WW - Nativity scene

Spanish Christmas candy

In a way I'm glad Christmas is over. I've gained too much weight lately and I don't like that. Not just for the way I look but most of all, for the impact it has on my health. I feel tired all the time and I feel exhausted when I climb the stairs. I hate that feeling!

This is what I have to avoid, Spanish Christmas candy:



I've almost run out of candy and I'm definitely NOT getting any more. Enough is enough! There will be a Christmas this year too and then I will have another go at the candy. Until then, Christmas candy is a total NO NO.

The candy in the colorful wrappings in the photo is called mantecados, and is made by flour, sugar and lard. It dates back to the 16th century. I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard that they used mantecados during the Inquisition to see who was a Christian and who wasn't, because both Jews and Muslims aren't allowed to eat fat from pigs. People went around offering mantecados and those who didn't accept to eat one was taken to prison, accused of not being Christian.

Christmas gifts

We must have been really nice last year because Santa brought us lots of presents on December 24th. In Sweden Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve, and in many families include: a Christmas lunch with LOTS of food, the same Disney Christmas show we've all seen at least 10 times (it's been on TV for the past 30 years or more) and then it's time for presents. In my family we let someone slip out of the house, put the bags with the gifts outside the front door, ring the bell and then come back in through the garage, hopefully without the kids noticing. Then my dad takes out the gifts, one by one, and the kids help him giving each gift to its' owner.

I got a camera, rain boots, lots of cardstock (my dear brother knows his sister is a scrapper and really got me the most wonderful designs), money and best of all, a camera. The boys got too many gifts - as always. They got several games, a Mr Bean film, clothes, boots, Lego, remote control cars and I don't know what. *lol* Unfortunately we couldn't bring everything so we had to leave several games behind. That's the worst part about living so far away. We can never bring everything, we always have to leave things behind.

Christmas decoration

I didn't decorate my home this year. Well, just a little bit - I bought a really cute stuffed snow man that's about 30 cm high. He lives in the dining room now and really makes everything look jollier. There wasn't any time for more decoration than that before we went and now it would feel rather funny to take out the Christmas decoration and get everything decorated. In just a week I would have to put it away so I think we'll have to have a non decorated home this year. It's a pity really, because I LOVE the way everything looks during Christmas.

My mother is crazy about Christmas decoration and she has at least 500 Santas which she takes out for Christmas. Here are just a few of them.


There are Santas even outdoors:

A new camera!

I got a new camera for Christmas. Yey!!!! A Canon Digital Ixus 75. It's a cute little thing that fits perfectly into my jacket pocket. I also got a new memory card that can hold over 300 pictures. I've taken a lot of pictures, but I can't download them right now because my hubby's computer is full of viruses and things and no matter how much I clean it there's always something new. :-( So I prefer to wait until I'm back home in Morocco. I have so much to share with you! Now I have 2 cameras, so there will be lots of pictures. *lol*

Tomorrow I'll go to one of the biggest hobby stores in Stockholm and I hope I can find something for my great vices, scrapbooking and card making. *lol* Together with my new camera I'll have quite a lot to scrap about in the future. ;-)

It's so dark here

I haven't been to Sweden for a year and I must have forgotten about how dark it is up here this time of year. I can't really tell if it's morning, night or day here by looking out the window and frankly, it's making me rather depressed. :-( I know now that I will never move back to Sweden because I couldn't stand this darkness for months in a row.

I really love being at my parents' but this darkness makes me want to sleep all day and all night. Why is it so? Am I really that exhausted after the last months of work and studies around the clock or is the lack of daylight already taking its' toll on me? I don't know. All I know is that I'd better get my act together because there are so many people I want to meet and so many things I want to do during the few days were here and all I so is think about is going back to sleep.... That's definitely not a good sign...

I have to log out now and get back to my Linguistics. I have so much to do today, I should study at least 10 chapters and I'm still doing chapter 3. It's almost 7 PM. Oh my, I'm never going to make it, at least not if I stay behind the computer. So Over & Out!

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Last call for Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Santa Claus will bring the gifts for all the children who have behaved well during the year. I'm not sure I'm getting anything this year because maybe I haven't been such a good girl. *lol* Luckily enough I can get my own gifts if I'm not happy with what Santa brings. ;-)

Coupon Chief is a great place to get whatever you want. One thing I really, really would like to get is a new camera and accesories. My camera is really lousy, the photos turn out blurry and dark and it's so slow that all the funny moments are long gone before it's ready to take a shot. I don't think I'm getting a camera for Christmas so I think buying myself one is the only way.

And since it's Christmas time I'd love to get something to lift my spirits. It's imposible to get anything Christian in Morocco and there really isn't that much in Ceuta either so I really get blown off my feet when I look at what's available on the internet. There is so much! I wouldn't know what to choose. A visit to the Family Christians Store is really nice, they have lots of things in my taste.

Oh well, I think I'll have to keep on dreaming because in about 24 hours Santa will be here with his sack of gifts. I wonder what's in it for me....

Oh boy, what a trip!

I'm FINALLY in Stockholm, Sweden. We left home in Morocco on Wednesday morning and the plans for that day were : cross the border, take the ferry from Ceuta to Algeciras, take the bus to Malaga, spend the day in Malaga and then spend the night at a friend's together with her and her family. Then on Thursday morning we were going back to the center of Malaga to do some Christmas shopping before taking the local train to the airport. We would go Malaga - Frankfurt (Germany) and then finally Frankfurt - Stockholm and spend the night at my parents'.

Well, things did not turn out that way. First of all, we missed the ferry we had planned taking. The next one usually goes one hour later. But not this time. Due to really, really bad weather (the waves were over 4 meters high and the winds were strong) they had to close the harbours on both sides of the strait. I'll tell you more about our adventure once we're back in Morocco, because right now I'm using my dad's computer and he told me NOT to use it. *lol* So I'd better hurry before he finds out I've been using it... ;-)

We had to spend the night in the harbour, sleeping on the floor. Now I understand what it feels like to be a refugee because we were really stranded there, we could not go back home and we could not get out of Ceuta. Those were really long 36 hours we spent in the harbour, without being able to go anywhere and not being able to eat properly. But you have to look at the bright side of life, always, so we tried to make the best we could out of it. We met a lot of people and made new friends. We ate military foods (they gave us food boxes) and slept on military blankets. All in all a very different experience. So this is a Christmas we never will forget.

We did manage to get to Stockholm. One day later than expected and extremely tired and dirty but now we're here, and I feel really blessed to be alive and together with my family.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy holidays!

Eid Mubarak Said to all Muslims! And Merry Christmas to all Christians & Happy New Year to everyone who celebrate the new year. In a few hours I'm going to get up again and make us ready to go to the mainland. We're going to visit a friend in Malaga and o Thursday we'll continue our trip to Stockholm, Sweden. I'm taking a few days off and will do my best to enjoy myself. *lol*

Exams!

Now it's official, the list with the dates and hours for the exams. I will have an exam a day between January 21 and January 25. Woohooo!!! An exam a day, I will become a nervous wreck.:-(

Oh well, I'd better get back to packing. We're leaving on Wednesday morning and I haven't even started packing yet...

A fun and different gift

I have come across a really fun and different gift for those who already have "everything". What about a personalized car license plate? Number Plates - Funny & Novelty I'm not sure you can actually drive around with one of these on your car, but it sure makes a great decoration on a wall or a door or why not at the entrance? I'm sure the kids would love to have one in their rooms. At least I know mine would.

I had a good time designing my own plate. There is a wide selection of templates to choose from, like Cartoon characters, cars, bikes, cricket, special events (a birthday number plate would make a nice gift, wouldn't it?), football, flags and lots more. I just might get one of these for a person I know, it would be the perfect gift. *lol*

And then there were two...

... sick kids at home. Oh no, how am I going to study with 2 kids at home? The "Mama, I'm thirsty!","Mama, I'm cold", "Mama, I'm bored. Play with me" will be double. I don't know how I'm going to manage. My To Do List for today is very long and I get the impression that I'm not going to finish... And I HAVE TO finish an exam I have to deliver by Wednesday, printed and ready.

Or maybe they will keep each other company and won't spend the whole day arguing, so there's a slight chance I get a few hours of peaceful study time. I hope so, because I'm still behind schedule and the exams are around the corner. This year I'm not really enjoying Christmas, I don't know where my Christmas spirit is... I hope it will appear as soon as I deliver the exam and can start to think about other things as well. At least I've begun to decorate the house a little bit. Not much and not enough, but at least you can see that Christmas is celebrated in this house. *lol*

Bedding for Christmas?

I have never thought about giving bedding for Christmas but then I came across this site, Visionbedding.com, and thought "why not?". My mother is crazy about giving away home made gifts and personalized pillow cases is one of her specialties. It's a nice gift, so a bedspread or duvet would be even better gifts.

Personally I would not put flag bedding on my beds. It's not my style. But I know that a lot of people like to have their flag everywhere and in that case a flag bedding would be the perfect gift. You can even have throw pillows and lap blankets to go with it.

Traveling by plane

Have you decided yet where you're going to spend Christmas? At home or visiting somebody? Or maybe you're one of the lucky few who go away on trips to exotic places as soon as Christmas comes close. The boys and I are off to Sweden to spend a few days with their father and my parents. I can't wait to see them again!

In case you live outside of the US and want to go there for Christmas, it's about time to get on with the planning and get the tickets as soon as possible. Look out for the Holiday Offers, there is much money to be made in that area.

If I had the posibility to spend the holidays in the US I wouldn't think twice about that. Dialaflight has flights to USA every day and they also have several other destinations. I think spending the holiday in USA would be nice for a change.

Beautiful holiday cards

It's December 4th and I still haven't even started making my Christmas cards. There is so much to do this year! I don't know if I'll make it on time, time is running up. :-( I'm actually thinking about ordering my Christmas cards on line instead. Even if you buy Christmas photo cards it's still not like a store bought card. It's more personal than the store bought card, because you chose the photo and in a way it's much more appreciated than the home made crafted cards. The Christmas card is in itself a gift, especially to those you don't meet very often and you want to keep updated on how your kids are growing. I ordered my Christmas cards online one year and the cards that year were a great success. I know my relatives cherish them.

At VistaPrint it's easy to personalize the holiday cards. There are several templates to chose from, both religious and whimsical. There are also templates for other religions, like Hannukha and Kwansaa cards, but several religions are missing. I guess they will have to chose one of the more general templates. And there are lots of great templates.

Okey, off I go to have a look at the templates...

All I want for Christmas

Overstock.com is hosting the All I want for Christmas Giveaway! It starts on December 3rd (today!) and ends on December 7th so you'd better hurry. Unfortunately it's only open to US residents, otherwise I would have been the first one to register. But I still can tell you all about what a great contest this is, can't I? *lol*

It's really easy to enter. All you have to do is to register and pick a gift. You don't need to buy anything to be able to enter the contest. You can enter the contest once a day, so go on, don't be shy! This is a great one so don't miss out. Honestly, how often do you get to pick your own gift? Once you've registered your e-mail address you get to pick the gift you'd like to win. There are many, many things to chose from. Just one thing though - it can not cost more than $1,000.00. *lol* Can you believe that? That is a LOT of money... And it could be all yours.

Once you're registered you can then invite up to 5 friends. Each day during the Promotional Period, one Entrant and that Entrant’s Entrant Friends will each be awarded: one $1,000.00 Overstock Gift Card toward the purchase of Entrant and Entrant Friend’s selected item. And then there's the Grand Prize where one Entrant will win one $5,000.00 Overstock Gift Card. Wouldn't you like to be the lucky one? I definitely would.*lol*

Check out this video for more information.



If I could participate I 'd invite Amy at Tiny Blessings, Jenn at Who has time to scrapbook?, Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie, Musings of a Housewife and I should bef olding laundry. If you haven't visited their blogs yet, pay them a visit since they have great blogs.

A new TV for Christmas

No, I'm not planning on getting a new TV for Christmas but I wouldn't mind if I did get one. *lol* Our TV is 2 years old and will have to last for a few more years. But the prices are going down and soon everyone will have a plasma TV at home. I don't, yet, but I have to confess that I'm really tempted when I look at the prices at SecondAct, an authorized dealer of Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba, Denon, Marantz, JVC, Hitachi and other brands. They are opportunity buyers specializing in HDTVs and offer deals on products that are factory refurbished, factory closeouts and overstocks, end-of-life or open box.

The Great Deal of the Day offers a huge discount on a single item for a 24 hour period. At 7 AM CST every day there's a new deal So if you're looking for a TV, don't forget to check back every day to see if the deal is what you're looking for.

Gifts for guys

My son B doesn't like toys. He's a bit special. *lol* He's 10 years old and would rather get things like a telescope, sunglasses, a flashlights or a microscope. I guess he's a "pre-teen" already because his hormones are beginning to show. At the same time he's very childish so I hope he won't be a full time teen for another year or two.

I think a microscope would be a great gift for my son. Actually, he has one already but it's for kids and doesn't work. It's for playing and not for studying things so he used it a few times and then stopped. I don't blame him, because you can hardly see anything because it's all blurry and tiny. Next time I get him something like that I'll get him a real microscope. It's more expensive but at least he can use it to study things and that's really what it's all about, isn't it?

A telescope would also be a great gift for a kid his age. My son loves to read and discover things so with a telescope he could study the stars from the rooftop. Yes, I think that would be the perfect gift for my son. I'll have a chat with Santa and then we'll see. *lol*

Christmas baskets online

I like buying my gifts online. It saves me a lot of time and I don't have to stand in line for hours. I also like browsing the net in search for that perfect gift. One thing I like giving (and receiving) are Gift Baskets.

The best thing about them is that you can make them as expensive as you like, to suit your economy. There's no limit to what you can do with a gift basket. Here's some information about DelightfulDeliveries.com, a company that works with gift baskets:

DelightfulDeliveries.com Recognized as Hot 100 Retail Website

Internet Retailer Ranks Website Among Best in Nation for 2008

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DelightfulDeliveries.com, the premiere Internet Gift Retailer and America’s #1 Gift Basket Website, today announced it has been named one of The Hot 100 Retail Websites for 2008 by leading industry magazine, Internet Retailer. The Hot 100 list represents the best of what retailers are doing online, highlighting innovation and setting the standards in online for what the rest of the industry should be doing.

DelightfulDeliveries.com, a privately-held company, with one of the largest and most unique selections of gourmet gifts, ranked alongside larger sites such as Dell, Nike and Amazon.com, by building its award-winning site on selection, functionality, speed and the complete customer experience. A recent re-design has improved the customer’s shopping experience to make holiday gift-giving easy and enjoyable, including rating and reviews, behavioral recommendations and free shipping offers.

“We are extremely honored to be recognized as a pacesetter in online retailing,” said Eric Lituchy, Founder and CEO of DelightfulDeliveries.com. “We pride ourselves on using the latest technology to make gift-giving fun and easy. Being named among the best in the nation validates we are succeeding in our efforts to deliver the best possible customer experience.”

In addition to making Internet Retailer’s The Hot 100 list for 2008, DelightfulDeliveries.com was recently recognized by Inc. Magazine as part of its Inc. 5000, which highlights the fastest growing private companies.

DelightfulDeliveries.com offers over 2000 unique and delicious gifts from America’s best brands to the finest boutique shops. Consumers can easily shop the site by gift or food category, occasion, type and best-seller. Corporate gift-givers can choose from hundreds of customized gourmet treats.

For additional information, and to see a complete selection of gifts available, visit www.DelightfulDeliveries.com.

About Delightful Deliveries

DelightfulDeliveries.com is an award-winning website that began in 1998 and quickly established itself as one of the premier Internet gift retailers. Its mission is to bring great products to gift-givers, while providing world-class service. The company selects its offerings from a broad variety of fine food gift products for consumers and for corporate gifts, and gathers them in one place to make the selection process quick and simple.

Christmas gifts

I think it's about time to start buying those Christmas gifts. So far I haven't bought a single gift. :-( I just haven't had time - or money - to buy the gifts I want to. I will get going next week and try to buy as much as possible then. But first of all I need to make the list so I know what to look for.

One thing I like to do is to look around on the internet to see what I can find. I'm tired of buying tiny toys for my kids because they leave them all over the place and then I have to pick them up. This year I'm going to get them only a few things but more expensive things. I don't know what yet, that's the problem. What can you get to a 8 year old and a 10 year old that won't end up all over the floor? I've been thinking about a MP3 player for my oldest DS. I don't know what they cost these days because the one I have is a few years old and was expensive at the time. I guess the prices have dropped since, like with most electronic devices. I'll have to compare prices before I make up my mind. I guess my youngest DS would prefer a game instead or an Action Man... I'm fed up with his Action Men! They are all over the place.... But at least I know he knows how to play with normal toys as well, not just with electronic devices. My husband probably wants some electronic device that I can't even figure out what it is. *lol*