Category Archives: Traditions
Santa Proof: Photos of Santa in Your Home!
Thanks to my stealthy photography skills, I’ve been able to catch Santa delivering presents to our house for the past 3 years! I’m pretty sure he knows what’s going on, but he lets me think I’m a great Santa detective anyway.
In 2010 I caught Santa checking his list…twice.
In 2011 I caught Santa cinching up his sack after delivering the gifts.
In 2012 I caught Santa reaching for a cookie!
If you’re too tired or too lazy to spend Christmas Eve hiding behind your sofa waiting to pop out and take a picture of the Big Guy in action, you may find one of these photo services helpful.
Many of these services have Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy options as well! 🙂
ICaughtSanta.com
Want Santa by the Christmas tree? Coming down the chimney? Eating milk and cookies? Sleeping on the sofa? Stealing a kiss from Mommy? For less than $10 anyone can bring back the wonder of Christmas and be a hero to children by catching Santa “in the act.”
*My photos above were made using ICaughtSanta.com
CaptureTheMagic.com
Take photo of where you want to “catch” Santa, by the Christmas tree, fireplace, etc.
Follow the prompts to upload your photo to our magical editing page
MySantaPictures.com
With My Santa Pictures, it is easy to create the perfect Santa Claus picture. Just upload a photo, then pick from over 65 different Santa pictures, adjust the Santa picture for size and placement – we do the rest
PhotoSanta.com
With Photo Santa’s digital photo editor, you can capture Santa in your home using an assortment of jolly poses. Your kids will be amazed when you show them Santa eating up all the milk and cookies, or gently spreading the presents in their place.
SantaCamApp.com
Free iphone app. Add Santa to your photos to make pictures of his visit to your home. This easy to use Christmas photo app gives you photographic evidence of Santa’s visit.
CatchSanta.co.uk
Why not use our catch Santa site as often as you like and create lots of different Santa Photo’s. Catch Santa coming down the chimney, taking a nap under the Christmas Tree or even kissing Mummy! You can then revisit our site year upon year and do the same.
TheSantaPhoto.com
The Santa Photo is officially in the works, offering free santa photos of santa claus in your very own home. That’s right, catch santa on camera with a photo or picture of santa clause this Christmas. Stay tuned for santa photo and santa picture updates! In the meantime, check out The Santa Video.
FREE Santa Photo: Studio5.ksl.com
4 Santa images to choose from! Santa is pretty quick, but this year you can set up a camera and catch him in action. We have the Santa. You just need to take a background picture by the tree or stockings and drop Santa in. Open your picture in a Word document and choose a Santa to add to your picture. Remember to bring the Santa picture to the front and format his position so that he is “in front of text.” Resize him as needed and crop any overhanging edges.
Disclosure: I created the photos used in this post using ICaughtSanta.com. I paid for these photos myself. I wasn’t given anything for free and I wasn’t compensated in any way. There are no affiliate links included in this post. I have not tried the other websites/services listed in this post. All opinions expressed are my own.
Have you ever caught Santa in your home?
Let me know in the comments!
Christmas Traditions: Gift Wrapped Doorway and Christmas Blocks
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When Santa was here on Christmas Eve, not only did he leave presents for the children, and leave his messy boot prints all over our room…but he also gift wrapped the doorway!
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Now the Christmas tree and the presents were trapped behind a wall of wrapping paper. The only way to get to the gifts…was to bust through the wrapping paper!
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It was actually harder than it looks to bust through that paper! Because of the way our doorway is set up there were actually two layers of wrapping paper to get through.
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Perhaps at your house the bedroom doorway gets wrapped instead of the living room, or perhaps it’s tissue paper or streamers instead of wrapping paper.
The great thing about the gift wrapped doorway tradition is that it can work for so many different families, whether Santa visits your house or not! It’s one that mom’s and dad’s can do themselves without Santa’s help. It’s one that teenagers can enjoy and look forward to as much as little children.
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Another Christmas morning tradition that we have in our family is the ceremonial knocking down of the Christmas blocks. Okay, it’s not ceremonial at all…but it is fun! In the photo below Jonathan was almost 11 months old and he crawled right to the blocks to knock them over.
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It will be interesting to see how long it takes the kids to knock the blocks down this year. Will they be more interested in Santa’s footprints or the presents? Or will they knock the blocks down right away? Will they fight over who gets to knock the blocks down or cry because “So-and-so knocked the blocks down first and I wanted to do it!”
I mean, of course I like to purposely implement traditions that will inevitably create discourse amongst the children…who doesn’t?! 😉
So far knocking down the blocks has been a fun little Christmas morning tradition, we’ll see if it remains fun as the kids get older!
2013 Update: Our wrapped doorway was a little less exciting this year. Check it out here: Merry Christmas 2013! Jon seemed a little overwhelmed on Christmas morning, but when my husband pointed out the blocks to him he was thrilled to knock them down! 🙂
Does Santa gift wrap your door way?
What are some of your fun Christmas morning traditions? Let me know in the comments!
This post is linked to:
Christmas Book Countdown
Here’s a quick and easy activity we do to countdown to Christmas day. Unwrap and read a Christmas book each day until Christmas!
It’s already December 2 and I haven’t wrapped the books yet this year. Oops. I always tell myself that I’m going to get these things done before Thanksgiving and then I always forget, or someone gets sick, or I’m distracted by something shiny. Maybe I should wrap them this year before I pack them away. That sounds smar…Squirrel! Wait, what was I saying?
How does your family countdown to Christmas?
What are your favorite Christmas books?
Let me know in the comments!
Santa Proof: Magical Santa Bootprints
I’m not sure what it is about our house but legendary figures are always leaving messy footprints in our house after a visit. First Leprechauns, then the Easter Bunny, and now…Santa Claus!
For the past two years Santa has magically descended our non-functioning chimney and left his sooty boot prints on our carpet on his way to the Christmas tree.
In 2011 Santa left a trail directly to the tree.
He must’ve ran out of soot on the way back.
But in 2012 Santa wasn’t quite so neat.
He left footprints everywhere…what a mess!
Luckily Santa’s boot prints vacuum up quickly and easily.
…and we noticed something interesting. Santa’s boot prints are truly magical indeed, in fact they change while he’s walking! Every so many steps he would leave a “Ho Ho Ho” or “SC” foot print behind.
In some homes Santa leaves white snowy boot prints with magical North Pole snow that doesn’t melt. For us, it’s soot. I’ve also heard reports from some families that get reindeer hoof prints inside their house! I guess it’s a good thing that we set our oats and carrots for the reindeer out on the back porch.
The product used to create Santa’s plain soot boot prints was Santa Soles. While I’ve seen many other products for creating Santa’s snowy boot prints, this is the only one that I’ve found that imitates soot. Visit SantaSoles.net and like the Santa Soles Facebook Page
Santa Soles allow you to create Santa’s footprints in your very own home, adding to the magic of Christmas morning. Santa Soles are the footprints that dreams are made of! Santa Soles are templates that allow you, along with our non-toxic, non-staining “soot” to create Santa’s footprints right in your home! Our “soot” is safe for use on all types of flooring and vacuums up easily, making clean up a breeze!
Other stencils/templates used: “Ho Ho Ho” and “SC”
Disclosure: I found, purchased, and reviewed the product “Santa Soles” and the additional boot print templates on my own. I was not given the products for free, I was not compensated in any way, and I was not asked to post a review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Does Santa leave boot prints in your house?
Let me know in the comments!
This post is linked to:
Easter Tradition: Easter Bunny Paw Print Trail (2013)
For the third year in a row the Easter Bunny left white paw print tracks all over our family room (which is now the playroom).
(Watch video here)
The kids had to follow the bunny trail to find their Easter baskets.
The Easter bunny hopped in through the window just like he did in 2011 and 2012.
This year he hid Jonathan’s Easter basket inside of the play kitchen.
The Easter bunny hopped all over the playroom leaving his footprints behind.
He even hopped onto the table to get a closer look at Adaline’s stuffed bunny.
Then the Easter Bunny hid Adaline’s Easter Basket under the art table.
Adaline searched for both Easter baskets since Jon is 14 months old and was not very interested in the whole thing.
Adaline was so excited about the Easter Bunny’s footprints being everywhere, she just kept running around in circles pretending she was bunny!
The kids enjoyed inspecting the Easter Bunny paw prints closely.
Yet another fun visit from the Easter Bunny…that rascally rabbit! 🙂
Does the Easter Bunny leave paw prints at your house? Does he hide the Easter basket?
Let me know in the comments!
*FREE PRINTABLE EASTER BUNNY PAW PRINT TEMPLATE
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2011
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2012
*50+ EASTER EGG DECORATING IDEAS
*NATURAL DYES FOR COLORING EASTER EGGS
Half Birthday Celebrations
Yesterday was Adaline’s Half Birthday!
She turned 3.5 🙂
I’ve always wanted to celebrate her half birthday but never have before. When she was younger I didn’t really want her to have the extra cake…and without the half-cake it seems kinda pointless to celebrate the half birthday. Last year I was super pregnant so we skipped it again.
This year seemed like the right time to start. Jonathan’s first birthday is a few days away (can you believe he’s already a year old?!) and Adaline was a little jealous and having a hard time understanding that this is not her birthday, or party, or cake. Giving her a little half-birthday celebration was something special for her before all of the focus shifts to Jonathan.
We celebrated with half of a cake, 3 and a half candles, and half plates.
We also sang Adaline “Halfie Birthday”.
It still sounds like “happy”. Oh well.
(Email and feed readers click here to watch the video.)
At the end of the video she’s running away from the candle smoke. She told us to “Get that stinky thing outta here!”
Adaline received half of a birthday card and a small present from the dollar store. We gave her the whole present. Only giving half of a present to a 3.5 year old would be a little cruel since she doesn’t quite understand it yet.
She was happy with her little celebration but she did get upset because there weren’t any balloons and she asked, “Where are all the people?”. All of those big birthday parties are coming back to haunt me.
In addition to measuring height on their birthday each year it has also been our tradition to measure height on each half birthday. Now I know why none of her clothes fit anymore!
Look how grown up she looks after just 6 months!
This half-birthday took me less than a half hour to plan 😉 All it took was a trip to the dollar store and making/buying a small cake.
(The cake looks deceiving big in the photos…it was very small.)
The scary part is that I only have 6 more months to plan her 4th birthday party!
Do you celebrate half birthdays in your family?
Let me know in the comments!
BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS
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Fun and Dysfunction 