12.13.11 - What's in your boxes?

I love Christmastime.  And I love to shop online =)  For two reasons: A) It's usually a lot cheaper and B) They ship it directly to your doorstep and no battling germ-i-ness at the stores or pouting over unstocked shelves.  This week has been busy on our doorstep, so I'd thought I'd share just exactly the types of things you'll find in our boxes...

Box #1 - A true blessing...

Icing Smiles, an organization that provides cakes and bakery treats to families of chronically ill children, sent us a little Christmas treat of cookies, compliments of Lochel's Bakery.  Are the cookies adorable?  And delicious, I might add!  What a blessings to get an unexpected box of goodies - Thank you so much Icing Smiles!!

Box #2 - Christmas Cards...with a little Etsy on the side...

As I do each year, I am hand making our Christmas cards.  Normally each year, something on our card was embellished, put together or brought together by something I ordered off Etsy.  I LOVE ordering from Etsy shops.  It is always so fun to see how unique the packaging is and just how much thought, care and great customer service goes into every order for these owners.  This year, I ordered our envelopes from a cute shop called StraightHome.  Actually, I was googling kraft envelopes to get the cheapest price, and wouldn't you know, this shop had the best deal around?  I just received the package today, and I was very pleased!  Cute packaging and a free sample greeting card!  Don't think I would've gotten that deal at Office Depot =)

Box #3 - Trying something new...

This box wasn't quite as fun to order, but was a necessity in this household.  Because of Liam's swallowing function, he has to drink from a valved (or slower flow), straw sippy cup.  This has become more challenging as he is now older, has lots of teeth and likes to bite down on his said straws, causing his straw cups to wear out MUCH faster than usual.  AND, the kind we currently use, Nuby, does not just sell the "straw" part separately, but rather as a set with the whole lid....ugh.  So in an attempt to find a more "biter-friendly", older toddler straw sippy cup, I found this new cup, CamelBak, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  You HAVE to bite down on it to drink, so I'm hoping not only is it conducive to how Liam drinks, it must be made for that kind of wear-and-tear.  You can also see from the picture, I am anticipating some getting used to with the new cup, and thus had to order some replacement parts for the old ones.  I'm praying the new cup works out!

Box #4 - Toys for my toddler...

Did anyone else get the memo about the 50% off sale Amazon recently did on Melissa and Doug toys?  I'm SO glad I did, because I had this Pound and Roll Tower picked out for quite some time.  It has been recommended by a few sites I follow for helping with motor skills and it seems to be very age appropriate.  Plus, I order this great set of Pattern Blocks also.  Love Melissa and Doug....And for 50% off, makes for some easy Christmas shopping!

Box #5 - Materials for Homemade gifts...

Can't give away too much here, but I can say it involves making something for some little ones that are coming to visit for Christmas.  I'll link it after they open their gifts, since I want it to be a surprise for their parents too! ;)

As you can see it's bustling around here as usual.  We've been enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of the season and are very much looking forward to the upcoming weeks of visiting with family!  And I couldn't leave you guys with out some recent pictures of our little man, so here's a few...