Shimmer + Dolls to Carolyn

It's hard to part with the doll stamps. The design isn't anything special - but it's playful and it's making its contribution to my greater goal: hoard reduction.

For anyone with ornery little kids or grandkids, you might want to consider the tip.









 Not all of us have open flames in our homes - so we'd need to work around that.

I get a lot of mileage out of pulling out my phone and taking a video of my grandson when he is not cooperating. It stops him in his tracks.

Here is my other favorite tip for the season. Store all your tree ornaments in gift boxes with lids. Wrap just the lids with pretty wrapping paper so that when the ornaments are on the tree, you can just put the empty box under the tree and store it there until it is time to take the tree down. My boxes were Harry and David fruit boxes which were perfect. Every year as we opened presents, Mr. Wilson would say, "Hey, there are more presents under the tree." And we would tell him, "No, those are just the boxes for the ornaments." Seriously, he did it every year. I'm sure his head is very full of important information.

We do not do a traditional tree anymore. I gave the tree and all the boxes to younger son. I have an alternative tree that I will post after I get some mail. It is an envelope holder. It's probably on the blog. I'll look and see if I can find it. (tic-toc-tic-toc) I did not find one. That does not mean it is not there.