Active Easter Games for Families to Play Together

When we lived near our families, we never had to worry about occupying the kids on Easter. Between church, a huge egg hunt, and a big meal, the kids were happy all day playing with their cousins. When we are home by ourselves though, it’s more of a challenge to fill up the day. Here’s a very silly variation of tag. Little kids love this game and will run and giggle for a very long time with no arguments. Tie an empty Easter basket around each player’s waist. Give each of the players some plastic eggs. Instruct the players to … Continue reading →

International Pancake Day

Tomorrow is International Pancake Day, along with Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Candlemas, and Shrove Tuesday. In many parts of Europe it is still traditional to have pancakes on the Tuesday before Lent begins. I’m sure making pancakes and sweet desserts was a way to use up all those eggs, oils, and butters before the fasting of Lent begin. According to Wikipedia one town in England, Olney, has been holding a pancake race since 1455. The contestants have to wear an apron and flip their pancakes while running. Their pancakes are thin, more like what we call crepes. I’m sure it’s … Continue reading →

The Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas can be a little depressing. The cookies are getting stale, some of those much desired toys looked a lot cooler on TV, regular food is boring after all those holiday feasts, the tree is starting to droop, and all the pretty wrappings are in the garbage. Here, it’s even too cold to be outside. Here are some of my ideas for putting smiles back on those sad little faces. Top off mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream. Add a few sprinkles of colored sugar to the top. If you want to go all out give … Continue reading →

Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas

For the past week my twins have been sick. One even wound up in the hospital due to dehydration and digestive complications. He is fine now, but we had a scary and tiring week. Until the illness and hospitalization hit us, I was feeling very organized about Christmas. I’d cleared my calendar to have four days alone in the house for house cleaning, finishing up the shopping, getting some meals made ahead, and mailing presents. We did manage to get the presents sent before the hospitalization, and I don’t have too much more shopping, but oh the house. We have … Continue reading →

Fun Stocking Stuffers

For years now my extended family has been doing inexpensive gifts for one another. We call these “stocking presents” and for a lot of years the presents did get stuffed in a stocking at my mother’s house. Now we are more scattered, so the presents get mailed. Stocking presents are a nice way to still buy for a large family. It’s fun to see what people come up and it is fun to still be wrapping up tiny presents for my siblings, and for their spouses and children. The challenge though is to find nice gifts for under five dollars. … Continue reading →

Fancy Christmas Lists

My boys have finally finished their Christmas lists. They have mainly known what they wanted a couple of months now. But it’s taken them weeks to get their lists done. Every year the Christmas lists get fancier and fancier. I assure them that Santa doesn’t care, but they don’t believe me. They think that the fancier the list the more impressed Santa will be with them. They also take pride in showing each other up. This year they both picked out a special fancy script looking font. They actually alternated red and green letters to make it more festive looking. … Continue reading →

Electronic Holiday Greetings – a Fun Project For the Family

For the past few years we’ve been sending our Christmas greetings online. And yes, it saves a lot of time and money. But the main reason is that it’s so much fun. We pick about fifteen or so pictures that represent what our year was about. It takes the family a couple of hours of browsing through the photos. While we browse we laugh and remember. Many years ago we used to make a photo collage out of our pictures and copy them. We’d insert the photos into the cards and mail them. A few years ago my computer wizard … Continue reading →

A Fun Shopping Tradition

Yesterday my husband and I took our annual “day off”. We are both so busy we need this day to get our Christmas plans straight. It’s a great tradition. I know a lot of women do all the shopping by themselves. I like to include my husband. Particularly now that the boys are older they have a lot of technical gadgets, games and software on their lists. He knows which are worthwhile and he knows the best places to get those kinds of things. And I really feel like he should be the one to pick out gifts for his … Continue reading →

Adding Something New – Lights and Collections

Adding something new to your holiday celebration or collection every year can be a fun tradition. Some neighbors of ours add something new to their yard display every year. Since they’ve been doing this for over fifty years they have a very impressive light display! Their decorated yard is fun to look at, but I wouldn’t want to copy it. It takes them days to put up the display, and they need a whole storage shed to store everything in. There are smaller ways to add something every year. You can get a new cookie cutter for sugar cookies. Some … Continue reading →

A Christmas Party for Dolls and Stuffed Animals

Ever since I reviewed The Doll’s Christmas by Tasha Tudor over in the Media Review section of Familes.com I’ve been thinking about the idea. The Doll’s Christmas is the story of some little girls hosting a pretend Christmas for their dolls. The holiday is complete with a special tea, gifts, a tree, and a Christmas play. Tasha Tudor based the book on her own family. She started the tradition of the doll’s Christmas when her own children were young and she needed a fun way to occupy them. Several years ago my twin boys wanted presents for their stuffed animals. … Continue reading →