Christmas 2012 and a Winner

One of our most favorite holidays is Christmas.  Perhaps because of its festivity and the month long celebration filled with love, joy and peace for all of us.  It was indeed a long process to prepare for the event, but worthwhile to enjoy with the rest of your loved-ones. It has always been magical for us each year.  Things always turn out pretty well even when the tide gets tough.  God always find a way to make each puzzle piece fits into our not-so-ordinary lives.  That's one of the major things we are mostly grateful for.  The birth of Jesus is a symbol of unity, forgiveness and happiness.

This year I am also thankful for Goodbyn, a lunch gear that has given me the opportunity to know and truly love through my kids' school lunches. It was a pleasure reviewing their awesome product, and a real treat to give away a set to YOU in time for Christmas.

I have drawn my winner and it is my greatest honor to congratulate:

Kendra Peterson!

for winning a set of Goodbyn Mix and Match Set.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An email has been sent to you!

Please respond within 48 hours to claim your price.

Have the merriest Christmas to each one of you!

Thank you for all your love and support.

*Disclaimer: I have been provided a set of the said lunch gear to facilitate my review, and another set for a giveaway to my readers.  All reviews found herein are solely expressed by myself and my daughter's, as our own opinions based on my experience packing meals on the lunchbox, and hers using it.

Ho-Ho-Ho!!! A Holiday Blog HOP

It is that time of the year again when the globe is lit with festive tea lights, air filled with holiday music, people dressed in fancy attires, everywhere smelled of scrumptious cuisines and delicacies, children opening presents, while everyone shopped and ate till they drop.

My families are Catholics and we live to its practices and doctrines by heart.  We grew up with the Christmas traditions of the Nativity, Christmas Eve Mass, Noche Buena, Christmas carols, Santa Claus and its reindeers and elves, exchange gifts, joyful celebrations, and everything else Christmas-sy.  My children believe in Santa Claus, and so did I when I was growing up.

To celebrate the holiday tradition, my Bento Bloggers and Friends Group are hosting a weekly blog hop with a FESTIVUS Theme.  Nothing religious.  Since there are a huge number of participants, we decided to break the hop into 4 weeks with 16-17 participants on each week.  It's the second week, so if you haven't seen the first week, find a link at the BBF Blog where you can revisit all the passed Christmas lunches.

I was originally going to make use of a book to inspire my entry for this week's hop. But things were not well for us to brainstorm a lunch based on a book.  For the spirit of Christmas, we have to celebrate and observe the holiday season with my fellow BBFs.

For this hop, I have packed a simple lunch to represent the ornaments we put up every year. It doesn't look as much festive as you see them at my home, but my children enjoyed them pretty much.

Missy A had a Gingerbread Lunch with a family of Gingerbread cookie (Dad, Mom, and Boy & Girl) all stacked together, which symbolizes togetherness. She also had a Sun Butter & Jelly sandwich with gingerbread rings as ornaments.  The grapes served as the festive lights that we wrap around our big tree and cozy home on Christmas holiday. All packed on her Lunchbots Trio container box.

Grilled Chicken Quesadilla & Holiday Napkins

It's my 2nd day to send something Christmas-y for the kiddos today.  I was planning on doing the 12 days of Christmas themed lunches, but as soon as I could find the needed supplies. For now, it would be just a touch of festivity.

Today I thought of putting out my electric grill for a chicken quesadilla.  I was thinking of cutting them into candycanes and  christmas tree, but before I could do it, the kids stopped me.  They don't like anything fancy today so I have to turn the triangular-shaped quesadilla upside down, and ignore the drive to decorate the tree-shaped quesadillas on their Easy Lunchboxes.



I am so glad I purchased Christmas napkins to go with the their school lunches. I got it through a good friend from Red Poppy Cards & Crafts over at Etsy.

She has a wide selection of gorgeous lunch cloth napkins for all occasions.
Need a specific design? Contact her and let her know that I sent you over.
I honestly adore all of her creations.  They're oh so affordable too.



Their lunches are similar except that Mr G had olives on one of his sides. Missy A doesn't like olives so she has broccoli instead with ranch on her pink cup.  Keeping my fingers crossed that she'd eat her veggies.

I hope you had a great lunch!

Aknowledgements:

Momables Lunch: DIY Pizza Buns

It's the first day of December and Christmas is almost here.
We plan to make all or most of our lunches Christmas-sy for the remaining 10 school days this December.  We don't own any Christmas themed cookie cutters, so it might be a little bit tougher for us  to pull our lunches together.  But we'll try our best and do the countdown.

It's the third today, so there are
22 
more days before Christmas

Today's lunch is inspired by Momables,

The Pizza Buns!

As all of us know, Momables always have an easy fix lunch. That's why I love them for always being so reliable and for fixing kid-friendly lunches all the time.

I don't have mini bagels on hand this time, so I made use of hotdogs buns instead. Actually I like the buns better because of their flexibility to fold together and  eat them like pizza sammies.  Missy A is not a fan of pepperoni, so she had turkey bacons on top with Mexican blend of cheese.  I made them a little bit festive by adding the gingerbread girl on the mandarin Cuties.

Mr G had a similar lunch except that he had pepperoni toppings on his pizza.  He also had  red globe grapes and red pears on the side.  Both lunches are packed on an Easy Lunchboxes.

For her snack recess, Missy A had some fudge coated pretzels and red globe grapes
with a mini apple juice. Snacks are packed on her Goodbyn Lunchboxes - Small Meal Box.

Tools used:

'Tis the Season for Santa

This is the time of the year that we are mostly awaiting for.

The week after Thanksgiving. 

CHRISTMAS SEASON!!

We can finally start putting up holiday lights and decors.

And think about Christmas crafts with the kids.  Yearly, we make crafts to decorate our home.  It's fun! And 'tis the season the kids feel that Christmas is special, when their help is mostly needed to finish up the preparation before the big day.

Since my daughter's birthday falls on the 5th of December, we decided to hunt for our "just perfect" Christmas tree on a weekend after the 5th.  We would like to dedicate at least a week solely for her celebration, before we could actually call it Christmas.

Santa waving to let Missy A that Christmas is coming so she better
be good. I found a Winter Oreo at Target yesterday
to include in their lunches.