Secret Santa!

Twas the night of Christmas, and all through the house, our bellies were full, and the cat played with a catnip mouse.

I crept to the kitchen, sight unseen, and opened a package to find presents wrapped in green.

A card I opened first, handmade with trees, and even the wax stamp left me quite pleased.

A pretty notepad awaited me next; with "Joy to You" as its text.

If I'm given a snowman, the gift giver never misses, and inside were a little bundle of tasty Hershey's Kisses!

Last, a hand-knitted pair of fingerless gloves, which this woman can tell you she positively loves!

These Secret Santa gifts were sent to me by Judy of JNOriginals at Etsy.  I love them all- thank you so much! :)  The Secret Santa swap was through the Blogging Business Artisans Team, which I'm proudly a member of.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Twenty Years Ago...

My girls were so cute! OD was two, and YD was around seven months in this picture.

I think if I tried to make them wear matchy outfits today, they'd think something had seriously gone wrong with my brain.

Wordless Wednesday: Candy Cane Lane

Scenes from a Coffee Meet

Mid-December, you go for coffee with a close, dear friend, and you get a mocha latte...

And your friend gives you a great cookbook full of easy recipes, hand-drawn illustrations, and fantastic, homey photographs...

...And in addition to a Snorkin' Labbit and another toy, you give her a journal that appeals to both your sarcastic, snarky natures. :)

Merry Christmas!  Hope you have a friend to enjoy a day out of the season with. :)

Charlie Brown

For years, I've wanted to get a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. For me, it's more than just the cartoon. When I was growing up in Florida, my mom kept our Christmas tree all year long, and my sisters and I always compared it to Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Of course it was taller, but it was a pretty spindly thing.

But just like Charlie's tree, when it was decorated, it was transformed from a sort of sad little guy into a pretty thing that sparkled and was full of memories (/sappiness ;)).

I've seen these at various outlets, but I got mine at Aldi's for $7.99. Now when I'm sitting on the couch, I can just look to the left and remember a piece of my childhood.

Avalanche of Snowmen

As some of you may already know, I loooove snowmen at Christmas. They're so darn cute (most of the time).  I've been building on a snowman collection for years... not too many, since I get only one or two a year, but I've got a good little crop going.

Here are some of my favorites from this year:

This gal I found at Home Goods on clearance after Christmas last year.  She has a tutu and really long legs.  Why can't you see them?  Well, because she's in front of the mirror above our mantle, and I didn't want to be in the picture this time. ;)

I got this great little guy at Cracker Barrel years ago.  He is positively adorable.  He wears skis and is holding ski poles.

A glimpse into the Snowman Kingdom (Population: 39) on top of our entertainment center.  The guys behind them?  A piece of art I bought years ago.  Hee.

Most years I get year ornaments.  This is one of my favorites.

After ten years, our first inflatable snowman finally bit the dust this year, so this guy caught my eye.  Isn't he a cutie?  And I apologize for the light streak through the picture: apparently I had my camera app on "Shake", and a random film and lens came up.

Thanks for visiting this particular avalanche of snowmen.  Do you have any Christmas collections?

Almost Wordless Wednesday: So Friggin' Cute!

The snowmen in my half-bath are so friggin' cute! I don't know if I should be this enamored of a toilet lid cover...

Holiday Warning!

With the holidays coming up, especially one associated with a season of lights, I thought I'd pass on the following warning. Cat lovers, beware!

In 1993, we lived in a third-floor walk-up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We had a long bar dividing the living room from the kitchen, and for Christmas, I set tapers along the bar. One afternoon our landlord was up there for some reason. Suddenly, he interrupted us to exclaim, "Your cat's on fire!" We had a long-haired cat named Figaro who liked to lounge on the bar. Apparently, in the midst of our conversation, she'd walked next to a candle... and her tail turned into a taper of its own.

She wasn't hurt; it was only the tip that was singed. But apparently someone in the house didn't learn her lesson... (ahem).

Five years later, in Salem, we also had a very fluffy, very mean cat named Cleo. She was half-feral... well, she was really mean (except to her momma; as Russell Crowe said in '3:10 to Yuma', "Even bad men love their mommas."). I had my Day of the Dead altar up, complete with marigolds, sugar skulls, pictures, and... candles. Tapers, to be exact.

I walked into the kitchen and smelled something horrid. Burnt and charred, and reminiscent of the time I'd burnt my own hair. And there sat Cleo, with a tail that looked like part of a melted black tire. She didn't seem to be aware of what was going on, but I called the local cat vet in a semi-panic.

She asked, suspiciously, "How did the cat burn its tail?" I answered, "I didn't INTENTIONALLY set my cat on fire! She walked next to a candle!" Trying to wipe the burnt hair off a mean cat's tail is like trying to tame a sack of snakes. I'm pretty sure we left some of it to fall off itself.

OD and Figaro, circa 1996.  Cats just looooove children...

The lesson is: don't leave tapers anywhere this holiday season for your cats (or any animals) to walk next to and become feline torches.  Hell, don't leave candles *anywhere* where they like to lounge.  I don't leave candles anywhere anymore where my cats can catch on fire.  While it may sound slightly comical, and my cats weren't harmed (although if they had egos, they would have been humiliated), no one wants to take a chance on their fur-babies actually getting hurt.

Perfume Sticks!

Perfume sticks are now appearing at Lalalita Body Co!

What are perfume sticks?  They're compact (lip balm-sized containers), and made from a combination of natural waxes and oils.  As with everything else at Lalalita, they're paraben- and phthalate-free, with skin-safe flavor oils, and no ingredients have been tested on animals.  Which is good, because Pippi doesn't like to wear perfume. ;)

Below are a couple of "Ooo, I Smell Good!" perfume sticks already at Lalalita: "I Love You", which is a Love Spell-type fragrance, and "Suntan Oil", which smells so much like a leading-brand suntan oil.

Other scents that will be coming in the next few weeks include Little Black Dress, He's So Sexy, Glazed Donut, Basket of Berries (pearberry-type), Margarita, Monkey Farts, Peanut Butter & Bananas, Coconut Cream Easter Egg, and so many more!  Please stop by the shop daily to see what new fragrance is in store. :)

Jack!

Love my Jack O' Lantern... :)

New at Lalalita - Lip Balms!

I've had a love affair with lip balms for a loooong time. I'm one of those people who's said, "I'm addicted to lip balms." I totally am. LOVE finding good ones. I get distressed when I can't find my Favorite O' the Moment in the recesses of my purse. I sure don't like discovering that I've wasted my money on one that doesn't work, or tastes too waxy.

A few weeks ago, I started working on lip balms here in the "Lalalita Lab". I'm happy to say I am in LOVE with the way this lip balm feels. Not too greasy or oily; not too heavy, but not so light that you can't feel its on your lips. And it really works itself in there and makes your lips feel soft and moisturized. With a combination of oils and wax, how could it not?

Right now, at the Lalalita Body Co Etsy shop, two "Lick My Lips" lip balms are currently for sale: Cotton Candy, and Pink Icing, which is my biggest seller in lip scrubs.  In the coming weeks, more scents will be released, like Peanut Butter Cup, Cherry Limeade, Marshmallow, Double Mint, and Red Velvet Cake.  As with my other products, the lip balms are paraben- and phthalate-free, mineral oil-free, smell great, and they're lightly sweetened.  And have I mentioned that they make great, affordable stocking stuffers? ;)

Stay tuned!

What Do You Smell Like?

This week marked the start of the release of Lalalita Body Co's winter scents. Already released is "A Wonderful Gingerbread Cookie", and today begins the launch of "A Spiced Cranberry Story". Both are great, bold scents that I love, and would choose myself to wear in colder months. Almost like styles of clothing, changing from shorts to pants, short sleeves to sweaters, my tastes in scents vary with the seasons. In the spring and summer, I wear more tropical, light scents like coconut and fruit, or satsuma. As soon as the third week of September rolls around, however, I get out the cinnamon. The pumpkin. The fudge brownie (scents, of course. I don't rub a pumpkin on my wrists! ;)). And that's the way I roll, until spring rolls around again and the short sleeves come out.

Do you do the same thing? What are your favorite scents for the warmer months? What about when the air has a crisp snap to it, or snowflakes are swirling around your head? Or are you a one-scent kind of person year-round?