The End-of-Year rush and busyness come with a lot of stress. Although December is a time to love, it is also a time of upheaval and being out of your comfort zone! You know it's near the end of the year, and there is some sort of overwhelm! It's holiday or no holiday! It's family time and friends' time! There's preparations, and sorting out some of the stuff that had been put on the back burner during the year.
I have a permanent feeling of anxiety, and when I try to pin-point the exact reason for it, it's not only one thing. The dietician told me this morning that "stress" is the number one complaint she hears from her clients. They are all stressed at the moment! (And of course the diets take a knock!)
The only way I know how to take control of the end-of-year madness is to make lists. Prioritize the important stuff and what needs to be done! It helps you feel more in control. I always enjoy Marcia's Instagram lists on Organising Queen. Check out her 3 Kinds of lists for your bullet journal. She is by far the List Queen!
I know a Little Miss who will love this movie animation starting on 23 December! She is always SING-ing along to her favourite music!
"Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, SING stars Buster Moon (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist -okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel- who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life's ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory"
Ster-Kinekor is giving 2 lucky readers each a chance to win a three ticket set each to come see the movie Sing at anytime from the opening date which is this Friday, 23 December 2016, at their nearest Ster Kinekor cinema.
How to win the tickets:
Send in videos of your kids singing a favourite song of theirs picked from the soundtrack of the movie- please find the list of songs and lyrics attached below.
You can also do a Dubsmash.
(If the kids don’t know these songs, they can also sing their current favourite song/any).
The four songs: (Lyrics below)
Firework
Katy Perry
(Performed by Reese Witherspoon)
Shake It Off
Taylor Swift
(Performed by
Reese Witherspoon, Nick Kroll)
Stay with Me
Sam Smith
(Performed by Taron Egerton)
Call Me Maybe
Written by Carley Rae Jepsen
(Performed by Matthew McConaughey)
Send the videos/clips/Dubsmash to karentoittoit @ gmail.com. You can also DropBox it!
I think that 20 seconds for a video would be fine, but don't hinder our budding talents! ;-)
We will pick the 2 favourites to put up on the blog.
Two winners well each win a set of three tickets to watch at any Ster-Kinekor in South Africa.
This competition is only open to South African readers.
The competition closes on Friday 23 February at 12 pm.
The fantasy and magic of Christmas time! I believe in adding fantasy and magic to the lives of our kids! They love the stories of a Christmas Father, with reindeer, and bringing the presents from the North Pole.
(On that note: How cute is the Portable North Pole videos from Father Christmas that you can personalize each year? For free! (Although there are cooler options when you upgrade.) There are also the birthday video that comes once a year!) We watch them every year!
I can remember my own excitement as a little kid at Christmas time!
I do not want to take this special time away from her. Little Miss has already told us that she knows that it is us who brings the presents! She is nearly 8 years, and it seems this year is the turning point! Some kids at school have also voiced their opinions... But she still gets excited about putting up the Christmas Tree, and musing about her presents!
I saw a video of a pastor in America shouting to kids at a mall that Father Christmas is not real! *Sigh*
I do not think of it as telling lies, but as adding excitement and fun into her life. She will be able to separate the myths from the truths in years to come! How boring would life be without these family traditions?
(It is also not difficult at all to add religion into the mix when you explain the reason why we are celebrating this time!)
I was reminded about the seriousness of her beliefs in a Tooth Mouse when she dislodged one of her final teeth last week. She immediately went to put the tooth in a shoe and kept on checking up on it through the evening. The Tooth Mouse was very tardy, because when she checked up the next morning, the tooth was still there! The Tooth Mouse had a lot of explaining to do (in a letter) about helping Father Christmas at this time of year...
I personally love the magic of Christmas time!
This is the best week of the year building up to Christmas Day!
The family attended the Fantasy of Light last night, a "magnificent extravaganza of lights, music and exceptional local- and international talent at The Waterfall Park, located at the Mall of Africa."
Fantasy of Light 2016
The spiel:
A majestic, nine-meter-high set by Juan Boshoff, 104 colourful costumes, 22km of twinkling fairy lights, a giant stage, an acre of captivating festive ornaments with cheerful lighting, a unique 160m waterfall of cascading lights. Add to this world-class concert and you have a dazzling experience like never before. The ambience set by the original festive music composed by the internationally acclaimed composer, Brendan Jury and music producer Bernadette Vercellino, creates the perfect backdrop to a humoristic fantasy with a gripping story line and characters that will conquer your heart straight away. Outstanding choreography by Weslee Lauder and cheerful outfits by Delene Holt, Heidi du Toit from Hollywood Costumes and Mercedes de Bruyn, gives life to this pantomime-brainchild of one of our most famous actresses and directors Lizz Meiring, along with renowned designer Juan Boshoff and producer Rudi Kesting from Production Projects. A very talented cast complements this high-quality production, which will leave audiences wanting for more. This festive spectacular offers a fun-filled, once in a lifetime experience for young and old. Shows will guests will be amazed by a 70 minute show, transporting them to a gripping wonderland full of holiday cheer. Tickets can be booked through Computicket at R120 per adult entry, while kids under eighteen years of age and seniors will only pay R80.
We were early, but enjoyed hanging around and looking at the lights. There's food and sweets and loads of photo opportunities, even with Santa! The lights were even better when it got really dark, and I should have gotten more photos later on... (*kicking myself*)
Huts with sweets and goodies at the venue
Princesses!
Three Elves looking on
My vegetarian sliders that was available at the venue
We watched the sunset from here, which was awesome
A word of caution. There are many light toys for sale, and the kids will nag you! We said "No" to Little Miss! But guess what? Dad's resolve did not stay strong...!
Little Miss with her light sword
The show was awesome, and the little ones love it. It is a bit late, because the Show only starts at 8 pm! But Little Miss did not want to move until the very last note! The kids enjoy the larger-than-life characters, and the adults enjoy the humour especially! Our favourite was the Snow-person!
(We wanted to go earlier, to miss some of the traffic going out of the parkade! But luckily the traffic was not too bad!)
The Fantasy of Lights continues until 24 December.
It is a great family outing!
It is a blend of the classic tale Le Petit Prince by by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with an add-on story about a young girl who befriends her neighbour and also the elderly aviator of Le Petit Prince. The Avaitor is the narrator of the original story as the young girl tries to deal with her overbearing mother!
We really enjoyed the movie, the characters and the story line! They have done a stunning job with a classic tale, adapting it into a new classic tale that will be cherished by many!
Of course I shed a few tears as well.
Little Miss was enthralled, and even most of the younger kids stayed glued to their seats for the entire movie!
We read the Afrikaans version of the book, Die Klein Prinsie, to Little Miss last week. She knew part of the story, but she confidently told me in the car that the book is never the same as the movie! (It was not, but it kept to the original tale that was narrated by the Aviator.)
I give this movie a 10!
(You can confidently put this movie on your list of holiday activities to do this December.)
We are enjoying thus summer at home! We had an early vacation in the bush in the beginning of December. Now we are totally lazy getting the much needed rest at home!
This year I welcome it. The previous years I felt a bit depressed staying at home over the festive period, but it has been so relaxing to sleep late each day and just chill.
We also love spending time with family and friends!
And deciding on a whim each day to do some of the fun stuff here in Johannesburg...
We went on a drive to Maropeng today, but landed in a loop on the Kromdraai road. (I can see my dad and sister shaking their heads, because they have excellent direction, but even my iPad maps took us to the wrong place!)
It felt like a drive in the countryside and we did not mind. We will definitely go to Maropeng this coming week!
We took a detour to a fabourite place, Maggie's Farm, and of course had pies for lunch.
The pIcture is created by the Halftone 2 app, a comic book creator. It is the free gift available to download today from the 12 Days of Gifts.
The 12 Days of Gifts from the iTunes store are great fun. There is a free fun app or music or game to download from iTunes each day. This is happening from the 26th of December until 6th January. It is definitely worth downloading!
- The tiny gymnastics end-of-year is happening on Saturday.
- We are seeing Christmas decorations everywhere, but I think I will leave our own Christmas decorations for December. (It feels like it has been put up very early this year?)
- We are all beginning to look forward to the holidays, especially since we now have our own holiday to look forward to. I usually feel that holidays at home does not feel like holidays.
- I have compiled my list: What I want for Christmas. It is the first time I had drawn up a list so far in advance, thanks to Blogger Secret Santa by Stiletto Mum.
- I am beginning to contemplate my goals for next year. One of the main goals is looking at studying again. A lecturer told me to contemplate doing a longitudal study with my Masters that I did not finish. As I hate not completing it, it is something really worth considering!
- It is great weather for swimming here! (Sorry, Northern Hemisphere!)
The sun is blazing here each day! It is hot hotHOT, and I love it! It is truly summer here!
You can give me hot any time. I don't like winter and grey and cold!
Driving to work each day, I am confronted by the Jacarandas in full bloom each day. Johannesburg is lovely this time of the year!
December and Christmas is around the corner, and we are beginning to look forward to holidays.
The plans have been made for lots of get-togethers and parties and family gatherings!
(I am even contemplating a small party for the Toddler on her birthday...)
My brother is going to visit us from America. We can't wait to see him again!
We spend each evening outside. Watching the sun set!
The Toddler plays ball, and we - mostly Dad and me, because her sister is learning for the final exams - has to play along!
Especially her most recent games of make-believe.
Her favourite is going to Kyle's party now!
She "fasten" our seat-belts and "drives" us to his party, where we "do" all the fun party stuff, such as "eating" cake, and "jumping" on the jumping-castle.
One of the "games" she plays outside:
Exercising, but getting very upset that the dogs take up her exercise mat space...
Do you like this time of the year? If not, why not?
I am grateful for the best time of the year. Linking up with Maxabella's
"I'm grateful for..."
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