Operation Christmas Child: Donating Gifts To Children In Need.

*This goes on every year. Just google the exact dates for that year.*

There is still time to donate for the Christmas 2015 season but it's best to put this on the top of your To Do List since there is a small window of time to donate in order for the kids to receive the gifts by Christmas.

November 18-25 is National Collection Week at Samaritan's Purse. Chick-Fil-A has partnered with Operation Christmas Child and some of the locations (like Any Orange County locations in Southern California) have extended it and you can drop off shoeboxes filled with gifts until November 30, 2013.

Setting aside religious and/or political beliefs if they conflict with either of the companies involved, we need to think of the children who will ultimately be getting these gifts. When you give the gift of a Christmas present, 100% of what you give goes to a child. So when you send school books, a child in need will read them. When you send a soft, huggable stuffed lovie a child will feel safe and warm snuggling their gift at night. They don't care what you believe, they don't care if you don't even celebrate Christmas - they will just appreciate the love and the hope is that some of these children will be inspired to complete the circle of giving and in their own way pay it forward to give to others someday.

This is the reason to give right here. Give for the chance to fill these kids with pure joy and love.

Age category for shoeboxes: Boy or Girl: 2-4, 5-9, 10-14.

What to give: Start with a larger toy, such as a stuffed animal, car, or doll. Add toys, school supplies, and hygiene items. Do not include used items, war-related toys, chocolate or perishable foods, liquids, medicines, or breakable items. 

Here is the link from Samaritan's Purse about volunteering with them and/or making a donation of a Christmas box. They are asking to please send $7.00 to cover shipping costs for each box and if you donate that online you can follow where your box goes. You can also follow them on twitter.

Chick-Fil-A has teamed up with them and some of the locations are an official drop off location. They are even giving a coupon for a free sandwich for each filled box you bring in. If you don't eat there for whatever reason you can give your coupon away to someone who would love a free sandwich. Unfortunately, there are many homeless people in our world right now and if you drive a few blocks around your own house you will find someone to give your free sandwich coupon to.

The point is to give back, pay it forward and share the love.

Please join our family today in going to pick out gifts for children in need who, most likely, will not be receiving a ton of presents under a beautiful Christmas tree this year. We have a 5 year old and a 3 year old and we are letting them pick out their own box for a child who is their age and my husband and I will make gift boxes for the 10-14 age category. In the past when I have donated items to shelters and even when our family hosted a Pajama Drive a few years ago for the Pajama Program (a company who is near and dear to my heart) we learned in talking to the people working at the shelters, that many older kids get neglected during gift giving time because so many people want to help the babies and the small kids, which is wonderful don't get me wrong. However, we need to remember that older children and teenagers are in homeless shelters too, or in foster care and they need love too. Sometimes they need it more because they see more and know more.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Please check back to my blog as I will be posting about our family donation to Operation Christmas Child this year.

Peace, Love & Light

Coco Cana

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Holiday Hilarity

I have been having a little too much fun creating those funny, terribly sarcastic someecards. It's kind of right up my alley right now because each picture is like a perfect little writing prompt. Great for when I have writers block and need a lil fix o' funny. I have a lot of them so I have decided to start blogging them into categories just for fun. Here is my Fall/Winter Holiday edition. 

If sarcasm is your jam then check out my other someecards on my Pinterest board called: My Funny One Liners

Here is some Holiday Hilarity for you:
















Hope you got a laugh! I'm not going to say "sharing is caring" because that's lame. But you know what to do.

Happy Holidays!

Love,
Coco Cana

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Top 10 Things Never to Tell a Pregnant Women During the Holidays (or anytime!)

Pic credit: Barginlifestyle dot com

It's the holidays and you're out and about feeling merry and bright with your most precious gift - your baby belly - when sure enough someone makes a Grinchlike comment that dims your holiday glow. In the spirit of giving, share this list, and help make the world a better place!

1. “You're looking quite jolly in that red dress.”

2. “Are you hiding an elf under there?”

3. “Are you sure you aren't having twins? (This really has nothing to do with the holidays.)

4. You: “Hey Babe, does this white maternity snow jacket make me look too fat?”

Hubby: “No, it's cute. You look just like a snowman.”

5. “Too bad you can't have any wine right now. We're drinking the bottle we just brought back

from that little winery villa we stayed at in Tuscany." (Holiday or not, this is So-Not-Cool!)

6. “You know you can't eat that raw cookie dough, right?"

7. “How cute, when you laugh your belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly.”

8. “Are you sure you want to eat a third piece of pumpkin pie after you raided the refrigerator at midnight and finished off the rest of the turkey and mashed potatoes? You've been complaining a lot about heart burn, insomnia, swollen ankles, gas and constipation. You can't blame everything on the baby.”

9. “It looks like the bird has been stuffed already.”

10. Your Husband: “Honey, I just got the menu for my holiday work party. They are serving candy cane martinis and cranberry sangria, all you can eat sushi, and sashimi, goose liver pate, oysters on the half shell, deli meat tray with brie, camembert, goat cheese and port cheese, authentic Caesar salad, swordfish or Thresher Shark with veggies covered in hollandaise sauce, and a dessert tray with spiced rum cake, dark chocolate mud pie with espresso ice cream, custard tarts, Grand Marnier and Bailey's filled chocolates, homemade eggnog, hot buttered rum, and Irish cream or Kahlua coffee.”

You: "Looks I'll be making scrambled eggs for dinner again.

Did an interaction with a stranger (or loved one who should know better) leave you feeling Scrooge'd this holiday season? Tell us your awkward pregnancy comments below, and let us revel!

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*This was originally posted on December 23 for mom365. Click here to read more of my Top Ten Lists on Mom365.

Give Back: Family Christmas Project: Holiday Mail For Heroes

This weekend my family and I took some time to make out some Christmas cards. The kids colored and painted them with watercolors and added colorful Christmas stickers (and my lil guy insisted on putting some of his Disney Planes stickers too), we wrote long, hand written messages and included a beautiful quote about bravery and courage. This isn't too far from the norm during this time time of year when our Christmas cards get written, only this time we weren't including little tidbits about the kids and how we spent our year and there wasn't a family photo of us at Disneyland or riding our longboard at the beach. Actually, we don't even know the people we are sending them to. We were writing letters to active duty service women and men serving in the US Military during Christmastime for the Red Cross Holiday Mail For Heroes project.

We've had many military men in our family from our grandfathers on both sides of my husband's and my family who fought in WWII to uncles and my father-in-law who fought and served during the Vietnam War and cousins and my brother who served in various branches of the military protecting this great country of ours. In the late 90's my brother was in the Military Police - K9 division and he and his trusty bomb sniffing dog, Tanja would work alongside secret service helping to protect then President Bill Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton (then First Lady) and then Vice President Al Gore who were speaking or visiting in a particular area. 

We consider ourselves to be a pretty red, white and blue loving, patriotic family and love the beautiful USA so writing Christmas cards to women and men serving our country and helping to protect our freedom was a perfect thing to do as a family, especially since they are away from their families, friends and loved ones at Christmas. I found some silly cards from Trader Joe's I bought last year in one of the Christmas boxes we had gotten down to decorate our tree. (We were really on top of it this year and decorated everything the weekend of Thanksgiving!) I had 6 cards left so I decided to write out 6 in order to get them mailed off today so it will make the Dec. 6th deadline. 

My husband and I figured it would be fun to get a silly card and a picture the kids made for them. I found a beautiful quote by Alexander Hamilton on bravery and wanted to include that as well. I considered typing everything up and pasting it into the card since I do not have the best handwriting, but I wrote them by hand instead. I think it will mean more that way. My husband actually has very beautiful handwriting so I will get him to write some out next year. This time he was helping me by entertaining the kids with hanging Christmas lights and decorations around the house. Our goal is to double our card load next year. I'll be sure to stock up on cards during the after Christmas sales and will get an earlier start. 

You still have time to send out your own cards. They need them in their P.O. Box by Dec 6th. So if you send it today it will probably get there. It only takes one card to make a difference and brighten someone's day!  Here are some specific guidelines from the Red Cross website that they would like you to please follow:

Card Guidelines:

Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials and then reviewed by Red Cross volunteers working around the country.

Please observe the following guidelines to ensure a quick reviewing process:

• Ensure that all cards are signed.
• Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.
• Only cards are being accepted. Do not send or include letters.
• Do not include email or home addresses on the cards: the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.
• Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos: these items will be removed during the reviewing process.
• Please refrain from choosing cards with glitter or using loose glitter as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured warriors.
• If you are mailing a large quantity of cards, please bundle them and place them in large mailing envelopes or flat rate postal shipping boxes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.

All holiday greetings should be addressed and sent to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

The deadline for having cards to the P.O. Box is December 6th.
Holiday cards received after this date cannot be guaranteed delivery.

 These are the cards we made for them this year. 

This one is my favorite. 

This is what we wrote on all of our cards this year. 

This was the bravery quote we chose this year.

The cards get removed from the envelopes so I stuffed each envelope with 2 cards and didn't decorate them with stickers, etc. like we would usually do. Next year when we send more I'll just put them all into one puffy mailer without any envelopes to make it more efficient. 

This is the masterpiece colored by my lil guy who is 3 years old. And of course the Disney Planes movie stickers he wanted to add. 

This was one of the watercolor masterpieces my 5 1/2 year old made. She is really into black cats right now. I think it's a hold-over from Halloween. I normally give her free reign with her artwork, but for the sake of this being a cheery Christmas card I was "strongly encouraging her" to add a little color to lighten the mood!  haha!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!  May you have fun spreading some love, joy and Happy Holiday wishes to people around the world who could use a little extra love.  We are all so fortunate and have so much and it doesn't take much to give to others. Sometimes (like these cards) all it costs is a little of your time. I hope this inspires you to Give Back this year. Please let us know what you did as a family in our comments section!

Here are some more ideas to inspire you! 

Peace, Love & Light

Coco Cana

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Is August Too Early To Get Excited For Christmas Time At Disneyland?

This photo is the property of My Tales From The Crib and @Coco_Cana. It was taken by Colleen Duncan Canavan at Disneyland during the 2012 Christmas season. We just so happened to walk by the castle when it was all lit up and they had blocked it off for something (fireworks maybe?) and I captured this in about 2 seconds as we were walking by. Mind you there are a GAZILLION people behind me, next to me, annoyed with me for stopping yet waiting to take my very spot to capture their own castle shot with out anyone in it. My husband is not one to stop in the dead center of a very busy, moving crowed and swim upstream like a salmon to capture the perfect picture...but I am. And I'm glad I did.  I love this pic. We blew it up for our daughter's room. Even though it's not a professional shot and it's pretty dark, it's priceless to us. 

We are kinda Disney Freaks over here. I worked there right after I graduated from high school. In fact the day I started was the very next day after my Grad Night as a senior. I was exhausted during orientation to say the least. But it was an awesome summer job. I was an "Outdoor Vendor" so my job was to sell things from the little carts scattered throughout the park like churros, ice cream (the ice cream bike in Toontown was so much fun!), hot dogs, drinks and popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn. I was also the person holding about a million Mickey Mouse balloons on Main Street.

Over the course of the summer I think I posed for about a thousand pictures with people from all over the world because they wanted to stand next to me holding the balloons. (BTW, "no you can not hold them yourself! Even for 'just' the photo!" LOL!) I also worked at all of the popcorn carts and sold glow sticks along the parade route back when it was The Electrical Light Parade and The Lion King Parade. (Somewhere in the distance I just heard my mom say, "That was my favorite parade!  I wish they would bring that one back. I loved The Lion King Parade!!") I agree with her. It was an awesome parade.

Btw, this was the summer of 1994.  It was a such cool job for an outgoing single girl who had just graduated high school, who had her own car and was about to turn 18. There were close to 500 people in my department alone! So every single day I worked I met new people (meaning I met new cute guys!)  Plus I could get into Disneyland for free whenever I wasn't working and I got a discount on everything plus free parking. It made a great date night with co-workers!

One of the best jobs ever!!

Even though I worked there and saw all of the behind the scenes, "backstage" stuff, (like the characters walking around in the back carrying their heads under their arms...) I still love it! (This was PRE California Adventure btw - back then it was still a giant paring lot!) Now as a married mom of two young kids we have annual passes and go as a family all the time. There have been months where we have gone at least 4 times a month (every weekend) and sometimes even during week nights after my husband gets home from work. We have also used it as a date night where we ride all of the big rides and walk around like free birds without a stroller and a diaper bag. We love to go by ourselves for our anniversary or a birthday and we'll go have a fancy dinner at the Blue Bayou (the dark, romantic restaurant in the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride).

We do love taking the kids though. You'd be surprised, but there is so much to do there for young kids who are not quite tall enough to go on everything. I have no idea why people wait to go until their child "is old enough/tall enough to ride all of the rides" because a child gets in for FREE until their 3rd birthday.

Have you ever heard the words "FREE ADMISSION" and "Disneyland" in the same sentence?!  

It's not common, that's for sure. Unless of course you live out of state or you are really far away and don't make it here very often. In that case, I understand why you would want to wait to come until everyone in your family can ride everything. But if you live here and you are waiting to go til they can ride Space Mountain, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Right now (2013) a 1-Day park ticket for a kid 3-9 is $86.00!!!  A 2 yr old and a 3 yr old can ride pretty much the same stuff.  They can have a million dollars worth of fun at Disneyland as a 0-3 year old. Plus there are many, many rides they can go on too and if you have a meal at any of the buffets like Goofy's Kitchen, Minnie & Friends Breakfast In The Park, etc. (and they are under 3 years old) they eat FOR FREE!!!  I repeat, they eat for free. Google it. It's true.

Someday I will blog more about Disneyland and share all of our "insider tips" for going to the park with small kids but for now just trust me. Take the baby. Take the toddler. Take the preschooler. They will LOVE it! Besides, if you want them to really be into getting pictures with all of the characters, keep in mind that kids are way more savvy at a way younger age these days. An older kid who can ride all of the big rides might not be as smitten with Mickey & Minnie like a little one will. Those pictures and moments of them truly believing they are real are just priceless and to die for!  You can't recreate that kind of childhood magic when they are older and wiser and don't want to wait in line for 15-20 minutes just to get a picture with a character because it's cutting into their Radiator Springs Racers time, hello?! *Tapping watch* (That ride is a Must Do btw.)

Since we've been pretty much during every single month of the year in all types of seasons and weather and festivities and crowds, one of our very favorite times to go to Disneyland is when they are all decked out for Christmas (yes it's very busy and yes it's still totally worth it.) There is something very magical about it. We can't wait to go this year and take our traditional picture with Santa Claus, pet his real reindeer, take a picture with Mickey Mouse dressed up as Santa, see the icicle lights on the castle and watch the snow fall on Main Street.

Magical!! 

It's not too early...right?  Christmas is exactly 4 short months away from today! Heck, some of the stores are already itching to get rid of the pencils, lunch boxes, back packs and crayons they put out the day after the 4th of July and put out the holiday stuff up. Costco already has Halloween costumes!  (Boo.)  Besides, school started for us in the middle of August this year so my head has already completely switched over to Fall. After Fall comes pumpkin spice lattes, planning the Thanksgiving dinner menu and going to Disneyland for Christmas!

Oh and in case you didn't read it above: This photo is the property of My Tales From The Crib and @Coco_Cana. It was taken by Colleen Duncan Canavan at Disneyland during the 2012 Christmas season. We just so happened to walk by the castle when it was all lit up and they had blocked it off for something (fireworks maybe?) and I captured this in about 2 seconds as we were walking by. Mind you there are a GAZILLION people behind me, next to me, annoyed with me for stopping yet waiting to take my very spot to capture their own castle shot with out anyone in it. My husband is not one to stop in the dead center of a very busy, moving crowed and swim upstream like a salmon to capture the perfect picture...but I am. And I'm glad I did.  I love this pic. We blew it up for our daughter's room. Even though it's not a professional shot and it's pretty dark, it's priceless to us. 

Like I said, "Disney Freaks!"  ;-)

Dear Neighbors, We Know Christmas Is Over But...

Dear Neighbors, 

     The removal of our blowup Santa Claus riding a motorcycle with a snowman in his side car on our lawn will be total and complete melt-down devastation to our 2 year old. So your help and understanding in this delicate matter will be greatly appreciated. Don't think of "Moto Santa" as a "Christmas decoration"...think of him as a garden gnome.

Sincerely, 

The neighbors who still have up their Christmas decorations. 

January 3, 2013

Moto Santa

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