Author: cvegnad

The holidays are a special time for children – it is full of magic and mystery and I want my kids to hold on to this belief and magic for as long as possible.

Santa is that figure that you can’t help but love. He is the symbol of joy, kindness, giving and receiving. Every child deserves to believe in Santa and feel his magical spirit this time of year.

Package from Santa is a service that helps you celebrate the magic of Christmas and brings a personalized message just from Santa to your door. Parents can choose from three different packages on the website all of which contain a personalized letter that you can choose from.  You can choose from either the Gold, Silver or Platinum package based on your own individual needs. For a limited time, each package also includes a personalized video, phone call and four printable nice list guides.

We ordered the Silver Package which also includes a personalized nice list certificate, a personalized flight plan and photo of the big man. The website was easy to navigate and the first part of the order process was selecting our son’s letter. You have several template categories to choose from – we decided to go with the older than five years old category and found one that would suit our son the best.

After we personalized the letter and certificate, we created a flight plan! I have to admit this was really cool and this is one of our favourite things to talk about on Christmas Eve, where Santa is and when will he finally be at our home. I was even able to upload a picture of our son’s face to the flight plan (I can’t wait to see his face when he sees that).

The entire process was simple and quick which this Mom loves! I placed my order over the weekend and within two days my order was shipped. I was impressed with the speed on which my order was processed and shipped. I can not wait to see our son’s face when he gets his special delivery in the  mail especially with the packaging examples that were displayed on their website.

Right now you can save 25% off at Package from Santa!

Head over to their website and enter the promo code: FAM2060 to receive your discount.

Don’t forget that every Package from Santa includes:

• a personalized Santa Letter that arrives in the mail
• a personalized VIDEO starring your child via email
• a personalized PHONE CALL
• a personalized printable NICE LIST GUIDE
• Genuine North Pole Stamp
• Santa’s Special North Pole Return Address Label

Wishing you a very Happy holiday season and creating lasting memories with Package from Santa.

Disclosure: I received the silver package in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This time of year is magical – the lights, the music, extra family time and the overall spirit of Christmas.

It also brings with it a lot of holiday get togethers, dinners out and indulging in food and drinks that we don’t normally do. While I am all of for indulging (you have to enjoy life too), I am also for moderation. I am sure all of us can remember the times that we let ourselves get a bit carried away, ate too much and indulged in too many sweets and rich food items. How did your stomach feel afterwards? How did you feel overall?

For myself, I get painful stomach aches if I am not careful and it can even cause me to feel nauseated. No one wants to feel this way during the holidays so it is important to ensure that you are still eating right during the day (or at your other meals depending on when your holiday get together is). This means ensuring that you get the right amount of fruits and vegetables – maybe even adding in more at your other meals and at your snacks.

I love my fruits but I find that they usually go off before we can eat them all, especially now with the weather being so cold (my bananas I purchased on Sunday are brown now by Tuesday!). Frozen fruits are by far the best way to go in our house to ensure we are meeting our nutritional requirements and not wasting food – both of these points being very important to me.

Nature’s Touch is a line of frozen fruits and vegetables that follow strict regulations to ensure the freshest products are prepared for you. The products are all sourced from farmers who comply with strict ethical and hygiene rules and are then passed through sorting to ensure that only the freshest products are taken to the second step – freezing! The products are flash frozen individually quite soon after harvesting to ensure that they remain as fresh as possible.

We picked up Nature’s Touch frozen mangoes as this is one of our favourite fruits. While we love adding fresh fruit to yogurt, oatmeal and smoothies, there is so much more that you can do with their products. If you are stuck on what to make with them, Nature’s Touch provides a wide range of recipes and ideas on their website to help you out. You can find breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, snacks and so much more – it is actually quite amazing what you can create in the kitchen with their fruits.

We tried out their mango and strawberry crumble which was an easy to follow and prepare recipe. I was actually preparing this dessert after soccer while making dinner for the family and juggling laundry. Prep time was under ten minutes and then it was in the oven for an hour – there was no stress and very little clean up (win win for me!). It was a huge hit in our house – we loved the sweet taste of the mangoes and were really impressed how they held up in the baking process. It was the perfect blend of healthy sweets and I can’t wait to prepare this dessert and bring it to my family Christmas get together.

What is your favourite go to recipe during the holidays to ensure you are still eating right and focusing on your health?

Make sure to follow Nature’s Touch on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with products, recipes and more.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I am a texture person, I love to touch and feel everything from clothes, blankets, pillows and plush toys. There is no better feeling in the world then curling up on the couch or in bed with a blanket and pillow that is soft, cuddly and warms you up from the inside out. My kids have learned to appreciate the same thing – how can you resist the embrace of a soft plush?

Enter Squishmallows – adorable plush friends that can double as a pillow (and that you will definitely be wanting to steal from your child when they are not looking – which I have no shame in saying that I did several times!).

Squishmallows are Japanese inspired plush toys that come in a wide selection of characters that your child can choose from. Each character has a unique background that you can learn more about on their website as you choose your character or on the packaging itself when it arrives (their individual profiles will just melt your heart on the website). They come in a variety of sizes ranging from clips on to 8″, 13″, 16″ and even 20″.

We chose Puff, the blue Penguin, as our newest friend to come live with us. His profile told us he is a techy penguin who loves the internet and is always searching for the newest thing. He loves to build and code, not to mention loves extra marshmallows in his cocoa. He is also a bit silly – making him the perfect companion for our youngest as their personalities definitely jive and not to mention that adorable face of Puffs!

Nothing could have prepared us for just how soft the plush truly is. Puff was the perfect size to cuddle and carry around during the day but he also made the best pillow to relax with while watching television (not going to lie – I did steal him several times when my youngest wasn’t looking as you can tell from above!). I found myself just running my hands over the surface of the plush many times, it is the best feeling ever.

Even better? The plush is washable! So no worries about picking up germs, getting dirty and all of those other things that kids are famous for. Puff never lost shape, regardless if he was used as a pillow all night or carried around during the day.

Looking to have a special new cuddle plush for a child in your life? Squishmallows come in a wide range of products that will make excellent stocking stuffers and gifts for any child during the holidays.

Make sure to visit their website and to follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with the newest plushes and more!

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.