Hallmark Channel's North Pole Movie Review

I get an email from a reader, asking have my kiddos seen the Hallmark Channel's North Pole movie because the North Pole Communicator (see blog post)  is featured in the the movie.  

We haven't seen the movie when I purchased the communicator; but a quick check of my tv's local listing stated that it would come on at 3pm. So I quickly decided that we will watch this movie and with every movie you need snacks right ? 

So this is exactly how we spent our Saturday afternoon, curled up on the couch watching the North Pole Movie. 

Let me say, I love this movie and have to go buy it. It was filled with so many cute items that we are going to purchase  (magic snowballs, tree luminator , find me santa snowflake, etc)  to get our family traditions and Christmas magic going and flowing. 

Here is my review in a nutshell about this movie.......

We all know the North Pole is the magical home to Santa, Mrs Claus and the elves. However what this movie tells us, is this hug city is powered by the magic of christmas from everyone around the world. Only in today's time, the city is in trouble, because people everywhere have gotten too busy to enjoy christmas together. A young elf name Clementine notices that there is a problem with the Northern lights. The problem is, there's not enough Christmas happiness in the world to fuel the northern lights, which provide the energy for North Pole, which, in turn, sends toys to the children, thereby sparking the happiness, which then fuels ... Get the drift? It's called the Cycle of Happiness. That's when Clementine decides that she must find a way to help people rediscover the magic of Christmas. Kevin and his mom have moved to a new town, which is a perfect example of happiness at risk. The mayor has canceled the century old Christmas tree lighting ceremony. So Clementine has decided that she is going to take matters into her own hands, when she hears Kevin asks the same questions she was wondering. She enlists Kevin to be her earthling accomplice, and the two set out to start the cycle anew.  She leaves an early Christmas gift for Kevin which turns out to be a North Pole communicator. 

The two talks, and Kevin is skeptical that he is talking to a real elf from the North Pole, but they become friends anyway. Clementine takes one of Santa's reindeer Randy and heads off to our world to meet up with Kevin. 

Kevin was pretty shocked when he looked outside and saw Clementine the elf

She tells him to jump on in the sleigh, and she takes him back to the North Pole, so he can see for himself how the city is in trouble 

They arrived at the North Pole , and Kevin sees for himself that the place is real and in trouble because Christmas magic is dying out. 

Clementine has to hide the fact that Kevin was from our world so she made him change into elf clothing, but they run into Santa and Mrs Claus. Santa knew who Kevin was right away. To prove that he was indeed the real Santa; he hands Kevin a magic snowflake so he can rest assured that santa will find him on Christmas. Thus proving. that he is real because Kevin's biggest worry about moving was, how would santa find his new home. 

Now this new job of trying to restore Christmas magic, isn't going to be easy for Kevin and Clementine. Kevin's mom is a reporter , doesn't believes him when he tells her about traveling to the North Pole and being friends with an elf, the town is apathetic. Not to mention Kevin is also the new boy in town and hasn't made any friends yet.  The duo, do however find an ally in the most unlikely of sources; Kevin's teacher. 

 Not wanting to spoil the entire plot of the movie let's just say, it took a little bit of faith to get everyone to believe in Christmas Magic again and when all seemed lost, something wonderful happened..... But you gotta watch the movie to find out for yourself.

And because so, there was enough energy to power Santa's sleigh 

Overall, we enjoyed this movie and it will be apart of our Christmas Collection for years to come. It was all about believing in the magic of christmas and spending time with family. The movie has also inspired and introduced, a line of North Pole fun traditions to start in your home and we are off to the store to pick up a few to add to our ever growing list of Christmas traditions. 

A Key for Santa

In my household, Santa doesn't bring all the toys. Santa however leaves one special gift for the kiddos and they know that the rest come from me. They make out their wish list well in advance. So keeping with the fact that the kiddos have gotten older, I decided that in addition  to our little elf door (see the blog post about that one); we will have a magical key for Santa. I have decided that I will let the kids decided on leaving the key outside or allowing our scout elf to carry it to the North Pole and handing it to Santa personally. 

Our Santa key 

 A special note attach to the key

Our North Pole Communicator

I know Thanksgiving is in a few days but, I am always in the Christmas spirit before Halloween. So my next few posts will be about the things I have found while getting ready for our magical Christmas. In case you don't know, I love Christmas; I try to do it big and I don't mean materialistic either. I want to instill traditions and a bit of christmas Magic within the season. My children will most certainly know the true meaning of christmas. 

So any who, I love Christmas decorations. Went out to do a little shopping and this display caught my eyes at My local hallmark Gold Crown Store. 

What fun way to bring a little christmas Magic to our household, with our very own North Pole Communicator!!!!

The entire purpose of this communicator is so that the children can call the North Pole daily and have real conversations with Santa, the elves and Mrs Claus. But the deal with how this thing work is; they can only start calling on December 1st , and you can only call once a day. I think this will be perfect for our extra dose of Christmas magic. I believe on thanksgiving night I am going to let our scout elf leave this out for the kiddos to discover, along with a note from the Big Guy (Santa) himself explaining the rules and how this will work. I honestly think I am going to enjoy this as part of our Christmas traditions more than the kids will. 

Buying on EBay

This is what I get for ordering gifts off of eBay, 

Ordered this from sanhe777

It arrived broken with one of the back charms completely off and you can see the glue where the charm is suppose to be and the charm itself is on the side of the package. The rest of the charms are very loose. And notice it's still in the original packaging. 

Oh the Irony : breastfeeding doll and toys that require your child to play with poop

Do y'all remember a couple of years ago, when a certain doll came out that had everyone in an uproar because it was considered to be unnatural and forcing little girls to grow up too fast?  

In case you forgot or didn't hear about such a doll let me refresh your memory

The Breast Milk Baby  

This doll caused such an uproar within a small circle of mommy friends who felt that it was an inappropriate toy for my child to play with but for theirs as well. I had a few mothers thrilled to see such a doll and decided to get one for their child as well. I had one mom tried to get me to give it to her child as a gift instead of my own child (for $89.99 that was not going to happen). But two years ago this doll was the negative talk around a certain circle of Mommy friends.

Now this is what I find ironic. These moms talked about my child playing with a breast milk baby, something that is the most natural thing in the world but guess what hot new toys they are buying their daughters this year?

What I don't get is how is letting your child play with a Laloopsy doll who poops out charms? That doesn't seem quite natural to me. I have send some weird dirty diapers but not once had I send any charms come out and I don't think I would want to wear anything that my child poops out. Or what about the Barbie Doll who is picking up poop from her dog. I just don't get these moms. You will allow your child to play with poop but they can't  play with a doll whose sole purpose is to normalize breastfeeding? 

Breastfeeding is the most natural beautiful thing thing in the world. So why not allow your child to play with a doll like that teaches her about breastfeeding? I just don't get it. A few of these moms went in on me for giving such a doll to my child, But hey as a child myself I nursed my baby dolls and would have loved to have had a breastfeeding doll if they had been out. But I can tell you right now that my mom wouldn't have brought it because of the price.  I am however thankful for the other moms who have join forces and purchased one of these dolls for their daughters, so we can educate and help normalize breastfeeding. 

I even recommend these dolls when I teach my breastfeeding classes and sibling classes. They are good to have on hand (or any other doll would work just fine) so when momma is nursing her newborn Big sister can pretend she is nursing her baby as well. Even with out a new baby in the household, these are such a wonderful doll for kids to play with. Babies were born to breastfeed, its the most beautiful thing in the world. My daughter only breastfeed her baby doll and I see nothing wrong with it. Its not sick nor pervert, nor is she going to become a teen mom. She is doing what she sees me do, what she seen other women do when its times to feed their babies. As a matter of fact, none of her dolls have bottles. Even the dolls who come with bottles, they are simply taken away. 

The Giving Plate / pass it along plate

Unloading the groceries and my neighbor comes over and hands me a plate full of brownies. Apparently there is a new thing out called : The Giving Plate or Pass it Along plate .

So now it's our turn to pay it forward. Got the little one helping bake cookies so we can drop them off to a neighbor a few houses down. 

Thanksgiving Homeschooling Lessons

We have been preparing for Thanksgiving during our homeschooling time, learning about the first thanksgiving and why we celebrate the day. As well as listing things we are thankful for. Our lessons this month included worksheets and crafts with thanksgiving themes. We even had a special thanksgiving snack with the help of Pinterest. 

First stop was the local library and book store to get a stash of books. Story times for us this month included books that dealt with our, theme of Thanksgiving. 

I believe having a Thankful Tree will become apart of our family's tradition. I think each year we will make one. For those of you unfamiliar with a thankful tree, it's simple. You make a tree and list all the things you are thankful for on it. I want to keep a scrapbook of all our thankful trees so we can look back over the years at the things we were thankful for. 

Thanksgiving Day crafts which I must admit, I will probably have the kiddos making these every year until I am old and gray. I have truly enjoyed this. It's fun now that they are older and we can do more.

But if you let the kiddos tell you, I am sure the candy turkeys were their favorite