Christmas with Kids » planning

72: Vacation days left for 2011?

Mama Elf — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:01:05 +0000

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 to spend the rest of your free time this year.

73: IKEA Madness

Mama Elf — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:01:19 +0000

This post is for those of you who have never been to IKEA. If you have an IKEA near you, you have got to make this store a part of your holiday shopping and preparation. Not only is it a fabulous place to buy gifts, it’s a great place to update your housewares and textiles within almost anyone’s budget!

Worried about the kids while you shop? IKEA has a solution with their fantastic supervised children’s play area and ballroom. When it’s time for a break, the IKEA restaurant has a kids’ menu.

I just want to encourage you to give it a try.

Visit their website at http://ikea.com

Fabulous photo courtesy of Sarah606

76: BEST Holiday Lights – LED changes color!

Mama Elf — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:36:54 +0000

These color-changing LED lights are the most interesting lights I’ve seen available! Each light changes color, they are cool to the touch, and you can use them indoors or out. If you’re looking for something to spruce up your tree this year, try these lights! Your family, friends, and other guests will be talking about them all year! Enjoy!

Color Changing LED RGB Ball String Christmas Xmas Lights Belt Light, 2063rgb

Set of 100 Round Red Green Blue Color Changing Ball LED Christmas, Chanukah and Holiday lights for home and store fronts. Approx. ¾” (1.75CM) 1.5M long Power Cord. FEATURES: High quality, High efficiency, Indoor or Outdoor. The epoxy plastic that encapsulates the LED bulbs is cool to the touch solving hot bulbs that cause Christmas tree fires. Bulb Type: Approx. Diameter of ball: ¾” (1.75cm) Bulb Life: Up to 50,000 Hours Power source:120V Dementions:Cable Length 1.5 M

77: LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2011

Mama Elf — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:10:04 +0000

You will not want to miss out on this. It’s very hard to find! Luckily, we purchased ours at the LEGO Store in Orlando last month.

I think the highlight of this Advent calendar is the Yoda Santa Claus! Yep. Your Star Wars fans, young and old, will love this Christmas activity!

Click here to order yours today!

78: Snowing in Florida!

Mama Elf — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:25:11 +0000

It’s snowing in Florida! Actually, you can decorate with snowflakes anytime of the year, in any location! There are different styles of snowflakes to choose from!

Silver Glitter, Golden Glitter, Ornate Black

Go and immerse yourself in a fun ambiance with these stickers! These removable, repositionable, and reusable stickers are the perfect and convenient way to adorn and decorate any space. Easy to peel off and to stick on walls, doors, windows, tables, refrigerators, and more! When you want to reposition your friends peel them off with ease without peeling off paint/wallpaper and without leaving behind any residue. Perfect for nurseries, homes, stores, dorms, and anywhere else! It’ll liven up any room and give it a new vibrant life!

97: Sing in a Christmas Celebration!

Mama Elf — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:14:07 +0000

Do you like to sing? Do your kids like to sing? Now is the time to get involved in choral organizations if you want to be a part of their annual Christmas programs. There are many opportunities to sing during the Christmas season. If you don’t have a church home, now is a great time to “church shop” if being a part of a music ministry is important to you and your kids. If you do have a church home, find out when the choir meets and go give it a try! In my experience, choir folks are some of the friendliest people in church and love to have a good time together! For kids, it’s a great opportunity to work as a team. Singing in a choir builds self-confidence and is a very positive experience for all participants!

Find a program that meets your scheduling needs, because this is supposed to be fun and bring joy, not drudgery and complications!

Psalm 100 says “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” or “Shout for joy to the Lord!” Excellence is important (Psalm 33:3,) but only comes through experience. So, get out there and spread the Good News this Christmas!

98: Christmas Cookie Overview

Mama Elf — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:33:46 +0000

Do you bake the same cookies every year? In preparation for the big cookie baking season ahead, take some time today and look through your cookbooks for recipes you’ve always wanted to try. This is the time to get those out and do a test run. You don’t want to wait until the week you need 12 dozen cookies for the cookie swap! You need an opportunity to tweak it and make sure it’s going to work for you. Here are ten of my favorite holiday cookies:

Snickerdoodles
Shortbread
Thumbprints
Bourbon Balls
Rum Balls
Buckeyes
Haystacks
Gingerbread
Lemon Snowflakes
Turkish Delight (this is a 4-pack from Amazon, and my favorite brand!!! Authentic and delicious!)

Make a note of all of the cookies you want to try, print them out or copy them, and put them in a 3-ring notebook inside page protectors. This is a cheap and easy way to make your own personalized cookbook. For even more fun, you can make up your own cover page, or decorate the notebook as you like! Enjoy!

99: To host or not to host

Mama Elf — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:04:43 +0000

If you are hosting Christmas, do everyone a favor and give them some direction, but not too much direction. I can only imagine what situations might have caused Thanksgiving hostess Marney to pen this letter! With a little planning, you should avoid most of those and do it gracefully.

People appreciate knowing your expectations ahead of time. Invitations don’t have to be fancy, but they do need to be informational.

Guests want to know:

Arrival time
What to bring (ex. green vegetable side dish for 12, BYOB, etc.)
If there be a gift exchange, and house rules
Time food will be served
Where they can park
What time the event ends
What to wear – is this a formal dinner, or are we eating off paper plates and swimming?

You should ask:

Does anyone in your guest’s party have life threatening food allergies or other dietary requirements. Let them know in advance if you can or cannot accommodate them, so they can plan ahead.
Ask for an RSVP and give them a deadline.

Most of the time, people are willing to go the extra mile if you have something very specific in mind. If you are planning to get a coordinated extended family photo during the gathering and you want everyone to wear black and red, let everyone know in plenty of time so they can pull their wardrobe together. If you don’t mind that Uncle Eddie will show up in his plaid pants, then don’t worry about advance notice.

All of this knowledge before the event helps everyone with kids plan a successful and enjoyable day for their families, which in turn, is enjoyable for everyone else.

If you’re not a host, but are a guest, I think it’s reasonable to call you host and get all of your questions answered, especially if you have kids. I hate showing up to something that I think is obviously kid-friendly or family-friendly in my mind, and the reality of it is that everyone has gotten a babysitter and it’s an adult-only sit-down dinner. That is a incredibly awkward for everyone involved. Nobody intended it, but there it is.

100 Days Until Christmas!

Mama Elf — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:10:56 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year to start thinking about Christmas. Check back with us every day for useful information on planning, shopping, and celebrating the most wonderful time of the year!

Where will you be spending Christmas this year? Will you be at home? Traveling? With family, or friends? Now is the time to make your travel plans or send invitations if you’re planning to host the big event this year.

Please let us know where you’ll be this Christmas by participating our poll!

View This Poll

29: Outdoor Decorations

Mama Elf — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:00:44 +0000

It’s Thanksgiving week and for many of us that also means it’s the week to do a little outdoor decorating. We also put our tree up during the Thanksgiving week, typically the Saturday after Turkey Day.

Today, the kids and I got out the reindeer that go in the yard and put them together. We still can’t decide if we want them in the front yard where the neighbors will enjoy them, or the backyard where we will enjoy them. We have a large oak tree in the front/side yard and I’m considering getting some of those large-scale lit ornaments to hang from it, but I haven’t really done any research on seeing what kind of elaborate electrical configuration that might require. I like all the lights, but am not a big fan of all of the extension cords running everywhere.

Tomorrow, I plan on putting the wreaths on our front doors. Our wreath hangers have jingle bells on them, so it will really start sounding like the holidays every time we open the door!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!