I found this great article on childrenshospital.org. It has some great pointers for all of us!
Make Your Holiday Season More Meaningful and Less Stressful
Holiday parties, shopping, baking, cooking, wrapping presents and decorating are just a few of the activities and obligations we face during the holiday season. The list doesn’t stop there and it’s no wonder why people find themselves stressed and overwhelmed toward the end of the year. Here are a few tips to help you manage expectations, save money, have more fun and avoid holiday stress factors.
Be realistic
Setting realistic expectations for yourself and your children can help you to avoid a lot of stress and disappointment. Here are some ideas to help.
- Learn to say no. Don’t feel obligated to make it to every holiday party or event that you or your children get invited to. And if you don’t have time to make eight dozen cookies for your daughter’s school Christmas party, just say “no.”
- Set a budget before you go holiday food and gift shopping. Decide how much you can afford and stick to that amount.
- The advertisements that kids see during the holidays can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointment if they don’t get everything on their wish list. Ask your children to pick out one or two toys or gifts they want, instead of making a long wish list. If you have older children, do a family gift exchange. Get more tips about making the holidays less materialistic.
Focus on giving, not getting
This year, encourage your family to think about ways you can give back to the community, instead of focusing on what presents you’ll be getting. Volunteering or donating can really boost a child’s self esteem and make them more appreciative of what they have. It’s important to teach them that even just one person can make a difference. Look into volunteering at a soup kitchen, giving blood, visiting a senior citizen’s home, or donating old toys and clothes.
View The Children’s Hospital Wish List for ideas of ways to donate. (.pdf)
Learn more about “getting rid of the gimmies.”
Get crafty
Some of the most special and meaningful gifts are those that are homemade. Helping your children make gifts for friends and family can be a great time for you to bond and have fun as a family. Arts and crafts can also be a therapeutic activity to help you unwind during times of stress or high activity. Read more about creating gifts for family and friends.
Here are just a few ideas for some craft projects that would also make great gifts.
- Family photo album
- Homemade ornaments
- Painted pottery
- Custom artwork
- Decorate picture frames
Get active and avoid the junk food
For most Americans, the holidays last from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day; during this time our homes, offices, schools and churches are usually full of unhealthy holiday treats. It’s important to teach your children healthy eating habits and to lead by example, even during holiday celebrations.
Get some healthy Thanksgiving recipes and tips.
Read more about getting your child the proper nutrition during the holidays and year-round.
In addition, make it a priority to stay active with your kids and encourage them to play outside, even if it’s snowy – bundle up and build a snowman. Some other festive activities could be ice skating or walking around the neighborhood or city to see holiday lights.
Perhaps most importantly, remember to get plenty of rest and take the time to relax and enjoy being around your family and friends!
Tags: family time, holidays, meaningful moments
The Holidays are a great time to spend quality time as a family. This is the time when memories are made and traditions are formed. Sounds great right? Unfortunately for many of us the hustle and bustle of the season seems to sneak in and many moments for family bonding is lost in decorating, shopping, and wrapping.
Here is a list of a few things you can do as a family to ensure that your time spent together is meaningful.
Try to go back to the basics, make and decorate a batch of your favorite sugar or gingerbread cookies. Once your finished you can either deliver them to neighbors, and enjoy them as a family.
Try your hand at Christmas Caroling. Think of how much fun it would be if you went to an assisted living center and spread your Christmas Spirit through song.
Make decorating for Christmas a family affair. Allow the kids to hang some ornaments on the tree and maybe even string a few lights. That way you can spend time together and everybody can take pride in a job well done.
Pick a family in need and do the 12 days of Christmas for them. What a great way to teach children the importance of giving rather than receiving.
and finally,
You could even sit down together and watch some of your favorite Christmas classics. A Wonderful Life seems to never get old!
The list can go on and on, but the truth is, it doesn’t really matter what you are doing as long as you’re doing together.
I just wanted to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I hope that your day will be filled with family, friends, and great food!
I hope that you will be able to enjoy the day and the time with your families and that many memories will be made and traditions will be kept.
I hope that you will be able to savor the time with your family just like you savor that juicy turkey. Have a wonderful day and I hope it is just the beginning of a wonderful Holiday Season!
I don’t know if this happens at anybody else’s Thanksgiving dinner, but it seems like we spend HOURS preparing the feast. We slave in the kitchen agonize over the seating arrangements, and make sure our homes are spotless. Finally the hour arrives that the meal begins. It is presented beautifully, and enjoyed by all. . .in a matter of minutes! After all that hard work, it seems like the meal is consumed before anybody takes a deep breathe. Then its off the the kitchen for clean-up duty, sorting through the the ads for black Friday preparations, or making your way to the couch for hours of football. What a shame.
I found a great idea by Amanda Formaro which just might help the special family time linger a little longer.
What you’ll need:
- Twig with branches
- Heavy vase, container or basket with rocks
- Floral foam
- Silk leaves
- White card stock
- Black marker
- Hot glue gun
- American moss
How to make it:
- Fill container (we used an urn) with floral foam. Pack it in tight so that it doesn’t move around.
- Insert twig into the floral foam until secure.
- Hot glue one silk leaf for each member of your family that will be attending the holiday celebration onto the end of each branch.
- Write each family member’s name on pieces of card stock. Hot glue one name below each leaf.
- Arrange American moss over the top of the pot and hot glue in place.
- Place on the holiday table.
Many of us know that meal time as a family has many benefits, but check this site out for ideas on how to prepare meals as a family as well. Here is one recipe that Mandy was kind enough to share with us:
Tipi Tacos
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package Old El Paso taco seasoning
water
Lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Salsa
Pretzel Sticks
Tortillas (any kind)
Celery sticks, cut into thin strips
Cream cheese (optional, for “glue” to hold the sides together)
Ketchup or taco sauce, optional
Directions:
Brown ground beef and add seasoning and water according to package directions. While meat is cooking, cut up tortillas into triangles. You have two options for this:
Option #1: cut one large triangle out of a small tortilla (see below). You’ll need three of these to make one Tipi. Be sure to cut out a smaller triangle from every 3rd piece to make a “door”
Option #2: cut a large tortilla in half and then in thirds. Trim the outer edge so they are triangles. This has less waste and one tortilla will make 2 tipis. Be sure to cut out a smaller triangle from every 3rd piece to make a “door”.
Either way, chop up the extras to freeze and fry for taco salads another night!
Place trianges on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes until crispy. Remove from oven.
On a plate, place a spoonful of cooked taco meat, cheese, and lettuce.
Arrange 3 triangles to form a tipi. If you are making these yourself and serving them, they should be fine. If you are going to let the kids decorate the sides with ketchup or taco sauce, you should use a little cream cheese on each side to hold it together. Place a few celery sticks in top.
Break several pretzel sticks in half and arrange to make a “firepit” in front of your tipi. Add a spoonful of salsa for the “fire”.
Place a small amount of ketchup or taco sauce in a sandwich baggie and snip off one corner. Let the kids paint some “artwork” on the sides of their tipis. Serve and enjoy! Thanks again Mandy! 
I don’t know about you, but there are days that all of the things that I “have” to do seem to completely envelope my time. As much as I want to spend some quality time with my kids and husband, the “have to-s” are continuously looming over my head.
There are days that I feel it is critical to let the things, like the laundry, wait for another day. It will be there in the morning, and sometimes the kids need special attention far more than my brights need pre-treating.
However, there are other days. You may be familiar with them. They are the days when you just can’t put off the laundry any longer or the kids will be stuck with mismatched socks and dirty shirts. So then the quest becomes, making to most of the “Have To-s”
Here is something that I like to do when it comes to laundry, and yes, I realize that my children are young so this may not work with the big kids.
First off, we all sort the laundry together. They find it challenging to sort the piles by colors. The best part is, it incorporates learning skills at the same time. Be sure to throw in a dash of encouragement and a whole lot of praise.
When the laundry is finished we fold it together. If we are working on a load of towels, I let the little kids fold the wash cloths and hand towels while the older ones, and I fold the full size towels.
We like to turn on fun music, laugh and enjoy each other’s company. For us, that is the best way to make the necessities a fun part of our time together.
Is it just me, or does this image look frighteningly familiar?
The subject of my post has been on my mind A LOT lately. In my opinion it applies to all of us. Right now I spend every waking moment with my kids, and my husband, on-the-other-hand, spends far less time with them due to his work schedule, but the conundrum is the same for both of us. Are we spend QUALITY time with our family while we are together, or are we merely exisiting in the same environment with little to no worthwhile interaction?
I think that in my circumstance, I spend so much time with my children that I often forget that I could be making the time more meaningful. At times I get caught up in going through the motions. The laundry, dishes, sweeping, homework, diapers, and sibling quarrels seem to make the more meaningful stuff take a back seat.
That’s not what I want.
Now obviously all of that other stuff has to get done, but my goal is to make the time that I spend more meaningful, more involved, and more worthwhile. Whether you spend hours a day with your family, like I do, or a few precious moments like my husband, my hope is that we can find ways, together, to make whatever amount of time we have COUNT.
I hope that you’ll join me in my journey. I’m sure it will be filled with ups and downs, but that’s life right? Hopefully it will be sprinkled with humor and covered in love along the way!
So from here. . . .
To Here. . . .
Let’s get going!