Search Results for: blog not so merry christmas traditions

Finding the True Meaning of Christmas

My 8-year-old has a severe case of the Christmas gimmies.  Unfortunately, I have myself to blame for her very unmerry malady. Whereas I am by no means showering the kid with pre-holiday presents, I haven’t been doing a very good job focusing on the “reason for the season” either. I’ve been swept into the chaotic tsunami that is the month of December.  Gifts to buy, wrap and mail; cookies to bake, decorate and distribute; cards to take photos for, write and stamp; and the list goes on and on. As a parent, it’s easy to get caught up in the … Continue reading →

Not-So-Merry Christmas Traditions

According to my 7-year-old, the Grinch could take lessons from me on how to ruin Christmas. So, without further ado, here are just some ways to have an un-Merry Christmas: Lesson #1: No one in the house gets to open presents on Christmas morning until he/she eats at least a few bites of the special holiday breakfast Mommy lovingly prepares. Lesson #2: All family members must pose for at least one photo in front of the tree while wearing Christmas pajamas prior to ripping into holiday loot. Lesson #3: One (and only one) gift can be opened on Christmas Eve. … Continue reading →

Seasonal Scrapbook Checklist

T-minus five days until Santa sets out on his annual gift-giving all-nighter. By now your halls should be decked and ready for loved ones to share in the holiday merriment. If you are planning to document the upcoming seasonal celebrations in a scrapbook, now is the time to make your list and check it twice. Make sure your camera has extra batteries and an empty memory card, so you don’t have to worry about missing any of the magical moments. Also, have a pen and pad ready to document funny anecdotes that abound when you have multiple generations of family … Continue reading →

Christmas on LDS.org

Did you know that the church has an entire portion of their website devoted to the topic of Christmas. It is a wonderful resource that I had to share at this special time of year! Find the link here. It is a gorgeous website that would be a great link to share with friends that are not of our Faith to answer questions they have about what we believe about Christmas. Included on this website are The Christmas Story, Christmas Videos that you can easily share with people over the internet, Stories of other members’ Christmas traditions, Ideas to have … Continue reading →

Is Technology Messing with Christmas Traditions?

Just how tech savvy is Santa anyway? Does the big guy in the red suit really communicate via a small smartphone? Are traditional paper letters to the North Pole on the brink of extinction? Are PDFs and instant messages the preferred method of sending one’s Christmas wish list to Jolly ol’ St. Nick? Say it ain’t so. Call me old-fashioned, stodgy, or a stalwart traditionalist, but I’m not a fan of the litany of new high-tech ways kids can communicate with Santa Claus. I don’t want my daughter emailing Santa, nor do I want her faxing, tweeting, Skyping, or texting … 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 →

When You Love Someone -Part 2

I’m back, continuing to tell you about our together day. While Mick and I were listening to the radio yesterday in the early evening, a caller rang in to pass on her Christmas message. She wanted to say Merry Christmas to her husband and said she ‘after 43 years married she loved him exactly as she did when she first met him.’ Later a man rang in. He’d been engaged 13 years. No, that’s not mistyped -13 years before he married his obviously patient woman. They’ve now been married 30 years. Then later a woman rang to say Merry Christmas … 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 →

What NOT to do with Your Newborn Twins

And the 2008 Worst Mother Award goes to… Sonia Ringoir. Okay, maybe not. However, if they handed out an actual award for poor parental behavior the 31-year-old Belgium mother would certainly be in contention for title. If you haven’t already heard, Ringoir stands accused of selling her newborn twin boys to pay for liposuction surgery. According to reports, Ringoir, a restaurant worker from the Belgian tourist haven of Ghent, was arrested and charged last week after her estranged husband ratted her out. And get this—when police questioned Ringoir’s current boyfriend, he says the mom sold her babies because her estranged … Continue reading →

Parents and Christmas Firsts

Like it or not the holidays make people very nostalgic. It’s hard for some parents not to think of their son or daughter’s first Christmas when hanging stockings or trimming the tree. Then, there’s the tidal wave of memory triggers that come to us via the media. For example, if I see that TV commercial about the mom being “forced” to buy her daughter a new cellphone plan because “it’s the first Christmas that she won’t be home,” I’m going to hurl. Do you remember the first Christmas your child didn’t spend with you? I can’t imagine it’s a very … Continue reading →