Win a $50 Gift Certificate to HomeschoolEstore!
December 10, 2007 by Janne 
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UPDATE: And the winner (chosen by random.org) is Laura Williams!
Congratulations, Laura!
I am pleased to announce that as part of the HomeschoolEstore’s fabulous 12 Blogs of Christmas Promotion, I am offering one free $50 gift certificate, good toward any HomeschoolEstore purchase!
If you are not yet familiar with HomeschoolEstore, it is the premier site to download all of your favorite homeschool materials, instantly, in ebook form — unit studies, books, activity pages, and even the wonderful themed notebooking pages from notebookingpages.com! Another exciting thing about HomeschoolEstore is that every week, they generously offer one or more products for FREE!
What do you need to do enter this contest? Simply leave a post on your blog, (with a link to this post, please), describing your absolute favorite Christmas memory. This can be a favorite memory you have from your childhood, or a particularly memorable Christmas with the children in your life. Then make sure you leave a comment here so I can visit you.
No blog? No problem! Just leave your Christmas story here in my comments section (don’t forget an email address, so I will be able to contact you, should you win.)
This contest will be open until midnight, Dec. 24th. I will be announcing the winner (chosen at random) at noon on Christmas Day!
The fine print:
No purchase necessary to participate. Contestants may enter only 2 of the 12 contests. HomeschoolEStore employees and their families as well as HomeschoolEStore publishers, employees and families may not participate. Click on any one of these 12 participating blogs below to find out how you can win!
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My favorite memories would be all the trips to my grandparent’s house each year. My parents moved away from here before I was born and didn’t return until after I’d finished high school, but we were here for almost every Christmas. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins (my mom was the oldest of 7) would be at Grandma’s and we would start in the afternoon and go until late evening, playing games and visiting. One of my favorite years was the year I was allowed to stay up with the adults (I was the oldest grandchild, but only 3 years younger than my uncle) and play UNO until everyone left.
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My favorite Christmas memory is when I was newly married and 21 years old – our first Christmas… we were so poor but wanted a tree. We went out into the woods of his father’s house and cut down a very small, Charlie Brown-type tree. I bought one box of white balls and made red bows myself. I let my neighbor’s kids “help” decorate the tree and all the balls were on one side and low. I left it that way! It was the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever had!!
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Hey Janne I entered your contest. Here is the link to my blog. http://www.xanga.com/kimstn
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Hi Janne,
I entered your contest! You may see my entry at
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/genamayo/442755/
Thanks, Gena
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Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. Family comes together, sometimes the only time they get together all year. Walk into a store and actually hear songs about the birth of our Savior, Jesus. Children are smiling. Parents are rushing around to all the stores to find the perfect gift for their little ones. Memories of this time therefore, abound, and it is so difficult to pick just one. This particular one involves the entire family, and that is always a blessing. My husband, our two boys, and I moved to South Carolina in October 2005. Soon after arriving, we discovered that I was pregnant with baby #3 (it turned out to be a girl). Following a move and several doctor appointments (I was already about 5 months along!), our finances had dwindled to the point that we had given up on a Christmas tree or any gifts that year. We just decided that we would give our children gifts after Christmas, when we had time to get back on our feet again. We also realized that they would receive gifts from other family and friends, so they would not go without a fun time of opening gifts that Christmas. My husband’s father and mother moved in with us, as we were renting a home with enough bedrooms to accomodate all of us, until they could find a place of their own. My husband’s sister and brother-in-law had moved into a rental nearby as well, so at least we had lots of family close by. Christmas was soon approaching, but you would not know by looking at our home. No decorations, no tree, nothing. I was kind of sad, but knew that God had led us here, and that decorations or trees really did not matter in the whole scheme of things. The children were 1 and 2, so they really did not know about what was going on. Two days before Christmas, my in-laws call to me from the front of the house (I was resting since I was due to have a baby in a couple of months). I walked out and into the living room to see my husband’s sister and brother-in-law walking in with a TREE! They had went to get one for themselves and got one for us as well. I was so happy I cried. I thanked them, hugged them, and told them what a special thing they had done. Our boys were so excited. A tree, in the house?! Wow! Over the next few days, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law made decorations from things they could find around the house or things they could get cheaply at the store. We soon had a wonderfully decorated big Christmas tree. It was a very special, very family-oriented Christmas. The children got many gifts from grandparents, and aunts and uncles. They even got a couple of small gifts each from mommy and daddy, as God had blessed us with a small portion right before Christmas!
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Back in 2002, I was expecting my 9th child and was due just after Christmas. I was so anxious that I’d be in the hospital on Christmas and not be there for all my other kids, that when I started to get some contractions I just checked in to the hospital. My son, Sean, was born on December 21st after 22 long hours of labor and I was able to go home on December 23rd. Even though I was exhausted, we were able to have a fine Christmas. My kind and generous doctor and his staff provided my family with a delicious Christmas dinner and gifts. It meant so much to have that help and made that Christmas so special.
~Barb
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There are so many Christmas memories that it’s hard to choose just one. But I think I would have to go with the Christmas that I was 15. My dad worked away from home as a welder and we just happened to be in Florida that year. So there were 5 of us cramped into a small hotel room that had only a couple of beds in it. Very cramped space!!! My dad never did shopping on his own for Christmas or anything else. That was always left to my mom to do. Well, that year he decided to do go and do some for us. He found some tennis shoes that the liners came out and were reversable. They were a popular thing back then I guess. Welll, he bought each of us three kids a pair that year. Mom later told me that he searched for weeks to find these things! We all needed new shoes too. Anyway, when we opened them my brother and sister loved them!! And they were certainly different. I really did not like them at all!!! I never let on though because I was so afraid of hurting dad’s feelings!! And to top it all off mine were a size to big for me!! I really hated them shoes but I wore them all the time for dad’s sake. To this day he doesn’t know how much I hate them and he has been so good at buying his own things for holidays and birthdays. That is my all time favorite memory because I had a part in making my dad happy and it encouraged him to do more things as well.
Debby
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I entered! My post is here http://www.momisteaching.com/christmas-trees-and-contests/
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My favorite memory is the smell of my mom AND dad baking for weeks before the holidays. They would start right after Thanksgiving and bake the most wonderful apple fruit cakes to share with friends and neighbors. After this, they would begin baking all kinds of fruited breads and other sweet breads. Finally, in the days just before Christmas, they would bake mounds and mounds of cookies. It seemed that friends we had not seen since last year would stop by and ALWAYS leave with mounds of sweet goodies for the season.
Although they are no longer with us, today, I share this tradition with my children, albeit in a smaller fashion. We baked cookies over the weekend and I’ll bake a fresh apple-fruit cake this week sometime. Then for Christmas morning, I’ll bake my late mom’s famous cinnamon rolls. Let the calories count up after the holidays . . . Christmas is a sweet treat for everyone who visits my home.
Thanks for the memories, Regina
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Janne,
I posted an entry to my blog about my favorite Christmas memory. I could post it here, too, as some people seem to have done, but instead I’m going to go get going on my day and see if I can make this year my NEW best Christmas ever memory!
D
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My favorite christmas was the last christmas with my grandfather. We all knew it would be his last and I spent hours and hours visiting with him. Ill always treasure the time I got to spend.
I blogged you too :
http://www.prizeatron.com
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I just wrot about a favorite christmas memory a couple of weeks ago. Does that count?? Here is the link to it.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Aligirl/434553/
Blessings!
Ali
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How fun!!! I’m linking ya RIGHT NOW!!!
My memory… sleeping under the lit Christmas tree!
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My favorite Christmas is when I was 6 years old and my dad built me a HUGE dollhouse. It was the perfect gift!
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I posted my entry on my blog at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/servingtheKingofkings/447193/ . Thanks for the contest and have a blessed CHRISTmas!
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Hi! I posted about my best Christmas memory here:http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ruth/434430/.
I hope this can count as an entry.
Thank you,
Ruth
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Mine is postd at
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-favorite-christmas-memory.html
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My favorite Christmas was my daughter’s first Christmas. It gave new meaning to Christmas for me and my husband. To see it through a child’s eyes after we had reached that point in life when you tend to get caught up in the stress of Christmas instead of remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Not only is it our Savoirs birthday, but it is a time for family and friends.
God Bless!!
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I’ve posted my entry…here is the specific site:
http://homeschoolblogger.com/faithfulgrace/448796
Thank you so much
Linda
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I’m so excited!!! Thank you!!
My email is:
lauraw68 @ yahoo.com (remove spaces)
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