Have a Wonderful last Weekend of 2013

Reading with Nonno // Le Stagioni Dell'anno - The Seasons // Contiamo Insieme - Let's Count // L'inventore Pasticcione - The Messy Inventor

I always get confused in the week between Christmas and New Years because Christmas feels so much like the end of the year to me but then New Years drags its heels and takes another week to arrive. 

This weekend is the limbo weekend between the two and we, like many other folk, are still on holiday and enjoying e company of friends and family... That is, until tomorrow when we get in the car for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours to drive back to Milan.  

My plan for the day is to enjoy watching Sera with her grandparents (whom she won't see again for at least some months, poor thing), finish reading my Christmas gifted book Six Years by Harlan Coben, and try to squeeze everything back into the suitcase.

Nonna Gilda climbed up on a ladder yesterday and pulled out some of Fabri's story books from when he was a child for Sera to enjoy. Aren't they wonderfully retro and kitch? We might just have to sneak some of those into the suitcase as well.

I hope you all enjoy the last weekend of 2013!

Happy Holidays 2013

Christmas Day 2013 and here's how we've spent the festivities so far:

Rolling around on the floor with Sera in front of the tree / admiring the twinkling lights and frosted ornamentnts / trying out new festive eye makeup / "look I fit inside Zio Giulio's Christmas gift!'

Here are a few things I want to try to remember for years to come:

-Recently when I ask Sera why she's so cute she replies "because I love you! And tackles me with the sweetest smiles and biggest hugs.

-though I'll never understand Pugliese dialect, Fabri's 93 year old grandmother Eleonora and I have the most satisfying and deep conversations at the holidays.

-Fabri fooled me into believing we weren't exchanging gifts again this year and then again proceeded to get me everything on my letter to Santa... Good thing I always also fool him!

I hope you have been having a wonderful, cozy, happy and fun filled Christmas.

Xx Jess

Christmas Eve gift wrapping

We're getting very close to the big day and today I spent two hours wrapping presents and still don't have everything ready.  As you can see no ribbons have been tied yet and I still have a bag full of gifts unwrapped and no where near ready to go. I have scotch tape blisters.

Luckily we're in Taranto and I have had tones of help with Sera. In fact I haven't actually seen her for more than ten minutes at a time since we've arrived but then I suppose what's nice about the holidays is also that she gets to spend time with family that she doesn't see too often. And I get a break!

Here in Taranto Babbo Natale, or Santa, arrives tonight, on Christmas Eve after a quick dinner of panzerotti and other fried foods. It's quite fun to see the kids staring out the windows of the apartments trying to catch a glimpse of his sled with their sleepy, excited eyes.

There's still a lot to do before Babbo Natale makes his debut so I'm back to the gift wrap. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve with family and friends and loved ones!

Holiday Hair Week by THEWONDERFUL Emily M. Meyers

In the middle of this year I fell madly in love with Emily M. Meyers over at The Freckled Fox, a lifestyle blog I've since followed religiously.  Emily not only is gorgeous, but an amazing woman, blogging daily with wonderful inspirations despite having four kids under five years old (the newest of which born only a few short weeks ago!).

If you head over to her blog this week you're in for a treat! She's just finished compiling tutorials for fabulous hairstyles that you can soon your own for a bit of a glamorous holiday look.  I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do the fancy bun or the party bun... I guess we'll just have to see how I feel on the day. Or maybe one or Christmas and the other for New Years?

Lovely DIY Christmas Gift Ideas for your Girlfriends

If you're craftsy like me you always have this instinct right before Christmas to forego the typical store-bought gifts in favor of something a little more personal and from the heart.  Nothing says giving more than a hand-made gift that keeps the recipient in mind. 

Here are some ideas I collected online for great gift ideas for your girlfriends...

For the one who needs a bit of Good Luck

A Beautiful  Lucky Penny Vase from VoneInspired

For the one who needs to get organised

You might remember this earring stand from a while back!

For the one that always shares a great pot of tea 

DIY Teacup candles in Thrift-Store finds

For the one that's always in the kitchen

Etched Wooden Spoons from DesignMom

For the one who makes all the clothes

Glasses Case into Sewing Kit from TeaRoseHome

By the way, sorry for ruining the surprise if you open one of these from me on Christmas day!

Dressing the Tree 2013

To keep with our travel plans this year we had to set up the tree quite early.  Sera has a lot of memories from last year but I think this is the first year she's really excited about Christmas.  This is the first time she helped to dress the tree and my control freak nature had to take a backseat. I think it came out quite nice in the end... with just a few tweaks!

We've had our synthetic tree for nine years now and it's not showing its age at all. I have only ever once had a real tree and felt horrible as my flatmates and I finally threw it out of our second story window, dry and dishevelled in the middle of March 2003.  

Every year I make a few new ornaments and maybe buy one or two that keep in style with the traditional red, green and white theme.

Dear Santa - Gifts for 3 Year Old Girls

I get excited about the holiday season. More so ever since we had Sera.

We celebrate both Hannukah and Christmas in our house and while that means a lot fo traditional and religious storytelling and customs it also means a lot of pretty wrapped up parcels, and even more excitingly for me, choosing them.

Since Sera can't write yet I asked her to assemble some stickers on a page of what she hopes for this holiday season. As you can see there's a huge concentration of fairies, princesses and dollies.  Please keep in mind that I have never forced female-stereotypical toys on her and these are her choices.  Some girls really are girly-girls by nature and the key is to follow the lead of your kids.  We asked for a train set last year but she barely touches it.

Today I present you a shortlist of toys that may be suitable regarding Sera's list.  Maybe it will act as inspiration for your own gifts for your toddler.  I'm pretty sure that Sera isn't going to have all of these in her toy box come January, but a lot of them even I can't resist!

Luckily, all the gifts on this list are under €30 too!

#1) Sylvanian Families Dressing Up What could be better than a fairy princess and a pirate dog?

#2) Animator's Series Ariel Doll  she's just so adorable and has real feet under that tail.

#3) Kawaii Crush BFF Gift Pack Kawaii means cute in Japanese and these small toys couldn't be cuter!

#4) Singing Microphone we don't normally go for electronic toys, but this one was a hit at a recent playdate.

#5) to celebrate our Jewish heritage a wooden hannukah set from kidcraft

#6) Elf on The Shelf - completely unknown in Italy and really quite cute and fun!

#7) Though in a slightly higher age (4-9) range, I'm loving GoldieBlox which help girls develop a passion for engineering

Has my list inspired you? What do you plan to get for your kids this year? What do you think of girl-oriented toys as opposed to genderless ones? How is your holiday preparation going? Is your calendar already filled with parties and celebrations?

Can you tell I'd love to hear your comments?