Santa Claus | Table for Five

Gotta Catch Santa Claus

October 23, 2009 By Elizabeth

From Amazon.com: Funky music, holiday magic and a supersonic sleigh are all wrapped up in this CGI-animated family adventure starring William Shatner as the voice of Santa! Trevor is a true believer in the holiday spirit, so his skeptical best friend, Veronica, challenges him to show the world actual proof that Santa is real! Trevor and his friends embark on the adventure of a lifetime to catch Santa in action and reveal the true magic of Christmas. But they’ve got to find Santa before LeFreeze – a dim-witted monster who’s carrying a serious 100-year-old grudge – and his snowman minions put Christmas on ice forever! Join the race to save Christmas in Gotta Catch Santa Claus, the jolly, jammin’, modern-day holiday classic destined to become a family tradition!

Kaitlyn has watched this DVD every day for the last week. She loves it! The movie isn’t rated but I found nothing at all objectionable. The “monster” is much more silly than at all scary. This is a fun Christmas movie for the whole family! Here’s the official trailer from YouTube:

Filed Under: DVD and Blu-Ray reviews Tagged With: Amazon.com, Christmas, dvd, holiday, Kids and Teens, Santa Claus, William Shatner

Enter the “Got A Wish?” Sweepstakes

December 12, 2008 By Elizabeth

How would you like to make a video that gives your spouse or significant other a suggestion for what to get you for Christmas, AND gets you an entry into a sweepstakes with 29 daily prizes of $500 each? You can make a video that shows you, what you want for Christmas, plus Santa and an Elf by visiting SitOnSantasLap.com! The video is cute, and about 3/4 of the way in, you are prompted to type in your name, what you want for Christmas, and then upload a photo. After doing that, you’ll be able to enter the got a wish Sweepstakes, too. Here’s mine, you’ll need to watch all of it to spot me towards the end:

There’s also a space to email your video to someone, I sent mine to my husband. Hope he takes the hint! The site is sponsored by CEIVA, to promote their Digital Photo Frame that plugs into an existing phone line and lets you send photos right to the frame. Whether your loved ones are near or far for the holidays, CEIVAshare Digital Photo Framesâ„¢ are the perfect gift for staying closely connected all year long.

CEIVAshareâ„¢ together with PicturePlanÂ®:

* Photos sent directly to the frame from family and friends located anywhere in the world
* No PC or internet required â€” great for parents, grandparents and everyone else
* Connects to an existing phone line â€”
just plug, play and enjoy!

Perfect for Grandparents or anyone who would love to see a new photo “magically” appear in the 8 inch high-def display of the frame. The regular price is $229.99, but right now you can get the frame with PicturePlan Lifetime Warranty for only 129.99!

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Ideas, Shopping Tagged With: Christmas, Digital Photo Frame, Family, holidays, Personal computer, Santa, Santa Claus, Telephone line

Books from Candlewick Press make Great Gifts!

December 10, 2008 By Elizabeth

Candlewick Press is one of the largest independent publishing companies, not just in the country, but in the world, and it’s 100% employee owned. They are committed to publishing only “those books we believe in, only those books that speak to children, and only those that have both words and art of the highest quality.” And that is exactly what I have found to be true every time I review a Candlewick Press title. Two books I’d like to share with you today are Moon Landing, by author Richard Platt, with design and paper engineering by David Hawcock, and A Present for Santa Claus by author David Wood, with illustrations by Dana Kubick.

In A Present for Santa Claus, young Sam wakes up on Christmas morning to find that Santa has brought him just the present he had asked for. That night, he dreams that Santa is back at the North Pole, sad because no one gave him a present. So Sam decides to save his money and buy something for Santa for the next year. He writes Santa a letter and much to his surprise, Santa shows up on Christmas Day! The book has a fun, colorful pop-up on almost every page, and at the end, a magical house with holes to look through to get a special peek inside Santa’s house! Candlewick Press recommends it for ages 4-8, I think it could be for younger children as long as you supervise to make sure they don’t tear out the pop-ups. And the story tells an important lesson about thinking of others during Christmas!

Moon Landing is an amazing pop-up that celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. With a history of the space program, details about rockets, and bios of the astronauts, this book is part history lesson, and part really fun book for older kids. My 12 year old son gave it two big thumbs up! Acclaimed author Richard Platt focuses on humankind’s dreams of traveling to the moon, the race to conquer space, the technology needed to reach the moon and sustain the astronauts in space, and the moon landing itself. Re-creating the excitement of the expedition are extraordinary pop-ups depicting a rocket, the lunar module, a spaceship, and a spectacular spherical moon, while booklets and flaps offer readers a wealth of intriguing facts. For ages 8 and up.