MoseleyWorld

Strollers can kill your kids. Cribs can kill your kids. Ever get the feeling that your job as a parent is simply to just keep your kids alive?

Now, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the window blind industry are recalling nearly every Roman blind and roller shade ever made - to the tune of 50 million blinds. Wanna know how to avoid one more way of your kid getting killed? Check out the tips provided by Super Baby, in a video produced by the Window Covering Safety Council.

We all know St. Nick has to use his Santa magic to accommodate many different homes and traditions. I posted a request on Facebook for folks to chime in with their family Santa traditions.

The questions? When Santa visits, does he deliver wrapped or unwrapped gifts? How does Santa’s loot compare to presents given to kiddies by Mom & Dad? What goes in the stockings?

I loved reading the responses:

• In our house, unwrapped from Santa… Santa gifts are the bigger ones (bikes, trains etc…)
• Unwrapped from Santa…wrapped from mommy/daddy
• Santa doesn’t wrap.
  As the kids age, Mom & Dad’s gifts supersede Santa’s, thereby giving credit where credit is due.
• Santa gifts came wrapped in our own special paper. All my gifts in one kind and my brothers in another, my mom said she started this when we still couldn’t read so we could distinguish whose was who!
• I never remember presents from my mom and dad, Santa brought it all!
  Santa doesn’t have time to wrap - busy visiting houses all over the world and all. Santa loot - fun stuff. Mom and Dad loot - stuff you need anyway
• We don’t wrap the presents. And I try to only get the gifts we hear them ask Santa for…more from mommy and daddy!
• Santa doesn’t wrap. He doesn’t bring the "best gifts" . He just brings 2 or 3 things plus stocking stuff. Mom and Dad deserve the credit for getting them the most wanted gift. Abbie asked for something very expensive and said Santa could bring it, I had to tell her Santa was on a budget this year.
• Santa didn’t wrap at our house. With 7 yrs. between my Brother and me, he was a BIG kid before he quit playing the game for me. Then for several years Mother would ask me if I wanted gifts from Santa, or just wrap them all under the tree. There was never a penalty for recognizing the truth–just a gradual easing into understanding that Santa was another expression of Parent’s love.

So, what’s your Santa Claus (or Papa Noel, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle) tradition? Click on the link below that says "No Comments" (or 1 comment, etc) to share your tradition.

How many times have you wondered just HOW Santa not only "sees you when you’re sleeping…"  and "knows when you’re awake," but also knows whether you’ve been good or bad? Question no more.

Santa’s Elf on the Shelf has arrived at MoseleyWorld. When we returned from our Thanksgiving trek to Kansas, a tiny little elf was hanging upside down from a dangling balloon in our foyer.

"Uh, mom, what’s that?" Saxon inquired. Carey showed Saxon a book that had magically appeared as well. The Elf on the Shelf book explains one of Santa’s elves arrives around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving. his sole responsibility is to watch little kids’ behavior and report it to Santa each night by using "Santa magic" to fly to the North Pole.

The book said the first thing to be done is to name the elf. Saxon is great at coming up with pretend names, so we knew this would be a piece o’ cake for her. We liked her second suggestion, Wolfie , lots better than her first, Cha Cha. So Wolfie it is. Oh, there’s one rule: you cannot touch Wolfie, or he will lose his Santa magic.

The next morning, after returning from the NP, Wolfie was being a bit naughty. He took all the silverware out of the drawer and lined it up on the floor and then perched himself on the counter.

Stay tuned for tales (and photos) of Wolfie’s adventures!

Christmas season is upon us. Exactly two weeks until Christmas Day! Are you ready?

Got your holiday card done? Check out Tiny Prints for holiday cards, invitations, custom address labels, and more.

And how long has it been since you’ve had professional portraits made? Look, these don’t have to be stiff, Olin Mills style portraits. Fun, hip. Natural.

Portraits of you you, your little ones, pets, or the whole family make great Christmas presents and we know a great photographer (shameless plug for Chris Moseley Photography) who still has some open portrait session slots and provides super fast turnaround!

Contact Chris to schedule a time to make your holiday portrait at your home (think: in front of the Christmas tree, maybe?), on location or in the studio. We’re offering a 2009 Recession Buster special (starting at $95 for mini portrait creation sessions with free digital image files with minimum portrait purchase) - Email us for details. Check out the Chris Moseley Photography blog to see some family and kids portraits.

For the Parents or Parents to Be: Shop the MoseleyWorld Amazon Store .
Rockabye Baby CD’s - the music of the Beatles, Guns N Roses, the Eagles, No Doubt, Bob Marley, Radiohead, U2…lullaby style. Using glockenspiels, vibraphones, and mellotrons the rockabye baby crew covers your favorite songs. Believe it or not, you’ll love listening to Sunday Bloody Sunday with your tot.

Top Holiday Deals & Frustration-Free Packaging in Toys : You know those toys you get that are sealed inside industructable plastic and then wired in so tightly you need tin snips to open them - all the while your kid is saying “gimme, gimme.” Check out Amazon’s Frustration-Free packaging and their top holiday deals. all in the new easy-to-open Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging.

Electronics, Computers & Home Entertainment

Canon PowerShot S90IS The best point and shoot camera for serious shutterbugs. No, I’m not kidding. Don’t believe me? OK, well these guys think so.  “World’s best pocket camera” “It’ll never leave my pocket” and “the best compact camera I’ve ever used.” No, I’m sorry ladies, I am a Canon guy and don’t know anything about those cameras Ashton Kutcher gets paid to hawk.

Klipsch IMAGE S4 In-Ear Enhanced Bass Noise-Isolating Headphone treat your favorite iPod user to an upgrade, a serious upgrade. Well worth the $79.95 price tag! Lots better than the OEM Apple earbuds and even better than some higher priced competitors.

iPods and Accessories Enough said?

Kindle Wireless Reading Device: $259.95 Amazon’s most wished for, most gifted and #1 bestselling product. Want to read the NY Times? Well, you can get it and thousands of other books and publications delivered wirelessly to your hand-held reading device, the Kindle. If you don’t know what it’s all about, visit Amazon’s website to see what you’re missing.

Windows 7 Netbooks Under Starting $350 : Find the biggest selection of netbooks with Windows 7 Starter in the Amazon.com netbooks store.

Magazine Subscriptions as low as $5 : Magazines make great gifts, and during December some are as low as $5 after instant discounts including House Beautiful, Smart Money, Cosmo,Marie Claire, Popular Mechanics,Esquire,Town and Country, Veranda,Seventeen, Country Living and more. That’s $0.42 per issue.

Give a Subscription to your local newspaper. Help keep ‘em in business.

Need more ideas? Check out the links below.

Somehow, we I inadvertently neglected to post photographs from Saxon’s birthday party. So here they are, in the category of “better late than never.”

Samantha and Yadi awaiting the guests’ arrival.
build your own princess hats. Spellbound. Captivated. Cinderella tells a story.

i’m sure the little princesses’ parents were thrilled with the pink icing.

Saxon was elated to have Cinderella come to her house for her birthday party.