Where's Santa Now?!

It's Christmas Eve, and the kids are excited because soon Santa will be here.

But what's Santa doing right now?! You can show them with the latest Christmas tech:

Santa Claus Live webcam.
Inside and outside the workshop views in real time from Santa's office on the Arctic Circle.

Norad Santa
Track Santa through his Twitter stream, download the iGoogle gadget to countdown the hours, even follow him on your mobile phone!

Thanks to Chris Webb for the heads-up on these Santa links!

Put the Grinch in Christmas!

What would Christmas be without the Grinch? For us, watching the Dr. Seuss classic is one of our favorite Christmas traditions, along with the musical version of a Christmas Carol, Scrooge.

Now Oceanhouse Media has brought the very first e-Book version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the iPhone so you can enjoy this timeless kids' classic in an entirely new way.

Now available on the App Store, the How the Grinch Stole Christmas e-Book is $3.99 and includes such new features as professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene.

Here's a demo, so you can see how the e-book looks on the iPhone.

Cool feature: Individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched to help encourage children to read the e-book themselves. The How the Grinch Stole Christmas e-book will appeal to readers of all ages who love the original.

By the way, Oceanhouse media has two other Grinch apps available for the iPhone as well. Their game, "Grinchmas” is currently #1 in Kids Games and #32 in paid apps in the entire App Store and “Dr. Seuss Camera – Grinch Edition” hit #60 in the Photography category. Check out their website for more information.

I received a free promotional code from Oceanhouse Media to assist me in my review of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas e-book app.

Feeling Tipsy?

From Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Founder of www.Care.com, come these timely tips for...tipping!

Holiday Tipping Guidelines

Gift-giving can be confusing, especially when it comes to caregivers and other service providers. Determining the etiquette behind finding the right gift for the right person is a tough challenge! I've put together a few tips and tricks to help guide your family when it comes thanking your caregivers this holiday season.
Tips for Child Care Providers:

• Nannies and Au Pairs: If you have a full-time nanny, offer them a tip or a "Christmas bonus" that reflects 10-15 percent of one week's pay.

• Regular babysitters: If you have a regular, go-to sitter who takes care of your children regularly, thank her (or him!) with a tip or a gift ranging from one or two night's pay—whatever equals about a week's worth of service.

• Coaches, tutors, and instructors: I always like to have Adam involved in thanking his teachers with a small gift or a thank-you card and a gift certificate.

• Pet sitters: If you have someone regularly take care of your animals while you're at work or traveling, say thank you with a week's pay. And if your dog is like Blake and Sydney and requires regular visits to a groomer, don't forget them, either!

• Home-care attendants and caregivers: I suggest a thank-you of one week's pay, but give two weeks for extra special care or long-term service.

If money is tight, you can be creative about saying thank you for your regular caregivers. Often, families give them a few extra days in paid time off to use throughout the year. Your cost remains the same, but you don't have to worry about finding extra funds for gifts around the holidays.

But beyond the care providers you can find on Care.com, there are a lot of folks out there who bring care into our lives and deserve an extra thank you. Some of these people can be forgotten during the holidays—but not by you!

Other People You Should Tip:

• School bus drivers: I find they're often overlooked. A small thank you (a $10 gift certificate and a card signed by your children) is a nice "something extra" in December.

• Service industries: Think of the people that make your home life a little easier—your mail and newspaper delivery people and garbage collectors While you don't have to necessarily tip them a week's wage or the price of a recycling pickup, I always try to help them feel special around the holidays. A nice card with a $10 gift certificate for coffee or a plate of fresh cookies goes far when it's cold outside!

• Maintenance people: If you've hired a regular landscaper or have a building manager that regularly does work around the property, shovels walkways, and plows driveways, let them know they're appreciated. It doesn't have to be much—just slip 10-15% extra in their December bill as a thank you.

• Housekeepers: If you have a regular housekeeper or house cleaner, tell them thank you by giving them an extra week's pay during the holiday season. But if you only hire one for occasional tidying up, it's okay to just wish them a verbal "Happy Holidays!"

• Baristas/clerks: Some of us have those regular spots that we visit daily for our morning coffee or bagel. If you're used to seeing the same person and they give you great service, say thanks! Buy them a cup and give them a card. They'll be surprised, and pleased, by your consideration.

Again, just like mom always said, "It's the thought that counts." Don't feel like you have to get caught up in what you give or how much it cost. The point is to show gratitude for the people who matter to you and your family.

The Secret Santa Surprise Gift! Don't tell!

Okay, everybody, here it is, the gift I got for my Secret Santa!

Now, I'm not going to tell you her name, and don't go trying to figure it out, and maybe ruin the surprise, okay?

Thanks.

So..I got her a Gift Basket, complete with a Christmas sleigh, loaded with chocolate truffles (because who doesn't like chocolate?)!

And, in keeping with the theme, I also bought a Santa gift bag to dress it up for my Secret Santa! And I stayed under the ($25 giftcard) limit, which is really impressive, because it's a super-nice gift set.

Thanks, TJMaxx!

I'm really looking forward to finding out what my Secret Santa thinks of her gift soon. She'll be getting it before Christmas, thanks to the TJMaxx folks, as they also paid for shipping.

Unless I get my present tomorrow from my own Secret Santa, I'll have to let you know after Christmas what it was (the suspense is KILLING me), because that's when we'll be home from our trip.

Unless I can get the cat sitter to open it up and let me know. Hmmm....

Shopping at TJMaxx

In our last post, we learned about Viv's Secret Santa! Now let's follow along with Viv as she goes on a shopping adventure...

Sorry, I just couldn't resist! ;)

Okay, so I was sent two TJMaxx cards, one for a gift for another blogger, and one for myself. Let's get me out of the way first, since I'm easy (Hey! No jokes).

Since I'm going up North into wintry weather--real wintry weather, snow and ice and sleet, stuff this Floridian girl is not used to!--I decided to get some cold weather duds for myself.

I was pleased with the selection at TJMaxx. Living here in the South, you can't always find a big selection of nice sweaters and coats, or even casual everyday cold-weather wear. But they had dressy clothes and active wear that really fit the bill. It didn't take me long at all to find what I wanted: comfy clothes for the long trip in the family mini-van.

But what most impressed me was, surprisingly, the fitting room! They'd been completely redone since the last time I was there, and I really liked the transformation. They were well-lit (none of that ultra-bright flourescent light that shows every line, crease and dimple), had full-length mirrors on two walls for that important front and back view, and even had soft cushy red seats. Take a look for yourself over on the right.

Yep, that next picture is me, in my comfy, oh-so-practical black pants and blue sweater top. Can you believe that BOTH of them together were only a shade over $25 at TJMaxx?!

Next, I went shopping for my Secret Santa.

But what to get?

I didn't know her clthes size, but TJMaxx doesn't just have clothes, so that wasn't a problem. Oh, no. There was almost too much for me to choose from!

Cool artsy sculptures. Seriously, look at this picture over here>>>.

All KINDS of gift sets, like perfumes and lotion, bath salts and foot rubs and loofahs, coffees and teas, even Betsey Johnson socks and underwear sets (can you imagine if I bought her underwear? Wouldn't that FREAK YOU OUT, getting underwear from some stranger on the net?!)

And...chocolate. Oh, man, they had ALL kinds of chocolate!

Hmm...I'm starting to get an idea!

Oh, and look, they even have GIFT BAGS and WRAPPING PAPER.

It was all coming together.

So, now, if you all promise to be good, and not give away the secret, do you want to see what I got for my Secret Santa?!

Shh...it's a Secret!

So this year, I am taking part in several Secret Santas, and a cookie swap, but with a twist: they are ALL internet-based.

So, yes, basically I am trading gifts with total strangers I met on TEH INTERNETS.

Over on Metafilter, for the second year now, I am participating in the Secret Quonsar exchange.

Quonsar was a member who was known to be a bit...inflammatory in his posts and his opinions, so the Secret Quonsar exchange is firmly tongue-in-cheek. I sent my Secret Quonsee a flash drive with "Merry Christmas from your Secret Quonsar!" on it (I had it personalized because I knew I would be taking part in the swap), loaded with some of my favorite Christmas tunes in it, and packed along with a couple pouches of bacon salt, because everyone loves bacon, right? Well, okay, maybe not vegetarians. But my Quonsee liked it.

Sadly, I haven't gotten anything from my own Secret Quonsar, but it's not Christmas yet, so hope springs eternal.

I also took part in a cookie swap over at Metafilter, and sent out some of the coconut oatmeal cookies I featured here. I've heard from a couple of my cookie swap buddies and results were favorable. So far, I have received chocolate almond cookies in return.

I'm expecting two more batches (each of us sent out to three other people), but since we are leaving town soon for Christmas up north with the family, I may just come home to a house full of cookies after Christmas!

Which brings us to my final Secret Santa exchange, which I am really thrilled about because it was in conjunction with TjMaxx and Marshall's!

I was given a blogger's name to shop for (NO, I can't tell you the name yet, she doesn't know who her Secret Santa is!), and a giftcard to TJMaxx.

Because the TJMaxx folks are generous to a fault, I also got a giftcard to shop for myself!

Next post: My Secret Santa shopping adventure!