Reviews by Cole » christmas

It’s Time to Break Your Neck Christmas Shopping

Cole — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:06:41 +0000

This post brought to you by Pier 1 Imports. All opinions are 100% mine.

Despite the fact that I don’t yet have a home (well, not a home to move into), I enjoy shopping for decor for my home. Although I will not have the time to entertain, I can still dream about it and plan an evening in my head. Now, the traditional holiday colours of red and green and gold usually are not my favourites but I do enjoy just how vibrant the colors are as a combination. If I had holiday guests, I would set my table and decor in the reds and greens against a background of white. For example, the Jingle Bell Napkin Ring that Pier 1 carries would look great on a simple, white napkin. The Red Amaryllis in Vase is another must have, perfect against an understated setting.

Of course, the story has all sorts of items that would make great holiday gifts for you–or me. I am in love with the Red Reindeer Mug and for just $5, it’s a steal! I don’t drink coffee but what better to hold your holiday hot chocolate? And if I hadn’t already bought my sister’s Christmas present, I could shop there for her, too (the gift planner makes it easy to shop for anyone). The Glamour Girl set includes beaded jewelry, which I know she has been really into lately. In fact, I bought my mom a set of icicle ornaments a few years back from Pier 1 because we both really enjoy them but they break so easily that you have to frequently replace them.

I will definitely be stopping in the store to get a hands on look at their holiday decor and gifts–and too see what kind of deals Pier 1 has this season. If you’re also a fan of Pier 1, you can “Like” them on Facebook. Doing so equates in a $1 donation to Toys for Tots this holiday season.

TodaysMama Christmas Giveaway

Cole — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:48:34 +0000

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
I simply wish for everyone to be safe and warm and maybe to get some awesome presents.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
I used to wake up at the crack of dawn with my sister to open presents. I don’t really have a tradition anymore. I guess I need to make a new one.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
Well, I just bought myself an Alienware laptop so how about.. to win the lottery? XD

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
Everything’s special when I’m around.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
My family played a lot of card games as I just talked about on my blog. We still play a lot of games when I go to mom’s: Monopoly, Uno, etc.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
I still decorate a tree.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?
Someplace on the East coast maybe. Boston?

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
Wendy and I really want an Xbox 360 with some Lego games (Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, etc).

Return Season

Cole — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:23:58 +0000

If you listen to the media, you imagine that the days just after Christmas are full of shoppers rushing to malls and big box stores to return gifts that just don’t quite cut it – whether it’s a tacky Christmas sweater or something only 10 sizes too big (or small), a duplicate gift or something entirely off the wall.. Folks stuff them back in the packages for gift cards and cold hard cash to use on things they really wanted in the first place and I expect the stores know this well enough; even the sparse shopping we did resulted in us getting discounts or things like concerta coupon for December 26 to the beginning of January.

I don’t actually think I’ve ever returned a gift in the days immediately after Christmas. I can only remember returning one once, and it was months after. I’ve had a lot of gifts I don’t like but perhaps they were not returnable or I simply tossed or gave them away (sometimes after years).

Do you brave the crowds to return things?

Christmas Shopping

Cole — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:40:18 +0000

Most of our Christmas shopping is done. We haven’t bought a lot. We got our TV last month so that’s been on my mind as well as the upcoming move. I bought Ryan a video game, he got me a movie and we’re getting Seinfeld Monopoly (it was only like $4 when I snagged it!) for ourselves as well as canisters for the house. Besides a couple stocking stuffers, we’re keeping it low key this year. I’m not sure what I will get for his stocking but custom shot glasses is a pretty neat idea.

Light Up the Night

Cole — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:02:00 +0000

We didn’t buy very many things this year as far as Christmas decor. Wal-mart was a disappointment when it came to products and frustrating in terms of how many other customers were around. Target was slightly more successful although no less busy. (The checkout lines were insane when we first entered). We also managed to get quite a few items on sale. Unfortunately, they were also already sold out of a lot of stock by the time we got there so we didn’t manage to get more than 1 set of lights and 1 light up window decoration.

However, I really like the lights. I was initially wary of buying a Faceted Light Set because I wasn’t fond of the flame tip shape (sort of tear drop with a pointed end) but it has really since grown on me. I especially love how the faceted lights – which include red, pink, blue, yellow and green bulbs – appear. They leave a kaleidoscope-like pattern on the wall which looks amazing when the colours blend together. (I am kicking myself for not being able to find my camera!)

The lights come in strands of 45 and each bulb has a small clip on it to help put it up. I simply draped outs over the curtain rod and let it hang down over the window so I didn’t need any further tools. I actually didn’t notice the hooks at first but I think they could be extremely useful.

These lights are extremely bright and easy to see. They’re hung in our bedroom and we definitely have to unplug them or else we’ll get no sleep.

These lights are a nice addition to our Christmas decor. The colours and light patterns are gorgeous and I’m glad we snagged the last box.

Christmas Plans

Cole — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:56:00 +0000

Ryan and I were talking about what we will do for Christmas today. His mom is having both sides of the family at their house this year but he will likely work Christmas Eve and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Ryan to drive 30 minutes to his parents house only to be able to spend an hour there before returning home to make sure he is well rested for work the next day. So we are considering doing sometihng at home but it seems to be so hard to downsize Christmas, especially when a certain someone doesn’t really like traditional Christmas foods like ham (although I do). Knowing our luck, we’ll probably wind up eating nothing. At least we won’t overeat and can save the money we would have spent on Fentraphen, instead.

But what would you make for a Christma meal for 2 people?

Christmas shopping already?

Cole — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Have any of you started Christmas shopping? Maybe you’re already done? As mentioned, I don’t love thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, at the very least so I haven’t even thought about shopping. Plus, I won’t be doing a lot of shopping this year anyway. I just wonder what people are going to buy and what the Black Friday sales will be like and how many people will get replica watches instead of what they really want.

What Time of Year Is It?

Cole — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:19:00 +0000

I am totally of the school of thought that the Christmas season does not officially begin until after Thanksgiving. Of course, I am a huge fan of Halloween and want it to last longer. Still, I understand how much easier it is to get your shopping done sooner rather than later even if it takes away from the holiday spirit. However, I do not understand why Best Buy and Wal-mart have to be playing Christmas music already! It is not even a week into November. While some people may be shopping for sports gifts early, even they don’t want to hear Christmas music yet!

I feel like my mom when I complain about things like this but has the world gone crazy?!