Tag Archives: holidays

When the Weather Is Frightful

“Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.  And since we’ve no place to go, let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!”  Hmmm…maybe I should rewrite this Christmas carol.  How about “And since we’ve no place to go, let us exercise!  Let us exercise!  Let us exercise!” I know.  It doesn’t have a nice ring to it.  Plus who wants to exercise inside their cozy house when there are so many other enjoyable activities to do?  Most of us would rather curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book, sip on … Continue reading →

Experiment with Different Shapes

If you have been waiting for a big sale on holiday-themed scrapbooking supplies, Michaels has just granted your Christmas wish.  The mega-craft store is offering a slew of savings, plus major money-saving coupons which can be used to purchase seasonally inspired scrapbooking items, from albums to paper and just about everything in between. Once you get your holiday haul home, consider experimenting with new designs as you piece together your layouts.  For example, while you could easily pick-up a bunch of scrapbooking photo frames, stickers, stamps and die-cuts in fun holiday shapes, it doesn’t take that much effort to make … Continue reading →

Love in a Jar

How do you jar love? I’ve yet to find a manufacturer able to mass produce the feeling of joy and goodwill that we’d all like to experience during the holiday season… and beyond. For me, a jar of love would smell like Bath and Body Works’ Dancing Waters shower gel, taste like Crème Brulee swimming in Raspberry Coulis and feel like my daughter’s marshmallow cheek gently pressing up against my chest. Love in a jar doesn’t have to drain your bank account.  In fact, when it comes to giving the gift of love this Christmas, you don’t have to spend … Continue reading →

Old-Fashioned Holiday Fun

“Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.”- Unknown Buy, buy, buy.  Spend, spend, spend.  These days it seems the holidays are more about spending money than bonding with loved ones.  I suppose you could bond over how much you’ve spent on each other, but wouldn’t you rather save your cash and share the richness of laughter and warm embraces? Instead of going into debt trying to prove how much you love your favorite family members and friends, consider spending time with each other having fun with these holiday-themed activities: … Continue reading →

Inexpensive Ways to Countdown to Christmas

My 8-year-old adores her Snoopy countdown to Christmas calendar… and her wooden Advent calendar… and her chocolate-filled Advent calendar… and well, you get the idea.  My kid is obsessed with counting down to December 25th. While I enjoy seeing her excitement as she tears open the doors to her various candy-filled chronicles, Advent calendars don’t come cheap.  Neither do secular versions featuring syndicated cartoon characters. Fortunately, there are ways you can celebrate the coming of Christmas without going broke.  For example: Paper Chains:  Kids can craft a countdown to Christmas chain to help them visualize how many days until Santa’s … Continue reading →

Subtle Holiday Touches

When it comes to crafting holiday scrapbooks, it’s not necessary to make every page as electrifying as the Griswold’s home in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”  Rather, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the season with more subtle touches.  For example, instead of going to extremes covering your pages with bright colors, large graphics and other extreme elements, consider softer embellishments that don’t overpower your photos or mementos.  After all, if you want the focus of the layout to be your family’s treasured pictures, then attaching tons of extraneous bells and whistles will only interfere with this goal.  Conversely, featuring … Continue reading →

Planning and Preparing for Holiday Baking

I have been spending the past few days planning my holiday baking.  Each trip I make to the store, I pick up some of the ingredients. Normally my baking takes place a couple of weeks before Christmas.  But since my military son won’t be home until a couple of days before, I am doing my baking the week he is home so that he can enjoy the yummy treats. The ingredients for baking can get expensive.  So if you plan early enough what you are going to make, you can create a master list.  Then instead of purchasing everything at … Continue reading →

Christmas Nightmare: Shopping with Kids

  It’s hard to play Santa when you have kids hanging from both of your arms and one of your legs. Running into a store to pick-up a handful of necessities can be a frustrating and exhausting experience when you have young kids in tow.  However, having them tag along while you Christmas shop can be a downright nightmare. No parent willingly chooses to purchase a long list of holiday gifts while their kids are present, but if you are working under a strict deadline and can’t find childcare, then you do what you have to do. Fortunately, there are … Continue reading →

Why Santa Doesn’t Visit My Home

When my husband and I had our first child we were asked by grandparents if we were going to encourage her to believe in Santa Claus.  We both responded with a united no but with different reasons.  My husband felt it was a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas.  We are in agreement on this point.  But even if I could be persuaded the two concepts could live side by side, I would still struggle with keeping up with it.  I can’t even take a daily vitamin on a regular basis.  I also thought…and forgive me…having a child believe … Continue reading →

A Clean Slate

Forgiveness is a tricky thing. When someone has hurt you over and over and over again it’s hard to set it aside. The more you let it fester the deeper the pain becomes and the more difficult it is to let it go. There have been many men in my life that I feel have ill-treated me. They betrayed me and taken advantage of me time and time again. What’s more their actions have affected my son, which seems unforgiveable. I love my son more than anything in this world, and to know that he has been hurt, breaks my … Continue reading →