Making a List & Checking it Twice: 2016 Holiday Planning Tips

Every year when Christmas time rolls around, my first thought is always, "Ugh, our families are SO BIG." Being one of 7 girls is a blessing but it also makes the holiday planning more complicated. There has been at least one new niece, nephew or brother-in-law every year for the past decade or so...and this doesn't even include Tuan's side of the family! The biggest challenges we face are keeping track of gift purchases for the twenty-something odd kids we shop for and planning all the various holiday parties. I'm sure many of you face the same challenges so I am sharing my tried and true tips on how to stay organized and keep yourself holly and jolly this holiday season.

1. Get a Christmas planner. These 20-30 page planners will help you track gift purchases, budget, grocery lists, activities, party menus and so much more. I started using a Christmas planner 2 years ago and have never looked back. Below are some of my favorite designs from Etsy. If you are going to be looking at this planner for the next month, you might as well pick a pretty design. Cost varies from $5-$10 and they are worth every penny. 

[PaperMousePlanners $6.00]

[Yellow Bliss Road $7.99]

[GrafikaStudio $7.86]

[missdesigngirl $6.50]

2. Use an online invitation system to invite guests and track your party RSVPs. Since I am an event coordinator by trade, I always find myself volunteering or being volunteered to organize holiday parties. I've come to embrace this duty but I do try to make my life easier by sending online invitations. Whether you are planning a cookie swap, white elephant, holiday movie viewing or ugly sweater party, there is an e-card for every occasion. Luckily for us, Paperless Post and Minted now offer beautifully designed cards that are available for free. Both sites offer guest management options that will be sure to simplify your hostess duties. 

Paperless Post 
(25 free coins when you sign up for an account)

Minted Online Cards 
(free during beta preiod)

2015 Santa Picture with Mall Santa

Here it is, Folks! Our 2015 Santa picture. I'm proud to report that there was no crying this year but there weren't any smiles either. This is the best photo we took, Parker looked terrified in all the rest. We opted to visit the Santa at Westfield UTC this year and I think it's safe to say that we will be going back to the Seaport Village Santa next year. 

Mom tips:

1. Pictures with mall Santa were more expensive (the basic package + digital copy was close to $50) and you only get a digital copy of 1 photo. With Seaport Santa you get all the photos from your session on a disc. 

2. We paid for the SantaFastPass and the workers weren't paying attention to whether or not people were in the fast pass line so we still had to wait. 

3. Mall Santa was too chatty. Clearly my child is afraid of you. Please stop asking for high fives.

4. The picture quality and photo background were not as good as Seaport Santa. 

Do you know of other good Santa photo opps in San Diego? Please leave a comment below.

I've pretty much been the worst blogger of all time the last few months. This is a fact. If you want more frequent updates, follow me on Instagram @parkerproject! 

San Diego 4th of July Celebration

I feel like I'm still recovering from the holiday weekend. We had so much fun spending time with family and friends! Here are a few of my favorite iPhone snaps from all the festivities. I posted a few other pictures and videos on my IG @parkerproject.

I ran the Crown City Run 5K Saturday morning with the lovely ladies pictured above. It was a fun, short race on a flat course and I averaged just under 10 minutes a mile thanks for my pacer (Anh) pushing me to not stop. It wasn't very well organized but I would consider running the 12K next year. 

Here's a sweet snap of the patriotic fruit skewers Parker helped me with. They were a big hit with adults and kids at the party we went to. Who doesn't like blueberries and watermelon?

We had a spring roll challenge at the 4th of July party we attended. It was the 4th food challenge we've come up with and things are getting serious! Above is a pic of my brother-in-law Minh's winning salmon spring roll with wasabi aoili. Check out the presentation. He really wanted to win.

Coming in at 2nd place was Casey's soft shell crab and poke spring roll. So good! I love soft shell crab.

Minh's carrot birthday cake from The Incredible Cheesecake Company. I know the picture doesn't look like much but this cake is D E L I C I O U S. I highly recommend it. 

We ended the night lighting up some sparklers with the kiddos while sitting around the fire pit with our bellies full and satisfied. I caught Parker a june bug that he was very excited about (RIP june bug) and we went to bed smelling like firewood. It was a perfect day. We're so blessed to have amazing friends and family.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby who is an amazing dad and also finds the energy to put up with my crazy. I love you! Thank you for your patience, strength and love. Parker truly appreciates it when you play pretend transformers, superheroes and let him use you as a jungle gym. You are the best and we hope you like your new Weber grill!

I also want to wish a Happy Father's Day to Papa Chu. Thank you for teaching me the value of hard work, teaching me to not be afraid of getting my hands dirty and instilling in me the importance of letting loose! Anyone who knows my dad knows he's always up for a party. The picture below is one of my absolute favorites of us together. I love you, Daddy.

Thanksgiving: Thankful & Blessed

This year I am most thankful for:

My patient and loving husband

My silly baby who is turning into a bona fide little boy

Family near and far

Mom friends who understand the struggle

Non-Mom friends who let me live vicariously through them

My incredibly forgiving fur baby, Frank

Good health

The means to live the life we live

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[Free download available on Ruffled Sunshine]

Christmas Recap

We've survived the holidays! This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with my family in Orange County and it was so much fun to hang out with all my sisters and their beautiful families. We made a gingerbread town, attended mass and then came home to eat some yummy homemade pho and open presents. As always, it was a loud and rowdy get together full of laughter and inside jokes.

 

Christmas Day was spent with Tuan's side of the family. Again, we had delicious homemade Vietnamese food and opened more presents. The day was pretty low key and we even managed to fit in a Christmas Day family nap. I really hope that Parker enjoyed his first Christmas! He received a lot of new toys, clothes and books so I'm going to put some away and give him a new toy to play with every few weeks. The one thing he didn't get was storage for all his toys so I'm going to order the P'Kolino Monster Storage bins for him.

 

 

[Family photo in front of my sister's beautiful Christmas tree]

 

[Working on my mini gingerbread house. Next year's gingerbread decorating promises to be a lot more competitive.]

 

 

[Our gingerbread town complete with a commercial building and turrets]

[Parker opening gifts on his first Christmas]

Thanksgiving Wrap Up + Finger Foods on the Horizon

Hey Mamas! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend. The long weekend was a much needed break for me. It was so nice to sleep in "late" and to spend the days with Tuan and Parker doing fun family stuff and taking lots of photos. We had a total of 3 Thanksgivings this year and had the chance to see all of our family and friends. Little man chowed on some sweet potato and turkey for his first Thanksgiving. This week I'll be roasting some veggies in the over and *gasp* not pureeing his food. One step closer to independence!

[Trying to get him used to using utensils by letting him hold his own spoon during feedings]

Bunting Advent Calender Tutorial

After much consideration, I decided to make a bunting advent calendar for Parker and Kaden this year. The problem with a lot of advent calendars that I found online were that the pocket for gifts was too small to fill with anything significant. I settled on the bunting design because 1. it allowed me to make the pocket as big as I wanted 2. it very easily doubles as festive decor for the house and 3. it's a lot of bang for your buck! Here is my simple tutorial on how to create your own bunting advent calendar.

Materials Needed
3 coordinating fabrics, 1/2 yard each
5 yards of trim/ribbon (I used ball fringe)
1 spool of matching thread
5 sets of Thickers
1 isosceles triangle template with legs that are 7 in and a base that is 6 in

Directions
1. Cut out triangle template on cardstock or any thick paper (I used one side of a manila folder).
2. Use your template to cut out your fabric triangles. You will need 16 triangles cut from each of your 3 fabrics. Match your triangles into pairs (8 pairs for each fabric type). This is the longest step of the process.
3. The front of the bunting pocket will need to be a little lower than the back. Take each "front" triangle and fold it half an inch down from the top. Sew with 1/2 inch seam allowance to make a neat edge. Repeat 24 times.
4. Lay each front and back triangle right sides together and sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance on both sides.
5. Flip each triangle pocket inside out. I used a chopstick to make sure the point was extra pointy. You can use any pointy stick to do this.
6. Press each triangle so it's flat.
7. Starting 6 inch from the start of the trim, sew all the triangles onto the trim leaving an inch between each triangle. You can space it out even more if you like but keep in mind how much trim you have!
8. Lay the bunting on the ground and admire your handy work.
9. Using tacky glue, apply the thickers in random order numbering each triangle at random 1-24. There are sooo many options for how to number each little flag. I chose to use the thickers because I have terrible handwriting and I liked the look of them. The only problem was that each set only had so many number 2s so we had to buy a lot of sets.
10. Let glue dry, hang your advent calendar and fill it with little treats!

Custom Silhouette Ornaments

I'm in love with these laser cut silhouette ornaments from Le Papier Studio! The design is simple but still very special and unique. Would it be too much if I ordered one of these for Parker and made hand print ornaments?

 

[$24 on Le Papier Studio]

 

[$30 for an ornament with the whole family]

 

A Nativity Scene for Baby

I made some space in one of the cubby holes in Parker's room this weekend for his nativity scene. My intention was to make one but clearly that wasn't happening so we bought this wooden peg doll set from Target instead. Target saves the day...again! I also bought the little wooden house from Target (it turns into a shelf). Parker loves the colorful wooden dolls and none are safe from his grabby little hands. I keep having to tell him not to smash baby Jesus and one of the wisemen went missing for a couple of days. I'm actually really surprised that the angels still have their wings. The only thing missing? The ox and the lamb. This will just have to do for now.

 

Checking this one off our Christmas activity list!

 

 

[Perfect for baby's little hands]

 

 

[Mary used to have a halo...until Parker pulled it off]

 

 

[A close up of the 3 wise men]

 



 

[Forgive the crazy hawaiian shirt. We went to a luau themed birthday party this weekend.]

Celebrating the Holidays in San Diego

Here are my top picks of festive ways to celebrate the season locally. Super mom status is achieved if you can accomplish half of this list! I will be adding a few of these as fun things to do for Parker's advent calendar. Hope to see you out and about!

1. Visit a Christmas tree farm
Nothing reminds me of the holidays more than the smell of a fresh pine tree. This year I want to take Parker to a Christmas tree farm so he can pick out his own mini tree to decorate. There are plenty of lots that sell pre cut trees but just 3 legit Christmas tree farms.

Family Christmas Tree Farm
300 Pepper Drive
El Cajon, CA 92021
619-448-5331
www.familychristmastreefarm.com

House Evergreen Forest
3036 N. Victoria Drive
Alpine, CA 91901
619-445-8300
ttrreeffaarrmm@cox.net (worst email address eevveerr)

Pine Tree Acres
620 Haverford Road
Ramona, CA 92065
760-788-5524
pinetreeacres@roadrunner.com

2. Have a snow day
It may not snow in San Diego but every year there seems to be snow around San Diego. Your best bet is to wait for the weatherman to announce that there is snow falling in Laguna Mountain, Julian or Palomar Mountain. Don't want to wait? Just head to Big Bear for a snow day.

3. December Nights
Balboa Park December Nights, the nation’s premier holiday festival, will take place for the 35th consecutive year on Friday, Dec. 6, 3-11pm, and Saturday, Dec. 7, noon-11pm. As always, the event brings families and friends together to spread holiday joy, learn more about the cultural value of Balboa Park and kick-off the “most wonderful time of the year.”

Participating Balboa Park museums open their doors free of charge from 5-9 pm both evenings and more than 350,000 visitors are expected to experience the joy of San Diego’s largest free community festival. Those who attend will participate in a truly multicultural experience, enjoying food, music and entertainment from around the world.

4. Go ice skating...by the sea
Every year the Hotel Del Coronado transforms Windsor Lawn into an outdoor ice skating rink adjacent to Coronado Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The rink will be open from November 27 to January 5. For more information, visit Hotel Del Coronado's website.

5. Attend a Christmas Tree Lighting
There are a number of tree lighting celebrations throughout San Diego every holiday season. I would love to be able to go to the one in Coronado or Balboa Park. For a complete list, check out this article on Red Tricycle.

6. Check out some Christmas lights
Some people take their Christmas lights seriously. I'm not one of those people but I do enjoy driving through nicely decorated neighborhoods. Here is the link to a list of some of the best Christmas light displays in San Diego. Wanna be super fancy about your Christmas light viewing? Book a tour with Masterpiece Limos. Other options for checking out light displays is the Holiday of Lights at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights.

7. Take photos with Santa at Seaport Village
The Santa's available for photo ops in Seaport Village this year look legit! Much better than the mall Santa I saw at Fashion Valley. I'm top of that, I'm sure Seaport Village will be decked out for the holidays. Can't wait for Parker's first crying photo with Santa.

8. Make an ornament
These handprint ornaments are a simple way to capture how small Parker's hands are at this first Christmas. Visit You're So Martha for full instructions. Too lazy? You can buy this kit from Pearhead. These would make great holiday gifts for gushing grandparents.

9. Make a nativity scene
Help your little one get into the real spirit of Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus but making a baby friendly nativity scene. I love this simple wooden project available from Caravan Shoppe. Don't have time to make this project? Target has some cute wooden peg doll nativity characters available in store too!

10. Jungle Bells
For a wild twist to holiday festivities, take in the Zoo's annual Jungle Bells celebration. Starting Saturday, Dec. 15 through January 6 2013, families can put a wild-animal twist on familiar holiday traditions during the Zoo's 2012 Jungle Bells celebration. The Zoo will stay open until 8 p.m. each night except Dec. 24 - when it will close at 5 p.m.