way to help my daughter (age 6) associate words with the printed page — and help keep her interest long enough to keep the book open to that particular page. Books have been a particular challenge for her, with her various developmental issues. Her librarian-mother is sometimes driven near distraction by this! But she does love to hear voice play-backs, and if this could help her stop on each page long enough to put together that each page does have meaning attached… well, it would be a tool well worth having.

Excellent give-away idea — might have to put it on a Christmas list if we don’t win!

I wish I had a book to give each and every one of you who entered – all of your stories touched my heart and I wish you much joy this holiday season.

Just in case you missed it or didn’t get a chance to enter yet, here’s a reminder about my Hallmark Recordable Storybook giveaway. All entries must be received by Midnight EST on Tuesday, December 7th.

I also wanted to let you know about a great deal Hallmark is offering on their personalized holiday greetings. Here’s the offer:

Between now and Dec. 31, enter the code Blogger25 at checkout to receive 25% off of your order of personalized holiday greetings on hallmark.com! Hallmark.com’s personalized holiday greetings collection includes customizable holiday cards, party invitations, plates and thank you cards – all photo-ready and featuring contemporary new designs. And perhaps the best part? No need to visit the post office to send out anything. Just visit Hallmark.com, pick your favorite design, customize it with a favorite photo and a personal message. Hallmark will do the rest! From printing the addresses and adding postage to mailing the cards on any date you choose, Hallmark’s got it all under control.

To enter the giveaway, visit the original review post. I am closing comments on this post so no one tries to enter here and misses out.

Hallmark Recordable Storybooks feature simple to use voice-capture technology. All you have to do is lay the book flat, press the record button and speak your message. Once you press the stop button, you will immediately hear a playback of what you have recorded and can simply re-record it if you wish to get it just right. Or, if you are happy with your recording, simply do nothing and move on to the next page.

Once you have finished making your recording, there is a switch inside the battery compartment that can be set to LOCK to protect what have done or switched back to UNLOCK to re-record a page or to erase all of the audio in the book. It’s a simple but effective safety measure to protect your recording from little fingers!

Review

For the review, I received a copy of the book All the Ways I Love You. I was instantly delighted by the adorable illustrations and touching verses. I immediately thought of a recent conversation with my brother, who is expecting his first child in March. He really wants his child to become familiar with his voice even before he is born, but my brother has to travel quite a bit for work right now.

This book would be a great tool for him to use by recording himself reading it so that his wife could play it for the baby when he is out of town. I thoroughly enjoyed trying out this book and was able to easily remove my voice so that it would be ready for my brother to use. Hopefully, he will find it as enchanting as I did!

Giveaway

I am hosting a giveaway for two Recordable Storybooks from Hallmark. Each winner will receive their choice of one of these precious keepsakes.

You can enter up to three times (one via each method listed below):
For your first entry, simply leave a comment on this post telling me how you would use the book if you won it.
One additional entry may be obtained by Tweeting about this giveaway and leaving me a comment with a link to your Tweet.
Another additional entry can also be obtained by sharing this giveaway on Facebook and leaving me a comment with a link to your Facebook post.

All entries must be received by Midnight EST on Tuesday, December 7th. The two winners will be chosen randomly and contacted via the email provided in the email field of the comment form for their address and book selection. I will announce the winners on my blog by Friday, December 10th.

For more information about the recordable storybooks, including browsing through the collection or hearing stories from other families of how they have used these keepsakes, visit Hallmark.com.

Boy, this four-day weekend has gone by fast! I was planning to log in and try to get some work done today, since my coworker may have to attend a funeral on Monday, which would put me in charge of the current training class for the day.

However, I forgot that Michael and I were scheduled to go to Dutch Wonderland with some friends this afternoon. It should be a lot of fun and hopefully the weather will be good. It is sunny right now and supposed to be in the high 30s/low 40s, but with snow later tonight. Last time we went with the weather forecast, we drove into a blizzard that started five hours early!

This was definitely the Christmas of the video game at our house. We have never purchased a game system before, but we took the plunge this year and got a Wii. Since my brother decided to buy the player for us, Santa brought the extra remotes and stuff we needed to play together as a family plus an extra game to play. Michael pretty much wants to play Mario Kart all day long, but hasn’t protested too much when we told him to take a break.

I used the money my in-laws gave me for my birthday to get a Wii Fit Plus, so we spent some time last night getting that set up for the three of us. Michael’s real age was 15, so he was very excited. Bob & I weren’t as excited to test a few years older than we actually are, but I am just surprised it didn’t tell me I was ready for retirement! I set a goal, so we’ll see what happens. I haven’t seriously tried to lose weight since the year before I got pregnant because I just assumed I would fail, which I know isn’t the right attitude but is how I feel.

I just know that I need to get myself in better shape before my health is seriously jeopardized. With the last 20 pounds I put on, my reflux has gotten worse and I have developed some mild sleep apnea, both of which interfere with my sleep.

It’s Christmas Eve Day, and I was awakened a bit earlier than expected today. Michael wanted to get up at his regular time to watch cartoons, and I said that was fine as long as he was quiet and let us sleep until at least 8:00.

So shortly after 7:00 this morning, I heard the patter of little feet going downstairs. Mission accomplished, I thought–until I heard the patter of little feet coming back upstairs, and then heard a thud, and then the whole thing repeated two more times, getting closer and closer to me. Turns out he was bringing our stocking holders upstairs and putting them next to where each of us sleeps. I guess we need to work on what exactly it means to let Mommy & Daddy sleep in, but at least he tried.

Moving the stockings upstairs was something he has been bringing up for about a week but I hadn’t agreed to. He wants his stocking in his room so he can hear Santa come in and fill in. He even put some jingle bells he made at the Autism Society Christmas party on his door so he will be able to hear when Santa comes in the room. I’m not sure if I’m going to leave the stocking there or not – I’m pretty sure I can fill it without him waking up but it feels strange not to have them all hanging together.

So anyway, I am up now after going to bed too late last night. That is a very bad habit of mine that I know I need to change. I do suffer for it some days but just haven’t made myself be more disciplined yet.

I’m curious, since we don’t have a fireplace and the bookcase we used last year has been moved into the upstairs den… Where do you hang your Christmas stockings?