Search Results for: blog family holiday viewing traditions

Rich Parents Doing Away with Expensive Holiday Gifts

Did you hear the one about the billionaire parents who plan to give their family members homemade gifts only this holiday season? Actually, it’s no joke and you might have heard of the parents in question… their names are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Despite Jolie just earning the title of highest-paid woman in Hollywood, and Pitt raking in $20 million for starring in his new flick “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” the parents of six little ones say they won’t be placing pricey presents under the Christmas tree this year. In a recent interview with Hello! Magazine, Pitt … Continue reading →

Holidays and Family Dysfunction

Twas the dinner of Christmas and all through the house everyone was stirring… while visions of food fights danced in their heads. If that pretty much sums up your family gatherings during the holiday season, then you might want to take a cue from Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. That’s right; the famously divorced Hollywood couple is now giving tips on how to avoid conflict during holiday get-togethers involving extended family. According to the actors, there is a way to co-exist with your dysfunctional family members minus the drama and fights. After all, they say, they do it on a … Continue reading →

Keeping Your Kids Safe During the Holidays

So, yesterday my friend calls to ask me if our Christmas tree was up and decorated. (It is.) Then, she proceeded to tell me that after spending three hours trimming her family’s 7-foot Douglas fir the entire thing came crashing down… on her 16-month-old son. Fortunately, he didn’t suffer any major injuries, but since the fall the tree has been banished to the corner of the living room and is trapped behind a wall of child safety gates. Not that it really needs the protection given that her son is now deathly afraid of the fir. My pal’s anecdote serves … Continue reading →

Family Holiday Viewing Traditions

Whether it’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman,” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” we all have our favorite holiday TV classics. I listed some of my family’s must-see Christmas specials in a previous blog, but neglected to include another important part of watching TV as a family during the holiday season—-the commercials. Yes, even the ads are festive this time of year. In fact, besides the Super Bowl, this is probably the only time of the year that I actually sit and watch TV ads. The ones I enjoy the most are family-friendly and stick with you long … Continue reading →

Family Travel—Taking a Trip to View Amazing Holiday Light Displays

There are those who complain about people who festoon their homes with Christmas decorations well before Thanksgiving. Not me. I love seeing holiday lights twinkling on cold, gloomy days when the sun is already setting at 4 in the afternoon. Our neighborhood, nay, the entire downtown area is sparkling with seasonal wattage. (It could be because our local holiday parade takes place tomorrow night.) And we’re not the only ones. Cities from coast to coast have their holiday light displays up and running. From Florida to Denver, Chicago to California, America is wired to host holiday travelers who love viewing … Continue reading →

“Prep & Landing” Latest Christmas Classic

Picture the Christmas elves: cheery, squeaky-voiced workers wearing green pointed clothes and singing Christmas carols to themselves as they toil building toys in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Once the big night arrives, however, their job is done and they fade into the background as Santa Claus takes the reins for the main event. “Prep & Landing” tells a different story. The new Disney animated Christmas special, airing on ABC tonight at 8:30 EST, reveals the existence of an elite task force of elves. This group, dubbed Prep and Landing, travels to each house on Christmas Eve just … Continue reading →

There’s a Lesson in Here Somewhere

Christmas isn’t over quite yet… at least in our home. Tuesday we celebrate the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day (formerly known as the “Feast of the Wise Men’’) or the 12th day of Christmas. Or, in the words of my preschooler: “A day for more presents.” For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, January 6th basically foretells the visit by the Three Wise Men, who followed a star in the night to bring gifts to the infant Jesus. The Epiphany is a major holiday in Latin America, but in recent years it has been increasingly embraced by … Continue reading →

Santa and Science: What Happened to Just Plain Magic?

When your kids ask how Santa Claus is able to visit every house in the entire universe in a single night, how do you respond? My young daughter could careless how Santa is able to fly around the world courtesy of aerodynamic reindeer, sort gifts, slide down chimneys, snack on cookies and deposit coal in some kids’ stockings, and still get home before the sun rises. All she cares about is that Santa delivers. Period. However, when she does get savvy enough to start inquiring about how the big guy is able to cover 200 million square miles visiting hundreds … Continue reading →

Would You Buy Your Kid a Barack Obama Doll?

Remember the stampedes that ensued when the original Tickle Me Elmo hit the shelves back in 1996? Thousands of parents pushed, shoved and pummeled their way through toy stores to get their hands on the furry red monster. Back then Sesame Street’s most famous resident was the hottest toy around. Elmo was hands-down a mass marketers’ dream come true. But this is 2008 and Elmo (even the newest version) has been upstaged by a truly historic presence. According to reports, the new Barack Obama action figure is flying off store shelves. The 14-inch plastic version of Obama is dressed in … Continue reading →

Christmas Showdown: Parents vs. Toy Packaging

Some call it “wrap rage,” others call it a nuisance; I like to refer to it as a parent’s worst nightmare. Moms and dads with young children, you know the pain I am describing: The agony of liberating new toys from their plastic packaging. It used to be that on Christmas morning all a parent needed nearby was a camera, a pad and pen to jot down who gave what to whom, and maybe, maybe, a single pair of scissors to release a few stubborn pieces of tape. (Though, if someone in the family had sharp teeth you could skip … Continue reading →