For our Christmas Giveaway we wanted to offer up something extra special. It’s that time of year again where we all brave the crowds to buy gifts for loved ones. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to listen to your favorite Christmas music while you shop? Or maybe you need internet and email on the go to keep track of who is getting what. The iPod Touch is a great piece of technology, so we want to give one away to one of you as a thank you for all of the support we have received since we started Things To Do For Two. We are very grateful for all the positive comments you’ve posted here or sent to us on Twitter. It keeps us going and inspires us to think of fun new things to do.

So here are the details of the giveaway:

The Prize: 1 brand new 8GB iPod Touch

How to Enter:

1) If you haven’t already, sign up for Twitter.

2) Go to www.twitter.com/thingstodofor2 and click on the Follow button. (This is a very important step, if you aren’t following us you aren’t eligible for the prize)

3) Send out a Tweet that says:

“Win an 8GB iPod Touch for Christmas from @thingstodofor2  Pls RT. Details here: http://bit.ly/757iGV”

That’s it!

Extra Entries:

If you would like to entered into the giveaway more than once here is how you do it:

1) Subscribe to the blog through email by entering your email address in the box in the sidebar (underneath the orange stickman)

or

2) Subscribe to the blog through RSS by clicking on the orange stickman in the sidebar where it says “Subscribe”.

If you decide to subscribe through email or RSS please email us at thingstodofortwo@gmail.com to let us know your Twitter user name so we know who the extra entry belongs to.

Fine Print: Contest closes Friday, December 18th at 2pm ADT and is open to Canadian and U.S. readers. If you are chosen as a winner we will message you to find out your shipping address. You then have 72 hours to respond to our message.

Winner: @untitleddesign is the winner of the iPod Touch, congratulations!

Back in 2008 Oprah featured a couple from Nova Scotia on her “Favourite Things” show. The couple had taken the idea of the 12 days of Christmas and created the 12 dates of Christmas instead. They wanted to promote spending time with loved ones rather than spending a lot of money on Christmas. Unfortunately, we are not the couple that was featured on Oprah, but we love the idea. In fact, we love it so much we decided to do our own version of the 12 Dates of Christmas.

Out of our list of twelve date ideas we chose eight of our favourites to write about. We both wish we could do all twelve, however due to the craziness of this time of year, and our desire to remain married, we were forced to choose only eight.

Without further ado, here is our list (in random order) of the 12 Dates of Christmas:

1. Relive our first date

2. Put up and decorate our Christmas Tree

3. Make home made Christmas ornaments

4. Play a Christmas board game

5. Bake some Christmas treats

6. Assemble a gingerbread house

7. Have a Christmas movie night

8. Make homemade Christmas gifts

9. Go for a Christmas lights drive

10. Go on a Food Crawl

11. Make a Snow Supper (winter theme)

12. Go see a Christmas show (such as The Nutcracker)

Look for our blog post about reliving our first date on Wednesday, December 2nd, and since it is the most wonderful time of year, our most wonderful giveaway yet is just around the corner. Hopefully this list looks interesting to you. We’re looking forward to lots of fun over the next few weeks and can’t wait to hear about all your favourite Christmas activities, traditions, and memories.

Cost – Free!

The annual Holiday Parade of Lights is the official start of the holiday season in Halifax. Every year thousands of people gather along the city streets to watch the floats go by. It’s a great chance to get outside and spend some time with each other.

SHE SAID:

Every year I plan on attending our local Holiday Parade of Lights and every year I swear I’ll never go again. This year I think I mean it. The parade this year was just plain weird. There were massive five-minute breaks in between floats and at least half the floats had nothing to do with the holidays. At some points it felt more like a Mardi Gras parade than Christmas parade.

That’s not to say every Christmas parade is a waste of time. If you don’t mind bundling up, fighting traffic and heading out into crowds of people, parades are for you. If you haven’t been to a parade since you believed in Santa Claus and want to give it another try, mind the following tips:

• Leave early enough so that you can park and walk before they close the streets off. We arrived 30 minutes before the parade started and that was cutting it close. To eliminate traffic stress, leave an hour and a half before the parade starts.
• Bring a chair and/or blanket. Cold sidewalk + lack of movement = parade anger.
• Bring or buy a hot drink to avoid the aforementioned parade anger.
• Plan to go out for appetizers or dessert afterward to avoid sitting in traffic as everyone tries to head home.

HE SAID:

When I was younger, I may or may not have watched a show called MAD TV (…don’t judge me!). On said show, there was a sketch called “Lowered Expectations” about a dating service for people who are REALLY having trouble finding love. I don’t remember if the sketches were actually funny or not, but the jingle has planted itself firmly inside my brain, only showing itself when I’m in a situation that calls for, you guessed it, lowered expectations.

A few years ago we had the opportunity to go to Disney during the holidays. One of the highlights of that trip was the parade/fireworks show in the Magic Kingdom. It was one of the most well done events I have ever seen. It oozed so much happiness and Christmas cheer that even the Grinch would have loved it.

When I go to a parade now I try to push aside those memories because there’s just no way our city will be able to put on such a spectacle. That said, I had fun at this year’s Holiday Parade of Lights. I dressed in so many layers I could barely move, got freezing cold regardless, grumbled about the huge empty spots in the parade, but I’ll probably bundle up and do the exact same thing next year.

I love seeing the huge crowds lining the streets as they await a glimpse of Santa. I love the floats with live bands playing Christmas songs. I love the kids in the parade who get distracted and fall behind their group. Most of all, I love hanging out with Susan and the friends we go along with. That’s really what it’s all about.

The best part of the night was when the parade was finished and we tried to get out of the parking garage. It was like we were in a demented disaster movie. We were shuffling along up a creepy staircase packed with people trying to escape impending doom, I mean, get to their cars. After realizing that none of the cars had moved an inch in a half hour, we ditched the car and went out for nachos.

Local holiday parades may not have the glitz and glamour of Disney, but they are still worth it. They bring everyone together, even just for a little while, and they kick off the Christmas season. I’ll definitely be going again next year.

It’s almost time to get out the lights, decorations, and Christmas trees. That’s right, the holidays are right around the corner. What better time of year to help out someone in need? This year we took part in Operation Christmas Child, a charity that helps make Christmas a little brighter for kids in developing countries. As you can see from the pictures, even our cat Himmery got involved!

SHE SAID:

I really enjoyed taking the time with Brad to give back in some small way. Sometimes we can lose sight of how privileged we are, so it was nice to take the time to refocus. I liked the charity we chose, particularly because we got to shop for Christmas presents for a little boy, which means we had an excuse to raid the toy aisles! I think it’s the first time Brad actually volunteered to go shopping.

For our charity, Operation Christmas Child, the idea is to shop for Christmas presents for a boy or girl from one of the three age groups (2-4, 5-9, 10-14). You fill a shoebox with various items such as school supplies, hygiene items, and of course toys. You put $7 in an envelope to cover shipping costs along with a little note if you wish. Then, you take it to one of the drop off locations in your area (which can be found on their website) where it is processed and shipped to a developing nation. Countries in the past have included Bosnia, Mozambique, Armenia, and Liberia.

I had so much fun combing the toy aisles, looking for toys I thought our unknown boy might enjoy. It was funny how we both thought we knew the boy we were shopping for and would get into little arguments over what he would enjoy more. The fun for me in this was definitely in the process and not the packing of the shoebox. As I suspected while we were shopping, we bought too much. However, Brad and his packing skills managed to cram 4 t-shirts, 6 pairs of socks, a sticker book, 4 toothbrushes, a sketchpad, markers, coloured pencils, bandaids, lego, 3 hot wheels cars and a ball into a tiny shoebox.

Whether or not you support the charity we did is irrelevant. The point is to pick a charity that is near and dear to you and find a way to give back to it, either by participating in one of their events (many charities have Christmas events) or holding an event of your own to raise funds for it. Have a game night with friends and charge a seat fee or hold a silent auction. For more ideas like this visit: celebrations.com/charity-events

HE SAID:

We made a choice to change our focus for Christmas this year. Instead of getting caught up in spending too much money on people who already have too much stuff (although we still love them) and on ourselves, we are going to focus on what really matters. Don’t worry, we’re not turning into Scrooges, we’re still giving gifts to people we love, but spending time with our family and friends and giving to those in need are more important than gifts.

I had heard about Operation Christmas Child many times over the years but I had never personally participated. I was unsure of how the whole process works and what we were actually going to do. As it turns out, it’s really easy and quite fun.

I’m the kind of person who will avoid shopping in an actual store at any cost. If there is any possible way to buy a product online instead of having to deal with parking lots and lineups, I’m there. So I can’t say I was super excited to go to a store and shop. I was so wrong.

We chose to shop for a little boy in the age range of 5-9, and it was awesome. I had completely forgotten the joys of walking down the toy aisles (it was just one aisle when I was a kid!) and seeing all the fun things available. It was really hard not to grab one of everything. I just kept picturing this little guy with a smile on his face as he opened up the gifts we chose and it made me want to go a little crazy.

Once we got home we had to deal with packing the gifts in a shoebox. I know Susan gives me the credit for this, but it was more her than me. My idea of strategically packing the shoebox was to jam everything in it and then force the box shut. She packed and re-packed it until everything fit just right.

I’m so excited to wake up on Christmas morning and know that in some small way, we made a difference for a little boy in another part of the world. It’s easy to get down sometimes when we compare our lives to other people, but in reality even the average person in Canada or the U.S. is wealthy beyond imagination in comparison to some other places in the world. We have a lot to be thankful for so giving back in some way is the least any of us can do.

You obviously don’t have to choose the same charity we did, but I hope this inspires you to help someone who needs it however you see fit. We had a lot of fun taking part in Operation Christmas Child together and making a date out of it. I can safely say we’ll be doing something similar next year.

If you’re not sure what charity you’d like to support, the link below is a great resource. It is broken down into categories of giving, such as medical and human rights, and as well as by geographical location (Canada, USA, UK, Australia). We’ve also included links to some specific charities you might want to take a look at:

charity-charities.org/charities/index.html

• Feed Nova Scotia (stuff a bus, canstruction, etc.)
• IWK/QEII hospitals
• Canadian Cancer Society (relay for life)
• Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Run for the Cure) or Bust a Move
• Adsum House
• Habitat for Humanity
• Bide Awhile or SPCA (animal rescue)