Wait, Hanukkah Already?

For years I felt like all the holidays snuck up on me. In California, without real weather changes the High Holidays in the Fall were the worst, meaning a few days beforehand I would slap my forehead and realize we didn't have dinner plans. That was of course before we started going to Greg's aunt and uncle's place every year. Hanukkah isn't a big deal, it's not a religious holiday, and the gift-giving is pretty much for kids (and Nate was born on the last day of the holiday). The only real ritual is lighting the menorah (and eating fried food, yum) and usually I would forget until the day it started and have to run around looking for candles.

Now that we have Nate things are a little different. I plan ahead more, look at the calendar, think about what we are going to do. But I was still shocked to go to Target yesterday to find that almost all the hanukkah decorations were already sold out, and at Michael's they were already on the sale rack. We have more than 10 days people, what do you expect?????

If you are like me and haven't been preparing already, then there are still some things at Target, some very cute menorahs actually. They have subdued traditional ones and wacky ones for the kids (sports theme, ballet theme, etc) and in the store I saw a very nice looking Noah's Ark menorah, although I think it was wood so not sure how that works out with candles. So, if you are putting this off get over there now to get what you need. I probably should have bought my candles yesterday but oops, totally forgot even as I was standing there looking at the display....

Sweet Gift Sets

Time is flying by, sweet baby Nate will be 1 on Friday! I can't believe it. It's also December, almost time for Hanukkah, Christmas...lots of gift giving. I got an email from Splendid about their gift sets which look really lovely, like this scarf set -

You can wear them separately or all together. A nice cozy gift.
They also have adorable sets for kids and babies, like this girls legging set -

and adorable baby rompers -

So much fun!

Making a Picnic Easy

I met a friend for ice cream last week with Nate and her kids. The ice cream place was insanely full, so we took our goodies across the street to a park. Luckily my friend had this amazing picnic blanket in the car, where she keeps it all the time -

It's amazing. It's waterproof, it folds up and comes with a shoulder strap so you can carry it easily with other stuff. This would make an amazing gift.

Adorable Baby Blanket

I know people who like to have extra gifts stacked in the closet so that when the time comes they don't have to scramble, or run out to get something. I would love to be that person, and if I was, I think I would stock a couple of these adorable baby blankets in my closet -

It also comes in a dinosaur theme -

I really like the subtle muted colors and clean pattern. Either of these would make such a sweet gift!