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- Just leave a comment to enter the contest. We don't care who you are, an author, a reader, or a complete stranger. But be sure to tell your friends because the more comments the more winners!
- In your comment answer this question (any simple answer will do, we are not picking the winner based on your answers): How do you make Christmas special for your kids/family?
- Only ONE entry per person. If you leave more than one comment we will delete them.
- The winner will get to pick their prize(s) from the items below.
- Every 50 comments we will choose an additional winner. Each winner may choose three prizes.
- However if we somehow do get more than 300 comments we will stay with only 6 winners. You can still enter the contest after 300 comments have been left but only 6 from the total number of comments will be chosen.
- Giveaway ends on Friday (Dec 12th) at MIDNIGHT (central standard time). Winners will be selected randomly using random.org and announced the next morning.
- If you are one of the winners email MommyDiariesAdmin@gmail.com to claim your prizes. If we do not receive an email from you within 24 hours we will pick another lucky winner. So make sure you check on Saturday morning!
- Prizes will be given on a first come first serve basis so when you email you might want to give a couple "back up" choices in case another winner emails before you.
Each winner picks 3 of these:
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Handmade placemat purse- this is just an example of the style, the purse won't look exactly like this.
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2 little girl corker bows
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Handmade purple little girl bracelet
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The Lake House dvd*
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Baby bibs*
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Snugly sleeper 0-9 months*
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Fun book for your little ones*
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Set of 6 handmade greeting cards
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Toy firetruck*
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Handmade bow sewn fleece baby blanket
in either pink or blue.
Festive Fourth of July shoes infant size 3*
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Little girl skirt 6-9 months*
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Handmade Earrings
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Handmade Earrings
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Handmade earrings
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2 handmade felt flower clips for mommies (you pick the colors)
-yes... I said mommies... these are all the rage here. Most people wear them next to the rubber band of a pony tail.
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2 handmade felt flower clips for girls (you pick the colors)
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Girl outfit 24 months*
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Eye shadow and lip gloss/blush combo*
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Twirly skirt made from this fabric. You pick the size (little girl sizes only)
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I should mention that the jewelry and flower clips were all ideas inspired by Kara.
*Everything that is not made by us is brand new and never used and still has tags or plastic wrap.
GOOD LUCK!
67 comments:
Wahooy! Am I the first commenter?
Growing up, my most vivid memories of Christmas, are the ones when we were doing things for other people. Since my husband and I have been married (this is our 4th Christmas), first, we determine our Christmas budget. Then, we "1/2-it" (that's a word in cyberspace right?) and find a family or someone who needs help. Then, we spend 1/2 our Christmas budget on whatever that family needs. We always feel so fortunate and surprised at how easy it is to help out someone else just as much as your own family. We like to do it anonymously, of course. Sometimes, we don't even know the family which makes it even more surprising for them. I get recommendations from our ward Bishop. One year, another family caught word of our plans and said they would match our spending so the surprise family got even double! It brings happiness and joy to serve, especially during Christmas.
Yay, this sounds fun!!! I make Christmas special for my children by having lots of traditions. We had been having Christmas with my parents every year but last year was the first one on our own. I rattled my brain and did research on the internet for things that would be fun for us to do as "traditions". We have a game night with cheese and crackers, we build snow men outside, we make a fort and watch a movie, we sleep under the tree one night, we do our advent calendars, and read Christmas stories. We have a bunch of others too but I won't bore you. We do lots of holiday baking and give treats away to friends and those in our ward that could use a little extra Christmas spirit. This year we are doing a Wild Goose Chase and where we hide gifts with clues and the girls will have to figure out the clue and go get the gift. We did this in my house growing up and I'm excited to do this with my chilren. Merry Christmas!!!
We send our kids on a scavenger hunt every Christmas Eve to find out where we are going for Spring Break.
We like to try to set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving (or as soon as we get home from family's house Thanksgiving weekend). We also play lots and lots of Christmas music, and we tell the bible story of Christ's birth so that Brielle knows the reason we celebrate Christmas. The night before Christmas we get to open one present, usually pjs, and if we're in Utah, we try to always go to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights and visit Santa!
This is the first Christmas that my oldest really gets it so we are making our traditions now. We have made a point to talk about Christmas and what it means everyday in December. We sing Christmas songs and dance around to Christmas music every night.
My parents had this roughly made nativity that was just the bed. Each week we would draw names and annonomously do acts of service for that person. Each time a service was performed we would lay a piece of staw in the bed, to make it soft for Jesus. On Christmas my mom would lay the baby Jesus in the soft bed we had made for him. My mom and I have made these as gifts. They come in a draw string bag with all the pieces as well as a little story to read as a family each year to start it off. It's easy to make.
We try to make Christmas special by focusing on Jesus Christ and banning Santa Claus (at least the trickery of Santa Claus) from our home. I also make homemade gifts each year for those close to me rather than buy gifts and have my kids help.
We spend a lot of time with family! It is busy but great. The other thing that I am trying to start this year is some kind of service. I really want to instill in my children a desire to do service for others.
I'm starting a collection of Christmas books that I'll keep under the tree. Every night in December leading up til Christmas, we'll read a christmas book together by the Christmas tree. When my son gets older, we'll probably have some hot chocolate or a fun treat at the same time, but he's only 7 months right now. ~Jen - referred by Nikki
Traditions -- Some of my earliest memories is of the 8th floor exhibit. I remember Mom and Dad taking us there every year, seeing Santa and then Dad would buy us Gingerbread cookies at the end. I don't think I have missed a year, even on college break or coming home for the holidays - we would always make a trip downtown to the 8th floor. Mom and Dad have carried this tradition on with my kids. This year we went to the 8th floor with Grandpa, saw Santa and had our gingerbread cookies It was a nice day, but we all missed having Grandma there.
Wow, the thing I was going to say is already done by Jen T. We do have a Christmas story basket under our tree, Every year I try to add a few more christmas books to it. My mom did this growing up and is a fun tradition I wanted to keep going for my family.
referred by Nikki!
We go as a family to pick out our tree in the lot and take a family picture. We build a gingerbread house and make homemade hot cocoa. We deliver cookies to neighbors, and put together a food box for a needy family. We make sure to include the kids in the giving and stress the anonomous part. This year, since money's tight, I'm making homemade gourmet cookie dough frozen into logs and wrapped in pretty fabric(and plastic wrap). I also made 11 dozen tamales for the men in my family. WHat says love better than food?
We open one gift on Christmas Eve,we each get an Angel from the Angel Tree at Church, we bake goodies for our Home and Visiting Teaching families and we set up a manger scene on our front lawn.
I also make a few traditional dishes that my husband loves from his Italian heritage...homemade Manicotti and meatballs that his Grandma taught me how to make and Italiam green beans and potatoes with garlic, olive oil and butter.
Holy cow, MDAdmin is awesome! Thanks for the fun giveaway you guys! I think that the thing that makes Christmas special for us is the anticipation. I can't believe how excited my little girl is every morning to put a little decoration on our advent tree and to get the Christmas music going. We have been doing many roleplays of Santa and his elves and we are trying to watch lots of Christmas movies and of course talk about the real meaning of Christmas. All in all I think it's such a magical time for kids and it's just great to have little ones to make you appreciate it more!
FUN idea!! Well I don't really have any traditions yet, especially with kids since this will be our first Christmas with a kid and he will only be a few weeks old, I have always wanted to think of some good traditions for my kids, obviously this year we won't start cuz we are totally pre-occupied!
I love ALL the traditions I grew up with, acting out the nativity scene, open pj's on Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve Mexican dinner, HUGE homemade by dad breakfast and a movie Christmas day!! There are definitely some of those I would LOVE to do with my kids and I'm sure I will! I also want to try to make it a point to see the temple lights every year sometime, and figure out a fun good way to teach them the real meaning of Christmas!!! I love Christmas time and can't wait to have children apart of it!!!
Christmas is the best. We've been singing a Christmas hymn and reading a Christmas scripture each night (or most nights). We've put our our nativity and have been talking about Christmas everyday, and why it is special. We plan on doing the whole she-bang this winter break, sledding, gingerbread houses, the Macy's exhibit, Hollidazzle, plenty of christmas movies and treats!! Christmas morning our tradition is to have omlets.... dad's specialty, and orang julius's.
Christmas is SO fun with kids!!!
What makes christmas fun for my family! We are all about Christ being the center of Christmas so we open all of our presents the night before christmas so that when we wake up on Christmas day we can put all of our attention on the true meaning of Christmas!!! CHRIST!!!! I love Christmas!!!!
How fun!! We get takeout and open a family movie and game. We also make cookies for Santa.I love all the great ideas.
I'm trying to make Christmas special for my daughter by starting new family traditions. In life before children we used to travel for Christmas, but this year, people are coming to us.
We have been taking traditions from both of our families, so that our kids can learn what we did as kids. We've tried some new things, but we are still trying to figure out exactly what traditions we want for our family. It is a work in progress.
Christmas in our family is.... well... being together. That's it - that's what it's all about.
Since our family is spread across the country, as most families are, it is sometimes difficult. But since the kids were little, we have always made it a priority to be together, so now that the kids are getting older, for them, it's not Christmas if we don't somehow find a way come together. As our family grows up, we have new members added to our family (kids growing up and marrying, and having children of their own) and this is getting more difficult, so sometimes Christmas happens on December 26th, 27th, or 28th, but it only happens when we can be together. That is how we have made Christmas special for our children over the years.
with much love to all on Christmas.... from Auntie Tootie... referred by Nikki! xoxox
We have so many Christmas Traditions, but I have one favorite tradition tha helps to keep the focus on Christ and the gift He gave to all. My mom hangs up a Christmas stocking for everyone in our family and another one for Christ. We do an act of love and service for someone in our family every day and write it out on a card and slip it into Jesus' stocking. On Christmas Eve we read all the cards and see what everyone did and it is sometimes suprising to see the sacrifices that were made for some of these gifts.
My girls are too young to understand this tradition now, but I try to encourage them to come up with a "gift" to give to Christ everyday. My 4 year old has written so many thankyou/"I love you" letters to nearly everyone she knows, she shares more willingly with her sister, and she has suprised us all with her cute family drawings she tapes up all over the house to remind us that our goal is to be a family forever!
My sister Anna refered me. I love Christmas. I can't remember a Christmas that wasn't magical and filled with tradition. My parents have always made the Holidays amazing. Now that I am a mother we have started a tradition of reading the story of Christ's birth while we set up our Nativity. This year the Nativity went up first followed by the tree a day later. In fact I even let our 14 month old help touch and put the nativity up. (of course he can't reach it now...) It really helped bring Christ into our home. Merry Christmas, and what a great way to get people to share about their family traditions.
We officially start our Christmas celebration on December 8th. (this is due to many reasons that I will not go into now)...
This year, we had a special family home evening (FHE) in which we spoke specifically about Mary and Joseph. We also "received" a family gift, which was a Curious George Christmas book. Next Monday and the Monday after, our FHE lesson will focus on the sheperds and the wise men, respectively. Finally, on Christmas Eve we will have another FHE lesson focusing on the Savior and we will act out the nativity.
Basically, we want the Christmas season to be one where we spend as much time together as possible, while focusing on the Savior.
What a fun giveaway! For Christmas we have a few simple family traditions that I love doing. The day after Thanksgiving we always put up the tree. On Christmas Eve we go look at Christmas lights, read the story of Jesus' birth, and make sugar cookies.
Thanks
yellyjohnsen@yahoo.com
I love reading everyone's traditions. We are still working on ours and figuring out what we want to do. I am just starting the book idea, with a twist: we are going to wrap all the books and then each night the kids get to open one and we will read it. Also, we are singing lots and lots of songs ALL day long. And of course, Christmas means service and family...so we are working on those!
THanks so much for such a fun giveaway. I'm crossing my fingers!
(thanks Cassi, for the info)
jndrysdale at gmail dot com
Since my girls are so young, were still working on figuring out what family traditions we would like to have during the holidays. One that we started when we were first married was decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving. We also ride the "Polar Express" every year...oh, and we also make gingerbread houses the first week of December!! :o)
In my family we had a tradition, similar to many, that on Christmas eve we could open a gift. Except our gift opening was conditional on one thing. We had to clean our rooms first and I think do another job. I thought it was a great tactic to get us to help around the house, young and old. We would race around trying to be the first one finished. We then spent the evening together at home, usually by the fire, and of course in a sparkling clean house!
We have a Christmas morning tradition that the kids can not get up until they hear me playing Silent Night on the piano. We also have a special family prayer thanking our Heavenly Father for Sending His son, Jesus Christ to the earth.
I enjoy singing Christmas songs with the family and just being together.
I feed them broth and bread. ;D Okay, I'm kidding. So far we've made sugar cookies and a ginger bread house. And spent a whole lot of dough on plane tickets to see both grandmas- very special, if I do say so myself... ;D
What a cute idea, you guys!
On Christmas Eve "the elves" bring pajamas for everyone. The kids get so excited. One year "the elves" came while my son was in the shower and as soon as he heard the doorbell he bolted out butt naked to try to catch them.
We have the "Christmas Sheet". It started when my mom was a girl and loved on a farm. Her parents would hang up a sheet across the doorway where the christmas tree and presents were Christmas morning. The reason they did this was that they had to do their chores on the farm first before the opened presents and they didn't want anyone to see what they got until they were done. When I was a girl I didn't live on a farm, but my mom continued to hang the sheet up anyways. Before we could go into the room with our presents my mom would talk to us about the real meaning of Christmas, then my dad would tear down the sheet and we would run into the room to see what Santa brought. I hope that made sense. Anyways, it is something I want to continue wth my own family.
We like to make Christmas cookies and listen to Christmas music as a family! Usually a couple of days before Christmas!
jls_wss2003 at yahoo dot com
We like to either get gifts for a child from the Angel tree that is not fortunate to have nice gifts or we prepare a box to send to a child in another country! We love to help other children!
email: keithadanielle[at]yahoo[dot]com
i contribute to Christmas by helping our family remember our traditons and keeping them alive!! haha :)
I have one son and soon to be a daughter. My husband is a firefighter so he has had to work the past Christmas' so we open a few gifts Christmas eve and wait for daddy on the rest. We get with both families and stay in pj's all day.
Wow what an amazing amount of Loot!
We try to do a special egg & sausage casserole in the morning. Then we all curl up and open presents. I think what makes it the most special for the kids is hanging out with mom and dad watching Christams Story & It's a wonderful life. Just having us hang out with them with no interuptions. ;)
We purchase a new Christmas book every year and read it as a family. Every day in December we try to read a Christmas story.
We set up the Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving and every Family Home Evening is about Christmas and with our daughter being so young, we usually just talk about all the pieces of the stuffed nativity that we have. We are hoping that after a month of Monday nights maybe something will sink in. We also sing Christmas hymns during our bedtime routine and we are doing a scripture/hymn advent calender everyday.
My family growing up always read Luke 2 before bed on Christmas Eve, and we talked about the true meaning of Christmas. My parents would normally share testimonies and then we would all put our stockings out for Santa. I really want to apply this tradition to my little family when my babies are old enough to get excited for Christmas. Oh and of course, for Christmas morning breakfast my dad would make Chorizzo breakfast burritos. YUM YUM.
One year a neighbor gave us their cut up fence cut such that it formed a small manger. They gave us a cute story about how our kind actions are like adding straw to the manger. We set that little manger up every year and whenever anyone serves another person he or she adds a piece of straw to the manger. It's a favorite tradition of ours every year.
Fun site. Thanks for recommending it to me, Chalece!
We do the advent calendar, go to Holidazzle, the Macy's show on the 8th floor, and watch lots of Christmas movies. Christmas Eve has always been our most spirit-filled time, reading Luke 2, singing carols, and reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.
One of my favorite things to do around Christmas is to sit around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve with family and sing Christmas carols, both religious and "Santa" songs. I remember doing this often growing up and have many fond memories.
I very much enjoy bringing Santa into the Christmas season, all while praising Jesus' birth. There is a lot of symbolism involved in many of the Christmas traditions. Saint Nicholas was a wonderful example of how Christians should use their faith to help others. Using Santa to teaching children to give to others, the poor, and the downhearted is a great opportunity during the Christmas time.
Obviously, referred by Chalece
We have a special family home evening on Christmas eve, sing chritmas songs, and talk about the Savior. We read scriptures and after all of this we drink hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie!!! :)
-by the way.... this is Heather Griffith
Our family goes to the Val Vista Holiday lights every year. We also have started a tradition of giving away a Christmas Jar every year. For those who do not know what that is, it is a jar filled with excess change and bills throughout the year. We then pick someone we know that is having a hard time with giving a Christmas to their family. By doing this, it invites the true spirit of Christmas in to our home and teaches that it is more important to think of others and give than to think of ourselves and what we want.
We love to let the kids help in our service ideas. Beginning Thanksgiving, we buy groceries, toys, clothes, etc and try to give to those in need. We also love to make treats for our neighbors. We love sharing at Christmas! :)
posting comments on blogs!!! or, Keeping Christmas traditions. Reading the story of the birth of Christ, early dinner Christmas eve (Mexican), Christmas morning breakfast, etc...
I just LOVE Christmas. We are a new little family, so all are traditions are the ones we are trying to intergrate from our families as kids. My husband's family reads Luke 2 on Christmas Eve and we have Chorizzo for Breakfast. My traditions are PJS on Christmas Eve and driving around and looking at Christmas Lights with some yummy hot chocolate. I can't wait for our children to enjoy in all the festivities.
Okay so I only have a 5 month old who doesn't really do much so I really don't know how to make Christmas too special for him yet, except for taking tons of pictures of every little thing he will get to be a part of that day. I would like to start making tons of family traditions and I love seeing lights. Every year we have been married my husband and I have gone on drives to see lights and it's now one of my favorite things to do!
One thing that we have always done as a family is some sort of service project every Christmas. We have done many things from sub-for-santa to feeding the homeless at the homeless shelter. One that really stands out to me was when my mom asked all of us kids to pick one of our toys to give to the homeless shelter so the kids could have a present. I chose my favorite doll and tried to make her pretty the entire ride downtown. It was hard to give her up, but it was good knowing she would be given to a little girl who needed her more.
Christmas is a time to become more Christ like, and how better to do that then give service to those in need.
Referred by Chalece Kolts
My family has always had a testimony meeting before we see what Santa has brought. It really brings the Christmas spirit! I love it!
Cool blog! This giveaway is going to pull me in as a reader--nice work.
My kids are pretty young but I just try to get them involved in everything we do. I also read them lots of Christmas books and frequently sings Christmas songs with them throughout the day. Growing up, we always did a program on Christmas Even in which everyone did something, like play an instrument, tell a story. I plan to do this with own kids when we have Christmases on our own.
Every year durring the holidays we have always done some type of a service for someone else. This is what my children seem to remember the most. They don't always remember what they get for christmas over the years, but they always remember what we have done for others and the way it made them feel. We have done things like sub-4-santa where we have provided things for christmas dinner and presents for families and left it on their doorstep christmas eve, serving food to the homeless downtown, picking names off the angel tree and filling that childs wishes together as a family, making lots and lots of beanie hats and scarves for the homeless shelter, and many other things.
We absolutely love the Christmas season, the wonderful christmas music and the feelings that this time of year brings. It is a time for family, sharing, caring for others, and most importantly to bring the spirit of christ into our homes. Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy holiday!!
Referred by Chalece Kolts
We have our immediate family over on Christmas Eve, which includes my oldest daughter and her children, my youngest daughter and her child, and my husband and I! We cook steaks and shrimp and dessert and we exchange gifts while listening to Christmas music!
smithchick7_ at hotmail.com
Thanks for the entry!
Jamie
We drive around and look at all the Christmas lights and decorations and I take my son to see Santa and the Christmas parade in our hometown!
email: jaynalauren [AT] yahoo [DOT] com
The greatest thing we have done in our family is change the focus from gift giving to activities centered on bringing us closer together as a family. We each get one gift, stalkings, p.j's, and my little 2 year old also gets one gift from Santa. We started this while she is young so that she'll know that Christmas is more than what's under the tree. We do make birthdays extra special and it's centered around that person. Christmas and birthdays have become more special and more enjoyable. One example of what we do that I enjoy the most is walking around Temple Square in Salt Lake looking at the lights and the nativity. My little one is old enough this year to get excited about the lights. One thing we also enjoy is opening our P.J.'s on Christmas Eve and eating fettucine alfredo while watching our favorite Christmas movies (Little Women for me).
Fun! I finally have a minute to comment. Some of our Christmas traditions that we have started or carried on from our own families are...Christmas Eve we have a big Italian dinner, since we both served our mission in Italy. We also do the nativity with nativity puppets on Christmas Eve. The kids get matching pj's on Christmas Eve, and we make Santa's cookies. When the kids get older I would like to do some sort of service project on Christmas eve, maybe going to a soup kitchen. For Christmas I always make everyone something hand made by me, along with their other gifts.
Well I think I'm pretty safe in saying that my wife won't really "allow" me to win her contest. But I figured I'd help contribute to the comments anyway.
Something our family does that hasn't already been mentioned is that we put an ornanment in our kids stocking every year. It is always something that will kind of remind them of the year and it has their name and the year somewhere on it. Then when they get married and have their own tree they will have about 20 ornanments already that remind them of their past Christmases.
I write my family Christmas letter.
Growing up the best part about Christmas was planning presents to make for everyone. Also, we acted out Luke 2 with costumes on Christmas Eve. For our relatively new family, the only consistent tradition so far is that at Christmas we have more family around. We've gone somewhere or had visitors every Christmas. I love the ideas I've read here! Maybe next year I'll report on which ones I successfully added to our holiday tradition. :)
Great giveaway! We have a lot of family time at Christmas and always have a big family dinner on Christmas Eve.
We spend lots and lots of time with family. Some family members live far away and we don't get to see them much, so when they do come we like to play games and eat and all kinds of fun stuff together!
In our family, we always wake up at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. and we would wait in our parents bed room to open stockings, then we would go out to the tree and see all of the cool things that Santa Made us!!!! Then we go out and have our traditional Christmas omlet for breakfast. I love just being with my family and having a good time with all of them. Christmas is the best and most special time of the year. Megan
refered by Chalece
I love this time of year and the opportunity to just spend time with family and enjoy the Christmas spirit. Thanks Calise!!
Lets see, Making Christams special for my family starts with us all going out and picking our christmas tree together. We then decorate it and make a count down chain to help my boys countdown to the big day. This site is awsome and did I mention I am glad my best friend Calise sent me over here. :)
I love Christmas because all the family is always together! I can't wait to make Christmas special for my children!
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