A mad dash to the finish line…

This time of year is madness for us.

As toy store owners, November and December are our busiest, most important months of the year. Joan, our mom who manages our rocking horse and pedal car stores, literally works night and day answering phones, placing orders, solving problems.

Santa should be so lucky to her on his team. Last night she had only one hour of sleep! But this evening, as I worked in the office, I heard her taking the extra time to help a customer select just the right pedal car for his son. And she does that all day and night long, with the patience of the doting grandmother that she is. The woman really is a saint. Really.

As blog owners, we are also feeling the seasonal push. Every company needs their review up before Christmas and I have a serious problem saying, “no.” (Like my mom, I tend to just push my body like a madwoman to keep people happy!)

And we don’t want to have to say “no” to all the fun giveaways and sales. You all deserve free stuff and great deals. And we want to bring them to you.

Speaking of our giveaways and great deals, have you entered all our giveaways?

• Hurry – 12 Days of Christmas is almost over! Don’t miss your daily chance to win a KWIK vacuum.
• And your chance to win a $500 Home Depot gift card ends on Friday, December 12!
• You have till December 19th to enter to win a Sleep Number Bed!!! AND right now you can buy a bed at 50% OFF! Crazy great deal. (And no worries, if one of our readers purchases a queen Special Edition bed and later wins the queen Special Edition bed that we are offering here at 5 Minutes for Mom, they will be reimbursed by Sleep Comfort for the retail value of the bed!)
• Who wouldn’t want to win a $100 Visa Gift Card this time of year. Thanks to Scott Common Sense!
• Tiny Prints is offering a $50 gift certificate for their fabulous selection of invitations, cards and more.
• Treat your toes to cozy, warm boots, or super comfy shoes or sandals when you win a FREE pair from KEEN!

And at 5 Minutes for Giveaways:

• Did you enter to win a Kodak Wireless Digital Frame?
• If you need a car seat, we are giving away an Evenflo Symphony Car Seat.
• We also have 2 DVD copies ofThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 3-disc collector’s edition for two lucky winners.
• And you can get in the Christmas mood winning CDs from Sixpence None The Richer and Jars of Clay.

And we STILL have more giveaways to come!!!

As moms, we are busy packing up our kids and racing around from recitals, to Christmas concerts, to parties and school plays.

And while I am just the proudest momma there, armed with my cameras, I can’t help but wish that my son would let me off the hook when it comes to his THREE school performances. Yes, ladies. In order to accommodate all the parents, etc, the school puts on the performance three times — all 80 glorious minutes of it! And my son makes me go all.three.times. (Remember those people pleasing issues I mentioned earlier in this post. Yes, I have a problem.)

So, while people are baking cookies and breathing in the peace of the holidays, around here we are just praying for a bunch of NAPS tied up in bows.

What about you? Are you dashing through the days or sipping eggnog lattes, savoring each peaceful moment?