Little early to be posting about Christmas you say? Not really given it's less than 22 weeks away until Christmas Eve and the toy sales are already well underway if not almost over. If you're a long time reader here, you also know that I'm big on lists and organisations so I like to get a jump on Christmas and add slowly over a few months than suffer the mad last minute scramble.

I can't believe how quickly Easter is coming up! We were originally going away for Easter with my parents, sister & her family and some friends but that was booked before we knew B2 was on the way and given its only a few weeks before my due date, we have decided it best to stay closer to home this year just in case. I start maternity leave around this time so it will likely be a low-key holiday in our house with a few fun things planned for E and hosting lunch for the in laws.

So on the subject of Easter, I have been thinking of suitable gifts for E. We always got an assortment of chocolate when we were young and as we got older it became items like books, CDs, pajamas etc which I always appreciated because Easter chocolate was never my thing and 6 months later I would eventually throw it out mostly untouched. So with that in mind, I've been thinking of different options.

Let me start by saying that I'm not anti-chocolate for E by any score - too bad if I was because my dad gives him a freddo every couple of days at least for starters - but I'd prefer not to give him chocolate from us for Easter. I think its best I leave that up to his 'fun' uncle Johnno (my little brother) and that way he gets a treat and not truckloads of the stuff.

I've already bought a small gift for each of our nieces but keeping it practical and simple with a hardcover Disney Treasury book (Little Mermaid for the older two and Beauty and the Beast for the littlest) and a pair of winter pajamas.


For E I've come up with:



Wooden bunny puzzle of some sort - going to investigate further at our local Farmer's Markets with the elderly wood carver there. He sells gorgeous wooden toys and furniture so I'm sure he will have something suitable like the one pictured.

Stickers - E is loving stickers at the moment (as long as they aren't on him) so Easter ones will be a lot of fun.

Easter book - I want to find a nice book that explains the meaning of Easter with beautiful illustrations to match. Any suggestions?

Bath crayons - E loves bathtime and showers and with all the white tiles in our bathrooms I can see these being a huge hit ... for E at least.

Toy Story cutlery - an enormous Toy Story/Buzz/Woody obsession has developed in our house so I know these will probably be his favourite gift of all.

Peter Alexander Toy Soldier pjs - we bought these at the local Peter Alexander outlet a while ago and put them away for Winter so they make a nice addition to this basket.

A new toothbrush - I'm on the hunt for a Toy Story licensed electric toothbrush but will settle for something similar like Thomas the Tank etc. as he is due for a new one.


I've also been busy web browsing and am planning to steal ideas from Pinterest to make Easter fun and one of the ones I espcially love is to do E a fruit brekky in eggs as pictured if I can find the coloured plastic eggs anywhere. I also thought it would be fun to use those coloured plastic eggs to fill with his favourite healthy snacks (dried fruit etc) and hide them around the yard for a new take on an Easter egg hunt.

How are you spending your long Easter weekend? Are you planning  chocolate coma?