In my house, we’re all over the place when it comes time to get some snapshots of the day’s events.  I have to click wherever I can. The most precious images I have are of the kids walking down the hallway with their eyes popping the second they see their “big” Santa gift. 

I have 3 kids, and you’d think we’d do the professional Christmas portrait.  We did – once. Before we had our daughter.  But to me, a posed picture just isn’t as sentimental to me as a candid shot of the day.

I think the best invention ever was the digital camera. I’ve been SO angry in the past when I got my rolls of film back from the developer and discovered that NONE of my shots turned out.

With a digital camera (and a tripod), we can create our own Christmas pictures and then make gifts out of them!  I love taking the do it yourself route.  Then we can make Christmas cards, calendars, and coffee mugs from the images – it’s great!

My suggestion is get a digital camera and tripod and make your own unique personalized Christmas gifts this year, like these:

If your toddler or child is anything like mine, Elmo is a staple character in your home – especially at Christmastime! This year, one of the hottest Christmas toys for toddlers is going to be the Fisher Price Sesame Street Elmo’s Learning Fun Laptop.     

I know I’m always trying to keep my toddler off my computer unless I’m there to help her visit PBSKids.org or some other kid-friendly site. So the Elmo Laptop is the perfect way for her to get to be just like Mommy using a computer!  The thing I love most about it is – it’s an educational toy.

But what about other hot Elmo toys this Christmas? There are many!  From the TMX Elmo to the Pizza Party Elmo, your kids will laugh and love their toys no matter what variety you bring home. Here are some other Elmo Toys for Christmas 2007 you might want to consider:

A little dose of green will do ya good. At least, in my house it will. Kids of all ages (okay, adults, too) will love Shrek the Third – and all the goodies that go along with it. I personally love watching Shrek and Shrek 2, and I’m awaiting Tuesday anxiously so I can finally see Shrek 3 but I’ve seen enough clips to know it will live up to its predecessors.

For Christmas, there are all sorts of Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shrek 3 presents to buy. First, there’s the movies themselves – including a 3D version! Then you have plush dolls, Barbie-type dolls, talking and stretching Shrek dolls.

You can find Shrek toys for the Ogre himself, Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots, Baby Shreks, and Dronkeys (Donkey’s offspring with his Dragon lady love).  There are movies, books, toys, clothes, dinnerware, and video games.

 One thing I love about it is that Shrek toys are perfect for boys AND girls. Even the clothes come in pink and blue (with a little green mixed in for good measure). So go visit this site to find the perfect Shrek toys for Christmas and make your little one grin from ear to ear this holiday season!

Here are some great Shrek Gift Ideas for Christmas 2009:

When the holidays roll around, do you look forward to donning your best Christmas dress and attending holiday parties and family get togethers?  Does your daughter love the annual shopping spree where she gets to help pick out a precious little girl’s Christmas dress for herself?

In my family, the girls always love to pick out Christmas dresses, but the boys and men would rather sit home wearing comfortable clothes.  Still, even dad has to wear a black tie sometimes – and the boys wear khaki slacks and a nice holiday sweater.

Infant and baby Christmas dresses are so beautiful you’ll almost wish you had one for yourself!  They range from velvet materials to plaid holiday patterns – some with furry trim and red sashes and others more simple and unique.

Even if you’re not planning to attend any formal holiday parties, you can still invest in some affordable Christmas dress attire for the whole family and have your picture taken to remember the season for years to come!

Here are some great buys I found for Christmas dresses for all ages:

When it comes to the great outdoors, we like to mix and match our outdoor Christmas decoration themes.  We have an animated Santa on the rooftop, lights everywhere, candy canes lining the drive and sidewalk, animated reindeer and snowmen in the yard, inflatable decorations by the windows, and this year, we’re adding a nativity scene!

Whether you live in an apartment and only have a porch to decorate or have a half acre front yard to get creative with, you can find outdoor Christmas decorations that will suit any space. The only thing we ever have a problem with is finding enough extension cords to do the job! And you ave to try to match the grass (or snow) so it doesn’t detract from the outdoor Christmas theme’s beauty.

Here are some great ideas for outdoor Christmas decorations that I found. I love the inflatable decorations:

I’m torn between getting an artificial Christmas tree and a real one.  We usually have a real one as our main Christmas tree and smaller artificial Christmas trees for the additional ones we have placed throughout the house.

I can’t even decide between a flocked Christmas tree and a green one and each year, it becomes a squabble between us.  Flocked ones last longer, but they droop faster because of the weight of the flocking material. Artificial Christmas trees would last longest, but then you don’t get that Christmas tree smell.

One thing I do love are the unique artificial Christmas trees like the ones made of nothing but feathers, the soft pink colors and those that are pre-lit and you can place them in your yard or on the porch. I suppose there’s no right or wrong way to have a Christmas tree.

If you do invest in an artificial Christmas tree, make sure you have a storage bag or box to put it in so that it will stay in good shape throughout the years.  I remember the year after my parents got divorced, my dad wasn’t in too much of a celebratory mood. So my sister and I got down a 5 foot tall artificial Christmas tree my parents had that was missing branches and what were left were bent and extremely phony looking. This was in the 1970s, mind you.

My dad loved how we decorated it with paper ornaments we spent all day creating and he had tears in his eyes when he saw that we had wrapped household items to put under the tree (our wrapping paper was old newspapers).  It made him realize that life goes on and he eventually perked up and got in the Christmas spirit. I still love that little artificial Christmas tree for what it was able to do that year.

Here are some great deals on artificial Christmas trees you can get online: