Twas The Night Before Partying Our Fingers Off...

How can I possibly focus on a Friday Night Fab Five when there are so many things to do??? I've got so many things running through my mind I'll probably edit this post about a dozen times today so just check back with me every five minutes! :P I've got food to make, decorations to hang, presents to wrap! Oh...it's too much...I can't...getting...weak...need an elf to...help....me....

Oh here's my elf now!



Okay fine, that's not an elf. That's Toot from Christmas last year. She was only a month old when this picture was taken. Awwwwwwwww......

Okay seriously folks, I am so EXCITED for tomorrow! It's just like Christmas Eve when you're dying to open presents and you're praying Santa Claus brings you that pair of roller skates with the pink glitter pom poms and then you can't get to sleep and then your parents tell you if you don't go to sleep that Santa won't come and that scars you for life because how can you possibly make yourself sleep if your body refuses to sleep which means Santa won't come and there won't be any skates, no Barbie dream house and then no Christmas...oh no, it's happened...overload...Christmas overload.....

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

*deep breaths*

Whew, okay...I think I'm okay now...

So anyone remember that frantic Christmas feeling from childhood or was I the only looney tune up late on Christmas Eve praying that God would knock me out so Santa would come? Hmmmmm????

Well at any rate, let's take a break from all of the Christmas in July Eve cleaning, planning and preparing with a little break, eh? For those of you who aren't aware of the newest Christmas tradition, a particular television channel here in the states shows the movie "A Christmas Story" on Christmas Eve over and over for a straight 24 hour period. And it...is...AWESOME! So let's relax a little before we get back to work, shall we?



All right, break's over! :P

I do have some late breaking news to share with you all and then I'll give some final instructions and tips for tomorrow! *excited Jillian dolphin squeal*

1. The ever fabulous Karyn is paying it forward by making a little something something for 5 people that visit her blog. I was lucky enough to be one of those 5 people and now I get to pay it forward by making something for 5 of you! You know, I don't even mind if it's more than 5, if you would like something made by me, just let me know by e-mailing me at katamommy at gmail dot com and I'll send something out to you! (International peeps are welcomed!)

2. The newsletter is up and running at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club and if you click here and scroll down you'll see their member spotlight. Go on, keep scrolling! Did you see it??? Oh snap! It's me! *blush* Garsh golly gee!

3. The amazing Kirsty from Giggly-Cupcake gave me this award!



Thank you so much for thinking of me Kirsty, you are so fabulous!

4. The marvelous Ally is hosting a vintage themed ATC swap and last I heard she had two spots still left open so if you're interested in a swap, head over to her blog or e-mail her at xoxoallyserrato at aol.com for more info! This is my first swap with Ally and I'm super excited!

5. And not only that but I am hosting a vintage themed ATC swap over at LPS (what can I say, I cannot get enough vintage!) and we have 4 spots open at the moment so if you're interested in signing up, head on over and sign up for the message board! The folks there are so amazing and hey, I'm there so...you know... :P

Hey, look at me! I did post a Fab Five today! Go me! :D

And I bet you thought I had forgotten about my pay it forward stash giveaway and you would be right, so sue me! :P

The winner is...Christy! E-mail me your address and I'll send ya some special Maggi stash! (Scrapbooking stash I mean!)

Now on to party business....

I cannot believe the response I've gotten from people ready to celebrate Christmas in July with me! From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much! And for those of you that aren't able to host a party but are planning on visiting with us, thank you very much, you will be so amazed with everything in store for you!!!

Now, I want to make sure I make things as clear as possible for you all so here's some last minute tips and instructions:

-You do not need to host a party on your blog in order to enter any giveaways or to party hop. We want everyone to enjoy all of the parties and the hosts are looking forward to sharing their Christmas in July with you! So don't be shy, stop by these fabulous parties, leave a comment and spread some Christmas magic of your own!

-Party hosts: don't forget to post your parties!! lol If you need to be taken off the list or want to be added on, e-mail me ASAP! katamommy at gmail.com

-Tomorrow, you will start here with my party, then you can begin to visit the blog parties listed to your right in the sidebar. They are listed in alphabetical order and you can visit them in any order you want! Start from the top, start from the bottom or start from the middle! Go crazy!

In order to make visiting the parties as easy as possible, each link will open in a new browser window so that you never leave my blog and lose the list. If I can give you a tip: click on a few of the links at one time and then close each window after you leave a comment there. Then carry on to the next few you click on, make sense? Believe me, this will save you some time and you can have blogs loading while you're reading others. My personal strategic maneuver is to click on 5 blogs at a time, comment on each and then go to the next five.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go put on my stern Mommy face for this next bit...

Okay, I'm back. Now it's time for a gentle nudge, to both party hosts and party goers:

The people hosting parties on their blogs have put a lot of time and effort to make it as fun and special as possible. Some of them are giving away blog candy (out of their own pockets) and quite a few are first time blog party hosts and I want to make sure that they all have the best experience possible.

Now, I know that you have busy lives and I certainly don't expect everyone to be go all out but please make the effort to visit as many (if not all!) of the parties as possible (especially you hosts!). Just join some parties instead of reading the morning paper with your coffee! I will definitely be visiting everyone on the list and cannot wait to see all of the creative parties out there!

Again, I don't expect anyone to be perfect and I certainly understand that there are time issues, just please do your best, it will be so appreciated by our fine party hosts and hostesses!!!

Stern Mommy Face off now...Thank you for your kind attention! :)

Okay, I've read, reread and rewrote that last part a dozen times and I'm praying that didn't come off rude or mean! *nervous* I'm so excited and you know how it is when you host a party, you want everyone to have the time of their lives! lol

Listen, y'all are fabulous and I am just so excited to be sharing this event with you all! How will I get any sleep tonight?!?!?!?!?!