Christmas In September (A Giveaway Post!!!!)

**This giveaway is now closed**Congrats to Shelley at Diaper Bag Diary for winning the giveaway!

We had a couple of special visitors come visit us at Christmas last year from the North Pole.

They came here and they caused a lot of trouble.

They emptied all the dishes out of the cabinet.

They TP'd the place.

They made popcorn and watched "Cars." All.Night.Long.

They made forts.

And played with all our toys.

They made all this trouble at night when everyone went to bed and we'd wake up and see allll the trouble they'd caused.

You see, (as the story goes) the Elves finished up their work early at the North Pole and they got a short vacation break before the hoopla of Christmas night so they came to our house! I'm not sure who had more fun, the Elves or the kids or all the fun Mommy and Daddy had coming up with this stuff.

Last year before Christmas, my best friend told me about Elves from Catie, which is also called "Host an Elf." She and her family have had endless fun with their elves so I was excited to do this myself!

When parents decide to "host an Elf," or buy an Elf "bundle" and I say "buy" because one day my kids might read this and the jig will be up so for now I'll pretend that even if they could read, which they can't (well one of them sort of can but he doesn't know about my blog yet) anyway I'll pretend that if they could read, they can't read through crossed-out words, what you get when it comes in the mail is an Elf and a book about the Elf and a letter about what the Elf is doing there for you to read to the children.

You can choose from a few boy or girl Elves and they are so stinkin adorable I love love love them. Somuch.

We have had so much fun with these guys coming to visit us that it has become a wonderful Christmas tradition for us to wake up to the week before Christmas. I've "heard" it can be a lot of work depending on how much trouble the Elves decide to get into, but that's half the fun of it!

Even if they don't get into any mischief at night (where's the fun in that, though!), the kids loved on them so much during the day.

Oh, and since the Elves were such good friends with Santa, well, they had the special capacity to tell Santa whether or not the kids were being naughty or nice. "The Elves are watching," I'd warn.

For (at least) the week before Christmas, the kids were really, really good. HMMM.

*snicker.*

The Elves can also do really good deeds and be great examples for the kids. (I've heard they're great for the classroom too!)

At the end of their stay, we had a lovely send-off to our Elves when it was time for them to go back to the North Pole to help with Christmas Eve. And the Elves send back letters throughout the year, hoping to come back next Christmas! (Yes, they are still here, they're hidden away and they'll "come back" at Christmas. Get it?)

The Elves are really, really fun themselves, but here's the real reason for this giveaway.

What I love even more about the Elves is that they're from a place that's very special. These Elves also help take care of children with cancer. As I mentioned, they're from Elves From Catie, and Catie is a very special little girl who lost her battle to cancer at four-years-old.

In Catie's story on their website, Catie's mom, Jenny, writes:

"Our daughter has cancer. Medulloblastoma, an ugly kind that has forced her to fight far harder than any four year old should. Hospital stays are never easy, but this time she is really sick. She’s not so sick that she’s never excited about her new sibling, due to arrive in two weeks, but she is very, very ill."

In her post, Jenny asked God for help in healing her baby girl. But God had other plans for Catie.

"Eight days after Jenny wrote this, Catie lost her battle. She never got to meet her sister Izzy, who arrived the same week Catie was buried. No family should have to go through this. It is only a small gesture, a sign that we all share in the pain the family of a child with cancer feels, so please sponsor an 'Elf From Catie.'"

You see, for every Elf you buy, another Elf goes to a little boy or girl who's battling cancer in the hospital in memory of Catie. Money raised from the Elves also go to helping find a cure for cancer.

And because it's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, this month only, for every Elf you buy, TWO Elves also go to children battling cancer in the hospital.

Now for the giveaway part!

As part of this giveaway, one lucky reader will receive an Elf Book Bundle (and you can hide it away for Christmas!) which comes with:

• a boy or girl elf
• Jellybeans, the Elves favorite food!
• A keepsake "suitcase" box
• A beautifully illustrated Elf Adventure Book

The BEST part about this giveaway is that two children who are battling cancer right now will also receive Elves and have them by their side to keep them company throughout their battle.

Here are the rules for this giveaway: (Three chances to win!)

• Leave me a comment telling me about your special Christmas traditions.
• Post this giveaway on Facebook or your blog and leave another comment telling me so or with the blog link.
• Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me about it.

You must leave a separate comment for each entry.

This giveaway will end Wednesday the 29th at noon ET so I can get the order in by Wednesday night! Since the last day of September is on Thursday, that will also give you time to order one if you haven't won! And then two children who are battling cancer will also receive Elves.

Even if you don't buy one this month, you will still do some good if you buy one any other time of year and now you know about this website and how much fun the Elves are, so maybe you can start a new tradition in your house or classroom too!

Bondi Bands for a Good Cause (Giveaway!)

You already know how much I love Bondi Bands, in fact I wore one just this morning on my trek across the universe (i.e. long workout which will be my Mantra Monday topic for this week).

Did you know that this month is Childhood Cancer Awareness month?

I hate cancer. I hate it for everyone and I especially hate it for our babies.

My dear friend Kirsten (who will be running the Disney Marathon with me) is selling Bondi Bands to help raise money for her niece's family. Her niece is 14 and was diagnosed recently with Ewing's sarcoma, which is a rare disease known to target teenagers, and where cancer cells are found in tissue or bone (according to Wikipedia). She is now undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for it. This is from Kirsten's fundraising event page:

As some of you know my 14-year-old niece, McKenna, was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma last month. She is currently undergoing an intensive chemotherapy regimen that is 28 weeks long.

I am selling BondiBands (www.bondiband.com) to help raise money for her family as they travel back and forth between Carson City and Oakland for her treatments. This travel means missed work for her parents along with the extra expenses of the travel itself.

I will be selling the BondiBands for the same $8 value you'll find at the website with $4.50 of every one going directly to McKenna's family.

I have bought two Bondi Bands, one for myself and one for one of you! They both say "You can...and you WILL!" on them.

Which is something I so often have to remind myself. Constantly, really. (You can read more about exactly how much I love Bondi Bands in general in the review I published last month, if you don't know about Bondi Band yet, which you should, I love them that much.)
This is going to be a short giveaway because even though I'm giving one away, I would love it if those of you who didn't win would go buy one from Kirsten so that you can help her niece's family. Won't you spread the word? Here is the Facebook page so you can read more about it.

The giveaway rules are as follows:

• Leave me a comment honoring any special person in your life who's battled cancer.
• For another entry, hit "Attend" on McKenna's Facebook Fundraiser page
• For a third entry, "share" the event's fundraising page on your profile (there is a button at the top of the page that says "share.")
• Finally, tweet about helping McKenna and link to the Facebook page! Kirsten will be ordering more Bondi Bands -- she's selling out quickly!

That's four entries! Let's help Kirsten's family! Giveaway closes Monday night at 12 midnight ET. I will announce the winner of this giveway on Tuesday!

Let's help McKenna kick some cancer butt!