A little Santa in all of us.

Sweet Suzanne asked me to share with you some of my favorite holiday traditions, and I must've started and stopped this list a thousand times. When I was little, really little, my favorite things list would've been about closing my eyes as tight as I could, squeezing them shut and listening to the sounds on the roof... is that him? is that? and then MOM WAKE UP I THINK SANTA'S HERE! That tradition would've been at the tippety top of my {littlest me} favorite things list.

When I got a little older... old enough to see that Santa's handwriting and wrapping paper were quite like my mom's... well, then my favorite things list would've been about wishing for snowfalls on Christmas day... watching A Christmas Story over and over and Ralphie-you'll-shoot-your-eye-out! over again... seeing my family open the cards that I'd made the night before with cotton balls and crayons and glue... and playing with my delicious new treasures for the next several days. These traditions would've been at the tippety top of my {medium me} favorite things list.

And then I got a lot older... old enough to know that Christmas was wonderful but also stressful. Families seemed to fight a bit more... it became a lot about money and less about thought and love... Christmas trees started going up a bit later... the magic of the holidays was around me here and there, but that tangible, prickly, glittery feeling? It was missing.

This year, though, something changed. Our little girl arrived: Devon Whitney. Stinky McStinkpot. Twenty inches and six whole pounds of giggly, warm, loved up and new. She's too little to understand now, but soon she'll believe in Santa, in reindeer, in the importance of cutting paper snowflakes and leaving out snacks for the elves. Sometimes you need a little reminder of that feeling... of waking up to the smell of pine and presents... of hot cocoa and sugar cookies in the morning... of realizing that maybe Santa isn't as big and red and ho!ho!ho! as you once thought, but that there's a little Santa in all of us. This feeling is at the tippety top of my {biggest me} favorite things list.

Psst: Thanks, Suzanne, for having me here. I hope you'll all come visit me at my blogs, The Lil Bee and Feather Report.

Big kiss,

Bee.

Images from top to bottom, all via We Heart It: Scream Colors; Katherine writes.; Inspirart; and unknown.

{ sew perfect }

One present down...just a few more to go...

Over the last few months, my 7-year-old daughter, has frequently mentioned wanting to learn to sew. It's something I've been dying to do myself–I've sewn little more than a loose button since taking a sewing/home economics class in 7th grade. So, I started researching children's sewing machines thinking one would make a great Christmas gift for Miss B and provide fresh inspiration for some fun mother/daughter DIY projects in 2008. Imagine my delight when I discovered this:
I simply adore Hello Kitty. When I was about 12 or so, my mom worked at a local Hallmark store. I had just started taking on babysitting jobs and often would take care of my brother at home for a couple of hours while she worked. Occasionally, as a reward for my help, she would bring me home a surprise package from her store. Lucky for me, the store carried a small line of Hello Kitty items. I had Hello Kitty pens, pencil holders, stickers...you name it...small, treasured tokens of my mom's appreciation. Then, one day we heard a Sanrio store had opened in San Francisco, right in Union Square...I could hardly contain myself! The two of us planned a special trip to SF, just to go to the store. I still vividly remember taking BART to the City and walking into that beloved store for the first time...a breathtaking, dream-come-true experience for a Hello Kitty obsessed tween. (Thanks again mom!)

Needless to say, my (er, my daughter's) Hello Kitty sewing machine has been ordered and is on its way...I wasn't even concerned with whether or not it actually works. (Fortunately, I read several great product reviews on Target after the fact). I'm so excited to open it...Oops, I mean for Bella to open it on Christmas morning. Now, if I can hunt down a gem like this in time for Christmas, my gift giving wishlist will be complete.

Update: The manufacturer inadvertently sent this model which I decided to keep as it's a little bigger and provides more sewing features.