Thanks to everyone who entered the Macy’s First Impressions and Kidz Bop Christmas Party giveaways! The lucky winners are:
Macy’s First Impressions:
Kidz Bop Christmas Party:
Email your mailing addresses to me at blog (at) mamablogga (dot) com and I’ll get these in the mail to you!
Stay tuned for one more GINORMOUS (local) giveaway!
I love listening to Christmas music during the holidays. The other day, I realized that I’d learned a lot of (secular) Christmas songs in school, and that my children probably won’t. I think my kids enjoy Christmas music (any music, really) more if they hear kids singing it. They’re more likely to learn and sing along, I think.
So today, we have up to three Christmas music CDs to give away! Win a copy of Kidz Bop Christmas Party!
The CD includes, among other Christmas favorites:
I’ll be receiving a review copy as well, and I’ll let you know what we think!
To win, all you have to do is comment on this post any time through Sunday, December 12. Winners will be chosen at random. Really want to win? Tweet about the contest or mention it on Facebook, and leave me a link in the comments so I can see it for another entry!
Our next treat is a local one for Utahns. The Heber Valley Railroad runs a special Christmas ride in December called the North Pole Express—and you can ride for $5 off each ticket (and kids under 3 are free. If you want to skip hearing about our trip, here’s how to get the discount)!
We got to ride the train last night (for free, thank you, HVRR) and we had a great time!
Hayden’s excited
And Rebecca’s willingly smiling!
The interior of the train was decorated for Christmas with garlands, lights and ornaments. It was still a little light when we left, but we still got to enjoy some Christmas lights on houses on the trip.
And the HVRR worked hard to make the trip fun! In addition to Christmas jokes and songs, they provided jingle bells, which I didn’t find nearly as annoying as I thought I would. Then they brought around cookies and (VERY) hot cocoa. I was sharing a seat with Rebecca, and she managed to drop her cookie, her bell, my bell and her cocoa (and that one got in my lap, too 😀 ).
We also had some special visitors: Mrs. Claus came in on the way there, and the conductor came in on the way back. But most importantly, when we reached our destination, we picked up some bearded homeless man Santa Claus! (Who did not at all look homeless, I’m just being a goof.)
Hayden meeting Santa. At my suggestion, he asked for a bike
Rebecca meeting Santa. He’s giving her a wooden top.
The ride is almost 45 minutes each way, plus some time to move the engine from one end of the train to the other. (And you don’t get out while they’re doing this; you’re in the train the whole time.)
I was surprised at 1.) how fun this really was, and 2.) how well it went for my kids (I thought they’d get bored or scared of the train or Santa). I think Rebecca’s favorite part was getting her “sea legs” by walking between our seats.
Sitting right behind us was a person that looked really familiar—in fact, she looked like someone I tweeted with a lot when we were working on NaNoWriMo. So I just asked her—and it was Debbie of Cranberry Fries (She has lots more pictures of the train here, too.)
If you want to go
Get a discount! For $5 off coach tickets on December 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16, call the train directly at 435-654-5601 and ask for the “Utah Blogger” discount. Be prepared to tell the train of the name the blog that referred you—it’s MamaBlogga 😉 .
And if you want more information about the train, the North Pole Express site is here.
I’m kicking off a set of awesome giveaways and deals this week with some very cute clothes from Macy’s. Despite the expression on her face, Rebecca looks adorable in the dress that came with our set:
This dress comes from Macy’s Satin Hanger collection. The other sets, including boys’ suits, are adorable, too!
We also received a cute layette set which is still a little big for Rachel, and a very soft teddy bear, which Rachel likes eating playing with.
I like that, aside from the “plastic tags, packaging, and cords,” the bear’s not a choking hazard. Baby safe toys FTW!
I have FIVE gift sets valued at $50 to give away. They include an 18mo-size outfit from the Satin Hanger collection (Rebecca is wearing ours above; she’s on the small side for a two year old), a 6-9mo layette set (onesie, pants, sleeper and bib), and a stuffed animal.
To enter:
Comment here by Sunday, December 12! For a second entry, post about the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook, and leave a link to the post in the comment thread (limit: two entries total and one gift set per person). The winners will be drawn at random from the comments.
Winners will be notified and announced Monday, December 13.
(We received this gift set for free from Macy’s. You can, too!)