Seasonal Stuff

This free personalized video from Santa might be the cutest thing I have EVER seen.

Portable North Pole is a website where you can experience the magic of Christmas with a personalized video message from Santa Claus to each of your children. 

Your kids will be amazed at how Santa Claus knows their age, grade, what they want for Christmas, and what they have been working on this year behavior-wise (*wink wink*)

I LOVE THIS SITE!! It will bring you so much holiday cheer just watching your children’s eyes light up. The videos are pretty spectacular.

Like I mentioned, it’s free, but you can opt to upgrade your video for super affordable prices if you would like to add on more magic and they also offer other personalized products.

The Gift Wrapping Queen, an OC Gift Wrapping Service, is here to provide busy mamas with the gift you can give yourself this busy holiday season, affordable gift wrapping done for you.

Now I know that there are probably many of you who love wrapping gifts and relish in affixing every single bow.

But for those, like me, who get stressed about finding the kid-free time to do it, this is a dream come too. It seems like the only time of day I can actually get to wrapping is at 9pm at night, and by that time, I am essentially passed out with exhaustion. But enough about me.

If you find yourself in the same position, Lauren (aka. the Gift Wrapping Queen) is here to help.

I have known Lauren for seven years ~ she is darling and trustworthy. I can personally vouch for her, and when leaving your gifts with someone you do not know, having a level of trust is important.

With a passion for gift wrapping, her goal is to help take a little of the burden off you this season.

Offing affordable prices and quick turnaround, those gifts will be wrapped and ready to stick under your tree in no time. And with all the time you save, may I suggest you treat yourself to a manicure in the meantime? You deserve it.

Contact Lauren at giftwrappingqueen@gmail.com for more information.

Happy holidays!

The Macy’s Believe Campaign 2012 is making wishes come true this holiday season with our help. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions for kids.

Every year I bring my girls to mail their Santa letters at Macy’s in their magical oversized red Santa mailbox. For every letter Macy’s receives, it will donate $1 to the  Make-a-Wish Foundation up to $1 million dollars, and if you mail it on National Believe Day 2012, which this year will be on Friday, 12/14, they will double their donation!

Here is how it works:

1. Write a stamped letter to Santa and address it to “Santa at the North Pole.” Click here if you want to create a letter on the Macy’s site (so cute!) You can also write your letter at the store, as they have stationery there. Just remember your stamps!

2. Go to Macy’s and find Santa’s mailbox to drop it in. Click here to locate a Santa’s mailbox at a Macy’s near you.

3. Macy’s will deliver them to the post office to mail to Santa.

And here is a little video of my girls mailing their letters last year at the Macy’s in Fashion Island. Such a fun Christmas outing for kids! I seriously love this Macy’s Believe Campaign.

Our Funny Santa Photo Contest was so much fun I might have to make it an annual tradition. It was so hard to pick the winners, there were so many funny ones, but we had to choose. So here are our readers’ funny Santa photo winners with the descriptions from the moms on what was going on in their photos.  

Drum roll please…

First place winner of Irvine Park Railroad Christmas Train and Activity Tickets goes to…

1st Place: Not So Hap-pee to See You Santa

“When I saw your current contest I knew I had to enter this photo. This is a photo of my older son Wright’s 2nd Christmas, and as you can see, in true toddler style, he was thrilled to be sitting on “scary Santa’s” lap. He was also completely soaking wet as his diaper didn’t quite hold up to the 30 minute wait for photos. Of course that was the day I decided to leave the diaper bag in the car. I guess I was hoping poor Santa wouldn’t notice but when I saw the photo I realized how obvious it all was. This photo now lives in infamy in my family’s memory!” ~ Anna-Marie 

The second place winner of the 4 tickets Pretend City Children’s Museum goes to…

2nd Place: Who’s Your Daddy?

“This picture is my youngest son Arsen Russell… He was 10 months old, and he had NO idea that it was his Dad in the Santa suit. Knowing this, make the picture SO much better!! Purely Terrified! I ended up using this photo as my Christmas/New Years Thank you Cards. Enjoy!” ~ Nora 

Third place and the winner of a $10 gift card to Target goes to…

3rd Place: The Bird

“My husband, son-Brady, and I live in Old Towne Orange. The Homegrown Farmers Market advertised that Santa would be there back in mid November (I know- early, right?). With my Christmas card in mind, I dressed Brady up and headed down to the Market. We walked up, I put Brady on Santa’s lap and then snapped this photo. Not only is his face super classic, but he’s actually slipping Santa the bird. And no- I did not pose him! ” ~ Mandy 

And I just had to post these as well because they are hilarious…

You’re Not Going Anywhere Caroline

“This is our Santa picture from last year. Finn (1 1/2 in this pic) doesn’t know what is going on. Jack (almost 5) seems bored and Caroline (almost 3) has screamed so hard that she’s about to lose her hair bow. Basically, I physically held her
down on the stool, had the camera gal count to 3 and then I leaped out of the way so we could get this one picture.” ~ Kristen

Make the Best of It Mom 

“This picture pretty much sums up exactly how our Santa visit went! My 1 year old son, Cannon, was totally freaked out and screamed bloody murder- to which we all cracked up at. (So sad and funny that we totally get a laugh out of this!) My 2 year old daughter, Hunter Rose, was way too cool and into her little reindeer that she painted to talk to Santa! She proceeded to tell him she wanted a princess dress for Christmas while looking the opposite way. I popped my head in the picture to show that if I don’t woman up and paste a smile on my face then nobody’s gonna have any fun!! I’m almost 5 months pregnant, dizzy, hot and sick with “morning” sickness, but at least one of us was smiling!!” ~ Brandi

Nice Beard Santa!

“This was from last year when my son was 9 months old. He has no fear of this sweet Santa and was way more interesting in why he had this white stuff on his face. The Santa just played along and we got some awesome shots and loved it! We
haven’t tried to see Santa again this year, but I am hoping that he will remember him and enjoy the experience once again! Thanks!” ~ Lisa 

Bad Santa 

I think Santa’s face sticking out his tongue is almost as funny as the little cutie’s obvious protest of the Santa pic!

“My poor baby girl was terrified!  I plopped her in Santa’s lap and she screamed but was frozen and didn’t move an inch.   She hated every minute of it.  :)” ~ Maegan

Thank you so much to everyone that entered!  I hope these photos brought some joy into your day – I know they brought joy into mine!

I’m in charge of a couple of sides dishes this Thanksgiving and I’ve decided one of them is going to be a Thanksgiving Salad of Roasted Beets, Arugula, Goat Cheese + Pepitas.  With all the dense dishes of mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy, I love to have something lighter + green to interrupt the heaviness of the dinner plate.

What’s great about this recipe is you can roast the beets the day before and make the vinaigrette ahead so it’s just a quick assembly of ingredients on the busy cooking day of Thanksgiving.

The pepitas (pumpkin seeds) give the dish a nice crunch & introduce a festive Fall twist~

Serves about 8-10 as a side.

What you need:

2 bunches of beets, trimmed (grab red & golden if possible for a fun mix of colors)

1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds, available in already roasted & salted form)

4-5 oz goat cheese (choose a good quality block & crumble fresh when assembling salad)

5-6 cups baby arugula

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, removed from the stems & minced

Homemade Vinaigrette  (Plan to make a day ahead or if you’ve got a hefty menu, just pick up a bottle of your fave)

Ready, Set, Cook!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wrap beets in foil and roast in center of the oven 1-1 1/2 hours, then unwrap and let cool before placing in a tupperware or bowl & into the fridge.

When the beets are thoroughly cooled, slip them out of their skins and cut each beet into 8 wedges (or more if they are large). (All of this can be done a day ahead.)

To serve, arrange the beets on a platter around the edge and make a mound of the baby arugula in the middle.  Then drizzle the dressing lightly over the greens & a using a slightly heavier hand over the beets.  Crumble the goat cheese on top of the beets and sprinkle with the fresh thyme and pepitas.

Enjoy!  Happiest of Thanksgivings to you and yours!

XO,

Your Sus Chef