Christmas with Kids

The Christmas season can be very busy. It’s just as important to schedule downtime as anything else. Plan a picnic, a playdate, a park day, a spa day with your daughter, a movie date with your son, or maybe just a trip out to Starbucks for a hot chocolate together. Forget about your activities, parties, [...]

Today, let’s take some time to check our progress. How are you doing with the first 50 days of preparation for Christmas? Do you know where you’re spending Christmas this year, or are you playing host/ess? Menu? Guests?
Have you scheduled a family portrait sitting and selected/ordered Christmas cards?
Are you handmaking gifts this year? Knitting projects? [...]

Christmas can be a hectic, overscheduled time of year. One very easy way to keep your family healthy and sane is to have a simple family dinner together as often as possible. This is made even easier by cooking in a slow cooker or picking up a prepared rotisserie chicken from your local market or [...]

Christmas has traditionally been a great time for movie watching with the family. There are already a couple of movies out for the whole family, but Christmas will have some new releases for your viewing enjoyment.
I took the kids to see High School Musical 3 on Friday, and I thought it was a really good [...]

This is a novel but necessary concept for many people in this economic climate. Forced by circumstance (lay-off, bankruptcy, foreclosure, health problems, other catastrophes,) many Americans will be having a “Buy Nothing” Christmas, or at least a “Buy a WHOLE LOT LESS” Christmas this year.
Even if you aren’t under tremendous economic pressure, there are many [...]

If you haven’t put in for vacation for the remainder of the year, you’ve got to do it now. Everyone will want to take time around Thanksgiving and Christmas and unless you are the first one to ask for it, you aren’t going to get it. Have a family meeting tonight and figure out how [...]

Now is a good time to go through all of the cold and cough medicine in your house. Throw away all of the expired medicine and make a list of what you need to replace. The hot news is that you may not need to replace anything! Read the news article: Drug companies: No cold [...]

If you’re going to get a flu shot, do it now instead of waiting until you’re really busy. Flu shots can make you feel like you have the flu, so be prepared with Tylenol and lots of rest. I’m not a doctor or health professional, just a mom, and our family got shots last week, [...]

One of the most meaningful experiences for children at Christmas is listening to the Christmas story told by their parents and setting up the nativity scene or crèche. This is a great activity for the family as each child can have characters to put in the scene themselves as the story is told. If the [...]

Start thinking about having a family photo taken for your Christmas cards. What will you wear? Do you like to coordinate colors or have matching clothes for the kids? Start thinking about what you want your photo to look like so you have plenty of time to really shop the sales, knit matching scarves, or [...]