Home Depot – Holiday 6.5 ft. Pre-Lit Aster Pine Tree Clear or Multi Color $21 Shipped

Here’s a great deal if you need to pickup a new artificial Christmas tree. Home Depot has the Home Accents Holiday 6.5 ft. Pre-Lit Aster Pine Tree with clear or multi-color lights for only $21 (originally $84)with FREE shipping.

The 6-1/2 ft. Pre-Lit Aster Pine with Clear Lights has a 47 in. base diameter and 825 tips to create a full-looking tree with plenty of room for ornaments. The 350 clear lights help add a warm holiday glow to your home, and the 8-1/2 ft. long power cord allows for optimal tree placement.

Want to save even more on this hot deal? If you shop through Ebates you will receive an additional 3% of your purchase price back in your Ebates account. New to Ebates? Learn more here – you will also receive a bonus $10 Target, Home Depot or other gift card after you make your first purchase (of at least $25). Doesn’t cost you anything to sign up, and trust me getting quarterly refund checks is fun, even if they are only a couple dollars.

Pottery Barn Kids Christmas Stocking Clearance – $9.99 Shipped

Pottery Barn Kids is clearing out their remaining quilted Christmas stockings for only $9.99 with FREE shipping. The remaining styles include Reindeer, Dark Skin Doll, Light Skin Ballerina, Dark Skin Ballerina, and Train. Personalizing is still $7, but you can always find someone local too.

Check them out here.

Christmas Came Early Thanks To My JCPenney Secret Santa!

Remember my excitement about participate in a blogger Secret Santa? (If not, you can read all about it.) After much anticipation, my Secret Santa gift arrived. What would it be, the box was HUGE!

Surprise, it wasn’t just one gift it was two. My sweet Secret Santa sent pre-lit Christmas garland and a cookie press. Not just any cookie press, a pink one! Now I can finally make mom’s Christmas Tree cookie recipe! (Well, maybe not this year. Oh, I could make star cookies for New Years instead!)

And now to find out who my very special Secret Santa was… I scanned the JCPenney Santa Tag included with my gift with the bar code scanner on my phone to listen to the message left for me by my Secret Santa. The audio message revealed that Donna from Blog By Donna was my Secret Santa. After listening to Donna’s message, I was able to send her a text message through the JCPenney system thanking her for the gift. (I love cool technology!) Thanks so much for your thoughtful gifts Donna!

I know the gifts were for me, but I couldn’t resist hanging my battery-operated garland in K’s play room. She was SO excited to have her very own decoration. (Isn’t that life as a mom, even our gifts become gifts for the kids!) Next year, it will also adorn our golf cart during the annual neighborhood parade before returning to the playroom. The garland just look so perfect here.

If you are picking up last minute gifts this holiday season at JCPenney, make sure you pick up a Santa Tag to wow your loved ones with the cool QR technology! (Santa Tags are available instore at the gift wrapping station.)

Disclosure - I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of jcpenney and received a JCPenney Secret Santa gift and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Universal Studios & Islands Of Adventure Are Decked Out For The Holidays

The last time my husband and I celebrated Christmas with Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures was the day after we were engaged, eight years ago this month. It was a beautiful (cold) day, and my entire family was on hand to enjoy the park. The highlight of our adventure was being balloon holders in the Macy’s Day Parade — did you know you can do that? It was so cool!

So eight years later, there we were with two kids in tow, back to enjoy a little holiday spirit studio style. Guess what. It is just as much fun eight years and two kids later.

The Universal team had a very special day planned for a select group of bloggers, including some of my local pals (it’s always fun to see familiar faces), and we were thrilled to attend. If you have family in town that you are looking to entertain with a little holiday fun, you have to check out Universal Studios and/or Islands of Adventures. You will be happy to learn that all holiday events at Universal and IOA are included in the price of admission, but it will take two days if you want to see everything. (I was so close to Harry Potter’s castle, and yet this muggle has still yet to visit Hogwarts… another time.)

Our holiday agenda:

• Grinchmas – Islands of Adventure
• Cookie Decorating - Christmas Village at Universal Studios
• 85th Macy’s Day Parade - Universal Studios
• Mannheim Steamroller concert - Universal Studios

It’s hard to say what my favorite moment of the day was – catching K (on camera) licking the icing off her gingerbread cookie, K winning Rudolf in a carnival game in the Christmas Village all by herself, watching the parade that reminded me of our engagement with my daughters, or maybe listening to a Mannheim Steamroller concert in person. With Christmas all around us at the parks, we soaked in the spirit of the season.

It is official. My two month old has already been to four theme parks. I am not sure exactly how I feel about this – a mixture of pride for my theme-park loving family and sadness that I will never revel in her excitement on her first visit. She mostly slept through all four parks. My three year old, on the other hand, is loving life! Back to the current theme park adventure…

Even though the special concert series with Mannheim Steamroller has concluded for the season, guests can still enjoy the music of Mannheim Steamroller in the Grinchmas production. The classic tale of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss is brought to life in a live stage show, “Grinchmas Wholiday Spectacular,” starring The Grinch and the Whos from Whoville with an original recorded musical score by Mannheim Steamroller. For even more Who-liday fun, enjoy a character breakfast with The Grinch and the Whos (through December 31, 2011).

It’s not too late to enjoy the holidays at Universal Studios and/or Islands of Adventures, but you have to hurry. The holiday celebrations, including the Macy’s Parade are going on now through January 1, 2012.

Suburban Mom Tip – Did you know American Express cardholders enjoy special perks at Universal (you must use your AMEX to buy your tickets, of course). In addition to a special (well-stocked) complementary lounge near the Shrek attraction, just for being a card holder, you can be a balloon handler in the parade (like we did years ago) or enjoy special reserved seating to view the parade. If you are an AMEX cardholder, this is an amazing perk. Guess what card I will be using next time we go?!

Disclosure – I was invited on a blogger trip to the parks, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Christmas Veggie Tree

Need the perfect appetizer for your holiday party? Here it is! This Christmas Veggie Tree is sure to be a hit at any holiday affair. The only problem is that it is so pretty, people will be afraid to eat it!

This project is SO easy, but it does take a LOT of broccoli! I purchased three packs with three heads each, and I had to send my husband back out for another package. Even then, I ended up cutting off the last inch of the styrofoam because I was totally out of veggies.

Materials -

• Styrofoam cone
• Aluminum foil
• Toothpicks
• Broccoli (12 + heads)
• Carrots (full package of baby carrots)
• Tomatoes (full package of cherry tomatoes)
• (Any other veggie you want to use)

First wrap your cone in foil, then starting at the bottom stick your veggies on the tree with toothpicks. It really is that simple, but I do have a few tips that I learned from experience.

Tips -

• Chop all of your broccoli first and use the big pieces at the bottom saving the smaller pieces for the top to help balance the look of your tree.
• I placed the veggie “ornaments” as I went, but then I ended up filling in at the end too.
• Yes, I used toothpicks on every piece of broccoli and tomatoes, but the carrots I just squished in. Although the top few carrots needed toothpicks to stay in place too.
• Stick the toothpick in the broccoli then stick the broccoli in the cone. But for tomatoes, stick the toothpick on the cone, then slide on your tomato (otherwise you are likely to squish your tomato).
• Don’t be afraid to chop off the top of the cone if you run out of veggies

Thank you to my inspiration, that I found on Pintrest.