Oh my darling Clementine

One of the BEST things about Christmastime has nothing to do with the holiday, but instead with the season. To me December means CLEMENTINES!

Look at all that goodness- this box is about 1/2 gone already

They try to grow them all year in places like South America and Africa. But the REAL clementines, the BEST clementines, the ones you can peel all in one strip, that my kids BEG for as dessert, come from Spain and surrounding European areas and are in season from the end of Nov. through January

check out the peel- all in one piece, NO SEEDS

We go through a box a week this time of year- good thing they are also almost always on sale this time of year.


Nutritionally they are a great snack (from SparkPeople:)  40 calories, no fat, 1g protein, 200mg potassium,  9 carbs (8 sugars), 2g fiber and 145% of your RDA for vitamin C!

So STOP eating all the cookies and grab a box :)

Have a great weekend, we have 2 parties tomorrow, plus tons of other stuff. Going to squeeze a run in today then finish my cards :)

Christmas Photo Display- 13 years in the making...

13 years back, when Matthew was a month old we took him to see Santa. Came home, framed the photo, and a tradition was born.

See baby Matthew in photo to the right :)

Every year since I've added another photo to the collection- every 4 years or so another little face appeared in the mix.  For the last 8 years I've begun to also frame that year's Christmas card (which typically includes a photo of the children as well).






I love watching this get bigger each year, and am so glad I began this tradition way back. I clear off all the "everyday" photos, etc. from my shelves in order to display.  Also a great time to really dust those shelves, ha ha.





Finally decorated our tree last night too.  We got it on Saturday, ha ha, I think those branches have fallen down as much as they are going to ;)





School lets out next Friday, I am so excited to have the kids home for 9 whole days before Christmas- lots of baking, crafts (well, attempts) and movies! 

Also, I started running again yesterday- haven't really run much since the half, it felt GREAT!