Search Results for: blog what to do over christmas vacation

It’s Not About What You Don’t Have

..but what you do with what you do have. An outgrown girl’s dress can become a nice shirt. An old video game system can be repaired for hundreds of hours of fun. A romantic dinner can be had at home instead of at a pricey restaurant. By focusing on what you do with what you have, with your blessings, you’ll live a happy life, not to mention a frugal one. As I mentioned yesterday, I was turning over the kids clothing from summer (and spring) to Winter (and fall). I won’t kid you, it was a lot of work and … Continue reading →

Congress is Deadlocked Over Medicare Payment Cut- Again

Last year, shortly before Christmas, Congress was gridlocked over what to do about the upcoming deadline that would require a cut to the Medicare payment for doctors and hospitals. Their solution was to pass a two-month extension of that deadline. Now, that extended deadline is approaching, and Congress is deadlocked, once again, over how to solve this problem. Shortly before Christmas of 2011, the United States Senate passed a bill that would have prevented a 27% pay cut for Medicare reimbursement to doctors and hospitals. There was a December 31, 2011, deadline coming up. If nothing was done, the massive … Continue reading →

Winter Wonderland Vacation

If you didn’t find a plane ticket to Hawaii in your Christmas stocking this morning, then you might as well make the most of your chilly surroundings… or someone else’s frigid environment. Tis the season to travel to the world’s most popular winter festivals. The coldest season of the year brings with it a myriad of outdoor celebrations, which encourage travelers to bundle up, and enjoy Old Man Winter and all his Artic glory. If you are looking for a cool place to spend part of your winter break, check out the following freezing festivals: WISCONSIN They don’t call it … Continue reading →

How Not to Travel with Kids This Christmas

I’ve had my share of travel nightmares flying back and forth from Chicago to Hawaii with my daughter. While our mishaps make for funny blogs, I would prefer experiencing incident-free trips. Then again, even the shortest vacations with children can lead to high drama, which is why most parents spend countless hours researching and planning the best ways to avoid meltdowns while on the road or in the air. Believe me; you can not over-prepare when it comes traveling with kids. It’s a lesson parents from North Carolina learned the hard way this week. When Jason and Kathy Fickes of … Continue reading →

Tips to Make Christmas Easier on Kids with Autism

There are plenty of things about Christmas that can be very stressful for kids who have an autism spectrum disorder. Their “system” gets thrown off when there is no school. Here are a few tips that can help make Christmas a bit easier on a child who has autism. Let’s face it: Christmas is one holiday that can easily takeover one’s daily experiences. From the perspective of a child who has autism, this can be stressful, anxiety producing, and perhaps even too much to deal with. Kids get a few weeks off of school at Christmastime. This means that the … Continue reading →

Do Your Pets Factor into Your Holiday Plans?

Do you make your holiday plans around your pets? That’s an assertion that the Associated Press recently made in an article: pet owners revolve their late-December events around their pets. Examples given by the AP include taking holiday-themed photos of pets, using these or other pictures with the animal for seasonal cards, buying pets gifts (the article maintains that just over half of pet owners do this), and even creating special menus for the pet so it can have a holiday meal alongside its human family. There are two sides to this: one, in which a little holiday cheer is … Continue reading →

Creating Community: The Wisdom of Our Elders

Yesterday I stood by a woman at the bus stop. She was no more than 5 feet tall, and I’m closer to 6. She stood straight and carried nothing except a large purse. She spoke cheerfully in a thick Scottish accent, looking for the bus with eyes that could see it far better than mine. She was eighty-eight. She sat down on the bus, across from another woman, a mother whose child smiled at the older woman sitting across from him. He waved. She waved to him. Today is a day to remember our elders. It’s a day to think … Continue reading →

Christmas Gift Exchange

I am the youngest of four. I have two sisters and a brother. I have nine nieces and nephews, three great nieces and nephews, and two children of my own. There are parents, grandparents, and a host of in-laws. Our family has been growing larger and larger for years. With that many people, Christmas shopping gets very expensive. When I was in my early 20s my parents started the family Christmas gift exchange. On Thanksgiving the names of all the adults in the immediate family were put in a basket and drawn. If you drew yourself or your spouse, you … Continue reading →

(Sort of) a Vacation?

The end of last week was a whirlwind for my family. I’ve been in technicals the past week for a theatrical show I’ve been working on, my wife had an obligation in another city, and my graduate work for school certainly hasn’t let up at all. To top it all off I ended up going with my wife, out of town, for her work obligation. This ended up being a great thing but it certainly outlined the difficulty of trying to be in two places at the same time. It also outlined the difficulty of the types of work my … Continue reading →

Filming the Disney Christmas Day Parade

Growing up, I hoped that one year I could spend my Christmas watching the Disney parade from the sidelines instead of my couch. If I’d ever gotten my wish, my young self would have been disappointed. That is because Disney does not hold their Christmas Day parade on Christmas Day. Instead, they film in nearly a month in advance. Tomorrow the parade you’ll see on your screens was taped on December 3-5. Disney usually announces the dates for their annual taping near the end of October. Those interested in obtaining tickets for the event should keep close watch on the … Continue reading →