Hallmark sent me a sample of The the Night Before Christmas, recordable story book, to try out.
The problem with this were:
1. He doesn't get his mail in a timely manner, in fact on post on fb was "Gunner thinks the Taliban is stealing his mail."
2. It would have to be relatively quiet.
3. I would have to go to the post office. (This is yet another one of those overwhelming tasks for me)
4. Would I get it back from Gunner?
I decided to bypass Gunner this time, and wait for him to do one when he gets home. (Sorry babe!)
My mom was staying on a week after she got back from Japan with Emily (or Emily got back from Japan with my mom), so I asked her to record it one day while I was at crossfit. (Yes, I am still hopelessly addicted)
Recordable Storybooks feature voice-capture technology that records the reader’s voice, which is then captured within the Storybook. When a page is turned, the book automatically plays the text on that page in the reader’s voice. It’s a great way to capture a special moment that can be shared with a child over and over again. And since the recording lasts for the life of the book, it can also serve as a lasting memento of a loved one who is away because of duty or other circumstances.
I didn't get a shot of her taping it, but she said it was easy, very user-friendly, and took no time at all. After the recording is done, you have to use a screwdriver to remove the battery/speaker area, and "lock" the recording so the kids can't accidentally erase it. A very nice feature, but meant I had to track down a screwdriver, which is no easy feat with one Abs in the house.
Junior got the first peak at it, and was hooked.
He was so excited to hear Grandma read him the story. Let's be honest, at this age, he wants the same stories over and over and over again.
He kept reading it.
They have so many different stories to choose from here. My dad passed away 4 1/2 years ago, what I wouldn't do to have a recording of him for the kids. The story Guess How Much I Love You is a favorite in our house, and I would have loved to have had that recorded by their dad before he left for Afghanistan.
So........
Hallmark has agreed to give TWO Christmas recordable storybooks out to my readers!!! Imagine being able to have your husband record the story for this Christmas while he is home, and to have available to the kids next Christmas while he is overseas.
Entering is easy, and you just need to tell me about your favorite Christmas memory! I'll randomly draw a winner on Monday, December 6th. Good luck!
Also, be sure to check out the following video, and around the 2 minute mark is a military family from North Carolina that used the recordable storybooks in their family!
18 comments:
Oh my gosh! I so want this for a friend. Her husband hasn't been home for THREE Christmases in a row. Next year isn't looking so good, either.
My favorite Christmas memory is just Christmas in general as I was growing up.
We'd open one present on Christmas Eve and then go to a Candlelight Ceremony at church.
Christmas Day, we'd wake up, go down and open presents and have Monkeybread for breakfast! Then, just before lunch, we'd go across the road to my aunt and uncle's house and exchange gifts and have a big lunch! Usually with my uncle smoking both a ham and a turkey.
Our entire family would then play cards and board games.
It was great growing up that way.
This looks cool!
I think my favorite memories were the years we had Christmas with my Grandparents. I remember one year I got a magic kit and put on a show for them. Very sweet memories.
I wish I'd known these existed last Christmas! My fave memory is from '07, my husband and I (bf at the time) moved into our fist apartment 2 weeks before Christmas. We bought the tiniest little artificial tree and a boatload of candles :) those were happy times ha!
If your husband is anywhere near a USO, they have a program called "United Through Reading" to send kids books recorded by their deployed parent! The USO does all of the recording and sending, you don't have to worry about a thing!
I was so going to buy this when Doc was supposed to deploy, it's amazing.
My favorite Christmas memory is actually my dad reading Twas The Night Before Christmas to my siblings and me, well up until we are were teenagers and we made fun of it.
I would love love love to do one for my niece and nephew from my grandmother (who is 91). What an awesome idea!
Oops. Sorry got too excited and clicked post before adding my memory.
My favorite childhood memory was always Christmas eve. I would sleep with my sister in her room and she and I would play board games until my parents would let us come out to open presents. Every year we would try to peak, and every year my parents had wrapping paper over the entrance to our hallway!
We got this free from the base, so I don't need to enter, but wanted to give an idea...
We just got hubby's address, so there is no way we could get it to him and back in time for the kiddos. So we are going to record it for him and it will be his gift. Each kiddo gets a page to read for dad to hear their voices.
I am in love with these books! I just wish they would sell them online so we could buy them. Living overseas is hard some times and this is one of those hard times! I want several of those books for all of our family members to record their voices. I learned last year when my little brother passed away that being able to have a voice recording of a loved one is invaluable!!
Believe it or not one of my favorite Christmas memories would be while my hubby was deployed and on Christmas eve I put the laptop on the floor with the webcam on and he talked to me all night while I put toys and furniture together. Even criticizing me like he would if he were actually there! It was hard that year but that night was so special to me.
Let's see, my favorite Christmas memory. I would have to say a couple years back when my dad obliged me and put on the bright pink victoria secret santa hat because we didn't have a traditional one and I thought santa needed his hat! It was so funny and he was having so much fun acting with it.
darryen8808@yahoo.com
My favorite christmas memory is the second one, with my now seven old daughter my aunt had her dressed in a elf costume and she was determined to be in the middle of everyone's presents and to open all of them herself.
Shelly
This would be perfect for my kids!!
My favorite Christmas memory would have to be the Christmas Eve party that we have at my parents house each year. It is filled to the brim with family and friends and it is always what we look forward to and look back on the most.
I would love one of these. ;) I watched the video that you linked to and I am crying (thanks...lol). My dh is deploying in April and it will be the most difficult deployment for us to date. The previous two deployments the kids were too little to really know daddy was gone for so long. This time they are going to be very aware of it. He is currently finding us a place to live as we are PCS'ing to Ft Lewis and I have had to hug tears away every night before bed.
Anyway, favorite Christmas memory. I am the youngest of 5 children. By the time I was 7 my two oldest siblings were already out of high school. My oldest brother was in the Navy and my oldest sister was going to Cottey (I'm the PEO that messaged you many months back). For Christmas that year I got a HUGE box in the mail from my sister. It seemed like forever before Christmas break & her arrival in town. When she showed up I was ecstatic...we were very close. To my great pleasure the present was a stuffed bear the size of me...lol. Her roommate's mother worked at a stuffed animal factory. It was wearing a shirt that I also go that said, "Hitting the Books at Cottey College." LOL...it was a great Christmas.
Christmas used to be BIG in my family I mean HUGE. But after my parents divorce it's less than celebrated, it's non existent. But my absolute favorite christmas memory was my dad and I used to go searching for trees to CHOP down, like with an ax We would drive for DAYS and hours just to find the right one. Well we found one and as my dad told me to step back out of the way so it wouldn't fall on me, I remember myself falling and crashing to the ground. See little 5 year old me had stepped into a HUGE hole that one of my legs went through with mud and water all the way up to my hips. I don't think I ever saw my dad run so fast in his life. I cried and cried cause my pink snow boots just HAD to be ruined, but he dried me off and mom laughed about it later :)
I was just looking at these today at the Hallmark store in my mall...they are so neat!
My favorite memory of Christmas has been happening for 15 years now and here is how it goes:
On Christmas Eve, my side of the family all gets together at my parents home and my mom has a book "Twas THE Night Before Christmas" and as she reads it she says "THE" louder than the rest of the words because when we here her say "THE", we all have a wrapped dollar store gift in our hands that my dad has picked out and we pass it to the next person....and on and on this goes as she reads the book and says "THE". When she is all done we open the gift we ended up with and then we usually trade them and stuff. It is something that all the grandkids and grown up kids :) look forward to every year....listening to their "Nana" read the story and see what their "Pape" bought for the gifts to pass! I would love to have one of these for my mom to record the story on...it saddens me to think that one day she won't be with us, but this would be a memory that we could carry on (with her voice) even after she is gone.
My husband left last week for Basic. Before he left, a friend gave us a recordable storybook. My boys (who are 2 and 4) love it! We listen to it every night before bed They call it their Daddy book. I am going to try and find a couple more for him to record while he is home over Christmas Exodus.
For me it was sneaking in to look at our stockings with my brother...we did it every year!
ykatrina at hotmail dot com
My husband tried to do the USO thing and when he went to the USO they said he had to go to the library to do it and at the library they said to go to the USO. He did this two more times and nobody knew what he was talking about, so we would still like the opportunity to take advantage of something like this.
My favorite memory was my daughter's first Christmas. She was born prematurely and didn't have a great chance of survival, so she was our little Christmas miracle.
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