Create a Christmas Book of Memories

There’s something so magical about Christmas. It brings us together to share precious times as a family. So why is it that we become so busy during the holiday season trying to create the perfect holiday that we often forget to hold on to those memories? Creating a family Christmas Memory Book is the perfect way to step back and remember those special times over and over.

Photo Album Meets Scrap Book.

Think of your Christmas Memory Book as part photo album, part scrap book. What can you put in a Christmas Memory Book? Just about anything you want. Photos and videos are, of course, a good place to start. Include photos of your family decorating the house, trimming the tree, hanging stockings, wrapping presents, baking holiday goodies, even attending various Christmas programs. And don’t forget to have the camera or camcorder ready for carolers!

Take Good Notes!

Journaling is another natural feature of a memory book. If you send out an annual family Christmas newsletter, be sure to include a copy in your album. But you can also keep a journal of the highlights of your holiday season. What did your family members do that was unique or important this year? What gifts did you make? What outside Christmas activities did you participate in? What special gifts did you enjoy this year? You could ask each family member to write a page about their favorite parts of Christmas this year, and then include these articles in the album. You might be surprised at what they remember best.

From Ribbon to Mistletoe.

Beyond photos and journaling, you can make your family memory book uniquely yours by including wrapping paper swatches, pieces of ribbon, Christmas cards, tickets and programs from Christmas events, pictures drawn by your children, even dried Mistletoe pressed between the pages. Did you bake Christmas cookies this year? Include a copy of your recipe. How about the Christmas stories you shared together? Add a list.

Wants & Wishes.

Another fun tradition is to keep a family wish list. It might include presents that people want, but it could include some interesting non-tangible items as well. At the end of the season, put the list in your memory album. Looking back over the list in future years will give you a snapshot of things that were important to your family at that time. You could also invite family members to make a list of what they are thankful for.

Straight from the Heart.

A Christmas memory book doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Some stores sell bound Christmas albums ready to go, but a simple three-ring binder with acid-free paper and protective sleeves can hold nearly anything you might want to include. Better yet, it’s versatile, so you can put in whatever fits you and your family. You could keep several years in one binder and use tabbed dividers to separate each year. Or, you could prepare a binder for each year. You can also create digital albums on the computer. Imagine the look on your grown children’s faces in a few years when you give them their own copies of the family Christmas memory album on DVD!

If you enjoy working with photos and crafts, you may have the beginnings of a home business. Many people are neither good on the computer or with scrap books, but they’d enjoy owning a memory book or giving one as a gift.

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Seven Super-Simple and Very Speedy Sweet Santa Treats

Who has time to bake? Who has the privilege of not baking? These super-simple recipes make holiday baking about as quick and simple as it can be.

This collection of seven Santa favorites focuses on speedy, simple preparation and sweet results. Designed for maximum impact with minimal effort, these recipes will not help you work your way onto a Bravo reality show, but they do have just enough “wow factor” to satisfy Christmas-spirited kids, pacify nit-picking mothers-in-law, and inspire the one affirmation you want most—a hearty “Ho, ho, ho!” from the big man himself.

The women who pioneered these recipes openly confess, “All measures are approximate, because I have made these things so often my instinct and intuition substitute for measuring cups and spoons.” In fact, the women say these formulae and procedures are not recipes any more; they have become reflexes. They also admit they rely on commercial chefs’ stock-in trade: presentation is everything. If it looks delicious, it is delicious.

• Two easy “mousse” pies—These pie recipes are so easy and so deceptive it really feels like cheating, but they have proven absolutely 100% failure proof, making the unsuspecting believe you are a pastry genius. The originators of this recipe base believe “the difference between pudding and ‘mousse’ comes from whipping cream, egg whites, vanilla, and attitude.” In fact, they stress attitude. They prepare regular old instant chocolate pudding with whipped egg whites, two teaspoons of vanilla, and heavy whipping cream, aggressively whipping it until it peaks, and then styling it into pre-made Oreo-cookie or graham cracker pie crusts. The secret to Santa satisfaction: applying the whipped cream with a pastry bag, delicately fashioning little whipped cream flowers around the pies’ edges and at their centers.

• Super-easy “sweet potato” pie—From the same “keepin’-it-real housewives” who brought you the mousse pies, a variation on the basic formula with a distinctly seasonal flavor. Pour one can of pre-cooked yams and the syrup into a mixing bowl, adding a cup of brown sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla and a generous dose of pumpkin pie spice. Use a potato masher to pre-mix the ingredients; then, add whipped whites from two eggs. Slowly mix-in heavy whipping cream, beating the mix until it achieves the consistency of mousse. Style into a pre-made graham cracker pie crust and garnish with homemade whipped cream florets. Lightly sprinkle with nutmeg—more for looks than flavor.

• Fruit-filled crepes—Lighten-up and sweeten standard Bisquick pancake recipe with egg-whites whipped until they peak like meringue, confectioner’s sugar to sweeten the mix, extra milk to thin the batter, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla to add flavor; add a teaspoon of baking powder to maximize the “puff.” Cook as usual, and then roll-wrap each crepe around a generous portion of your favorite pie filling; an ice cream scoop works well for proper and uniform portioning. Garnish with your signature homemade whipped cream and appropriately colored sprinkles.

• The Tole House Holiday Upgrade—These simple adjustments to the time-honored Nestle tole house recipe take the drudgework out of preparing cookies in volume—as in cookie exchanges, contributions to the middle school bake sale, or baking for a crowd. You probably know the tole house cookie recipe by heart; for the holidays, go ahead and add the nuts. If you’re feeling really festive, add red and green M&Ms. Mix-in a little chocolate syrup to make the batter extra moist, and then bake the mix according to the “bar style” instructions on the Nestle chocolate chip wrapper, using a well-greased 10x15 Pyrex baking dish so that the bar is slightly thinner than the Nestle instructions suggest. When the cookies have cooled, carefully cut them into 1” x 1” squares, and decorate each square with red-dyed cream cheese frosting—the standard pastry-bag floret we know and love. Add sprinkles as needed. Wrap and deliver.

• Pumpkin bread—Every family has its favorite recipes for the standard assortment of sweet breads—banana, zucchini, and pumpkin. If you have them, of course, remember them and use them. This pumpkin bread recipe, however, may lay the foundation for a family’s new traditions, because it is wonderfully simple and blissfully inexpensive. In one bowl, mix pumpkin pie filling, raisins or currants, oil, sugar, molasses, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the basic baking ingredients--flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Combine the contents of your two bowls and mix thoroughly; then, pour the mix into a properly greased loaf pan, and bake for an hour. This version of the recipe deserves passage from young mothers to young daughters. For details on this recipe, and for more super-simple versions of old favorites, look here.

• Double-layer pumpkin cheesecake— The appeal in this recipe originates in its clever deception: It looks as if it must require sophisticated skills, because the pie is, after all, layered. “How do you do that?” people wonder. You prepare the basic cheesecake recipe, using one cup of your standard mix as the bottom layer. Then, you mix the rest with pumpkin pie filling, and the usual flavorings, spreading the mixture on top of the cheesecake foundation. Voila. For full ingredients and instructions, look here.

• Grandma’s by-far-the-best carrot-cake cupcakes—As the best, most honest food writers attest, the real appeal in carrot cake is the cream-cheese frosting. Grandma hid her special secret in an obvious place: She added maple syrup to her standard cream cheese frosting, and applied “the taste of Christmas” to her carrot cupcakes in little flowers, so that the sweetness would not overwhelm the cake’s more subtle flavor. Her other secret was more carefully hidden. Grandma understood that, unless she kept her cakes moist, they would crumble to pieces as they came out of the cupcake pans. Therefore, she included a full 1 1/3 cups of canola oil in her batter, and she grated the carrots as fine as possible to distribute their natural moisture. The formula was perfect. For more great recipes like this one, look here.

One very important footnote: Santa enjoys practically any sweet treat when you serve it with his favorite “anti-freeze” egg nog…wink, wink.



Event planner Sylvia Carlton loves to embellish her themes with desserts from fabulous designers like Heather Barranco of Dreamcakes, a standout artist in the niche New York specialty cakes business.


Photo credits: choco cream pie by janineomg/flickr; Sweet Potato Pie by TheHungryDudes/flickr; Chocolate Chip Bars by Heather Kennedy/flickr; The Grand Central Baking Book Pumpkin Bread by Mike McCune/flickr; Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake by Gausshawn/allrecipes; Carrot cupcakes by joyosity/flickr

Ten Easy Ways to Decorate Your Home for Christmas

Tangled lights, clumsy cold fingers, and wobbling ladders are a dangerous way to decorate your home. Avoid the stress by decorating from the ground up with bright colors, natural products, and creative uses for those old strings of lights.

Ice Luminaries

This is a fun and inexpensive project the whole family can do together. Use different sized containers, food coloring, fall leaves, or evergreen boughs to create unique, environmentally-friendly ice blocks that can be lit with either candles or C9 LED lights. You can find instructions here



Porch Christmas Tree
If you have an artificial tree you aren't using indoors, set it on a porch. Decorate it with simple, colorful ornaments from a dollar store and light it up! Or, if you want less clean up, decorate it with shredded paper tinsel and strings of popcorn and berries that the squirrels and birds will haul away for you.

Tall Topiaries
A simple metal framework wrapped in lights, creates visual lift without having to take lights to the roof. Just make sure the base is weighted enough to keep them upright in the wind.

Bird Bath Bundles
Pile festive balls, evergreen trimmings and ribbon into an artful decoration for you unused summer birdbath. Run lights out to it to create a bright spot in the middle of your yard with very little fuss.


Wreaths on Windows

If you can access your outside frames from the inside, hanging wreathes over your windows will add a classy holiday touch to your exterior without having to climb a ladder. You can even buy pre-lit and decorated wreathes at santasquarters.com for quick and easy decorations year after year.









Garlanded Entrances

With only a stepstool or sturdy chair, you can hang swaged and lit evergreen garlands over the entrance to your home that will give your guests a warm greeting. Look for over-sized Christmas balls or bows to accent the corners, too. (pic url=http://www.mylifetime.com/files/imagecache/photo_gallery_featured/files/images/hc-395x298-windowbox.jpg)




Evergreen Window Boxes
Use holiday picks arranged in blocks of foam to fill seasonally empty porch railing planters and window boxes with festive cheer.


Ribbon-Wrapped Porch Columns
If you happen to have white porch columns, you can create an easy candy-cane look by wrapping the supports with a wide red ribbon. Even if your columns aren’t white, you can still wrap them in ribbon, garland or lights for easy holiday cheer.


Indoor Lighted Window Décor
Place simple electric candles in every window for a traditional warm look, or create a more animated scene by hanging lighted Christmas characters like the ones found at santasquarters.com.

Yard Decorations
Create a storybook scene in your own front yard with statues and lawn ornaments. You can choose from resin nativity scenes, classic characters made of lighted plastic, or wicker reindeer from the import store. Whichever you choose, they’re bound to make a statement.

With a little imagination and creativity, it is possible to create a unique look for your home’s exterior that will take your breath away without taking your feet off the ground.





Santa's Quarters is author Annie Sullivan's favorite place to shop for her office decorations. They have an online store with large selections of commercial grade wreaths, toppers, ball ornaments and artificial trees. 





Photo credits: Ice Luminary by rengber/flickr; wreathadd by Aunt Owwee/flickr; Happy Furry Friday from Charleydog by byrdiegyrl/flickr

The Best Children's Christmas Albums

The holiday season brings with its multitude of other joys a special treat: sharing and enjoying favorite Christmas music with your children. Family traditions are born from listening sessions and singalongs with the children, and memories will be made that you'll cherish for years. Whether the music is sacred or secular, traditional or in current styles, you'll find something that will add to the festivities and make the little ones smile. To get your tradition started, here are the 5 best Christmas albums for children.

1. A Melancholy Mood for Christmas

As soon as you press play on the Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack, you'll recognize the music. Originally recorded for a Charlie Brown Christmas TV special, Guaraldi added his own inimitable takes on originals and classics alike. There was magic in the air in the studio for these recordings, as the piano trio created a festive yet slightly melancholy mood piece. Your children will enjoy this music, especially at bedtime when tired eyes are beginning to close.

2. A Folk-Rock Classic

When John Denver appeared on a Muppets TV special in 1979, he was a popular singer in the folk-rock genre. His singing and playing on traditional tunes and the sometimes zany original collaborations with some of the best-loved Muppet characters make A Christmas Together one of the best Christmas albums for family listening sessions.

3. An Acquired Taste, But Very Tasty

Everyone loves the Chipmunks - well, almost everyone. The cartoon characters with sped-up voices became a hit in the 60s with their very own TV show, and singing was their forte. If you like it you probably love it, and kids usually think it's wonderful stuff. On The Chipmunks - Christmas with the Chipmunks, the lads apply their unique style to 20 classics of the season, and there is nothing else like it.

4. Everyone Loves Raffi Too

Raffi is of course well-known to parents and children for his upbeat and folk-flavored albums of original songs for children. He has become a spokesman for the children's welfare movement and has lent his voice to many child-related causes. On Raffi's Christmas Album he performs original songs and some more off-beat classics in his own style. This CD is sure to raise the level of holiday cheer in the listening room at Christmas.

5. Classic Caroling at its Best

On this one CD - Holiday Singalong with Mitch - you will find the best-loved and most well-known Christmas carols of all time. Performed with Mitch Miller's chorus of clear-toned and bright voices (his very own Gang, as he called them), listening to them with your children is a great way for them to learn the classics, and you'll all be singing along with the Gang in no time.





Okay, now everyone sing! One of the greatest ways to start a family tradition is to have Christmas singalongs with your children and the whole family. These albums of holiday artistry will start you off singing.

Mary Thomas is the mother of four, and loves the music of the holidays most of all. She uses this Christmas music site as a great source of lyrics for all the best Christmas songs, from hymns to children's favorites.

Fall Activities that Your Children Will Love: The Intricacies of Pumpkin Patches & Flying Kites

The fall season doesn't just mean that your family will be able to start enjoying the much cooler weather, it also means that you can start enjoying a different kind of outdoor fun from the beach activities of the summer. Although there are a lot of different activities for you to enjoy as a family during the fall, now would be the best time to do something unique for a change, like visiting a pumpkin patch and flying a kite.

Pumpkin patches in themselves are known to be a fall tradition since they open in October and visiting one generally consists of a hayride to the field where you can then choose pumpkins for the family to take home. Some pumpkin patches even have special family activities built into them, like cornfield mazes, petting zoos and haunted houses that children of every age will love. If you go at night, you can even bring hot chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows to make s’mores with.

Of course, the best part about visiting a pumpkin patch is taking several pumpkins home and carving silly and spooky designs into the ones that you picked out. You can even roast the seeds if you want to. How great is that?

Flying a kite would be another fun and unique fall activity for your family to enjoy. If you have younger children, though, make sure you keep things simple by flying kites with single lines. In a nutshell, single-line kites are attached to single strings that will allow them to fly at medium speeds.

These kites are usually the easiest ones to fly out of the many different kinds of kites out there, but they still come in various shapes and sizes, including diamonds, boxes, parafoils and deltas. Your children can even choose more special designs for their kites if they want, such as birds, rainbows (like the one above), sharks and butterflies that will brighten up the skies.

Of course, if your children have already mastered the single-line kites, you can start moving on to bigger and fancier kites. These highly advanced kites are stronger, so they can fly at much faster speeds and withstand several crashes. Some of these kites even have up to four lines, so they can do special tricks, like loops and dives, in the sky.

Fortunately, everybody can learn how to fly a kite, so all you really need is a wide and open space, some wind and a kite for everyone, and you can start having some family fall fun outdoors.

Naturally, these are just a couple of the many other fun activities you can do as a family in the fall. However, these activities are sure to make a mark in your children's memories, thus turning them into something that they will always remember.

Michelle Hinckley is a writer that focuses on health and family education. She also enjoys covering topics on an expat community blog that provides internet phone card and swiss calling cards for international travelers. Take an additional 10% off with coupon code "acc10".

Thank you so much for your contribution to Mommy Rantings, Michelle! Readers: what do you do in the fall with your kids?

Our Family's Fourth of July: Making Memories and Keeping it Safe

I'm a huge fan of holidays - and extremely sentimental about family traditions and creating memories. My children are a bit let down about the fact that New York doesn't allow you to shoot off your own fireworks like South Carolina does. So, this year we will again go see the fireworks (we were in New York last year, too, but in South Carolina/North Carolina the three years prior). We had too much fun shooting fireworks in our yard while we lived in the south...but, I can say that there were some very close calls that were scary. One firework shot right past me, wayyyyy too close for comfort! (I actually felt the "air blast" from it)

I am sure that they will ask the question again, "Can we do our own fireworks?" about five hundred more times before the weekend is over...and the answer won't change, but I bet we'll get our hands on some of those "poppers" and some sparklers...I think those are legal. :)

With all that said, I'm hoping that everyone has a SAFE and happy Fourth of July. And, speaking of safety, I'm going to put my little two cents in...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports:


"There were reports of three fireworks-related deaths and an estimated 8,600 hospital emergency room treated injuries in 2010. In 2009, CPSC had reports of two deaths and an estimated 8,800 injuries. In 2008, CPSC had reports of seven deaths and an estimated 7,000 injuries."

Many of these injury statistics include children!

If you live in a state where fireworks are legal, please be careful around the children! Yes, fireworks are "cool" and intriguing, but as we all know, they are also dangerous! Keep a close eye on the children and be sure to keep the kids at a good distance away from where you are shooting the fireworks. Additionally, be sure that you are shooting away from the people who are watching.

Do not. Do not. Do not re-light a firework!

Sparklers can be dangerous, too. Did you know that fireworks "burn at temperatures of about 2000 degrees"? (According to the CPSC). Please do not let your kids do sparklers alone!

However fun it may be, it's not smart to shoot off fireworks from a glass or metal container. Ever heard of shrapnel? I hope that creates a visual for you...

Keep a container or bucket of water nearby, just in case you need it. It's better to be safe than sorry, right?

Know what types of fireworks you are shooting and how they work. Do they shoot straight up? Sideways? In circles? Then, you can plan on clearing the area that it will shoot in and avoid trees, wires, etc. In the same breath, don't expect every firework to react the way it is supposed to. We have had many-a firework do things that we never expected! Be prepared for anything!

Finally, don't let your kids shoot fireworks by themselves and ask your children who they will be with and where they will be going if they are not going to be with you on the Fourth of July. If they are planning to "do" fireworks with friends, be sure to check if there will be an adult with them...better yet, tell your kids to bring the fireworks and their friends to you...then you can ensure their safety. :)

Please have a safe and happy Fourth of July, enjoy your family and make some good memories! We plan to cook out on the BBQ, play in the backyard, head out to a pretty fireworks display, celebrate summer and make our own memories!

How do you plan to make memories this Fourth of July???

Where is Santa? The Norad Tracker

Each year, since my kids have been old enough to understand how big the world is, we have joined the thousands of people tracking Santa Claus' travels on the Official Norad site. My kids love to see the places that he is traveling to...the North American Aerospace Defense Command has been tracking Santa for over 50 years now! (In fact, they're celebrating 55 years of tracking Santa this year!)

He moves fast! And, he's already making his trip around the world. If you've never been to this site before, you've got to start a new tradition with your kids! Hurry up and go check it out! He's already making his way around the world to deliver goodies to all of the "Good" little boys and girls!

How in the World Do They Track Santa?

According to the site:

"NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa – radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets.
Tracking Santa starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. On December 24th, NORAD monitors the radar systems continuously for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.
The moment that radar indicates Santa has lifted off, we use our second detection system. Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earth’s surface are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Amazingly, Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allows our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa.

The third tracking system is the Santa Cam network. We began using it in 1998, which is the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the internet. Santa Cams are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year. The cameras capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.
The fourth system is made up of fighter jets. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or the F-16 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his famous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph."

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Holiday Season, Traditions and Emotions

I have been infatuated with the Hallmark channel lately, with all of the touching holiday movies that are on the line up...and, from a mom who tells her boys to "Suck it up" and rarely sheds a tear, darn those Hallmark movies! What is it about holiday commercials and movies that breaks down every bit of "strength" and resolve that I have and turn me into a sack of mush? I thought I was bit stronger than that! :)

Today, on the Hallmark movie, while a niece and uncle exchanged gifts with each other and reminisced about "Aunt Margaret", I thought about the woman who was the foundation of my family two decades ago...(the strong woman who people didn't want to cross)...the woman that brought everyone in the family together for holidays and family get-togethers at her house. Gramma was the woman who took no crap, loved us all, and kept us aware of family traditions like no one else could. Her house was the home of tradition and love.

Maybe that's the reason why I get so mushy around the holidays...those traditions have faded with her...

But, that is the beauty of tradition...now that all of us grandchildren are grown and have our own children, we are creating our own traditions. For, Christmas may be about giving and making others feel good...It may bring the best out in all of us, but TRADITION is what makes us feel good about the holidays.

This year, as I avoid the emotions that overwhelm me while we decorate the tree and bake the delicious treats that we wait all year to make and eat, I hold on desperately to tradition and try to instill some old and new family traditions in my children's lives. When they are grown and look back on family traditions, I want them to feel as warm and loving and giving as I do...

And, I'm sure that they will. This year, we're creating some new family traditions that I think will "stick" in the future...and I hope that you will do the same, too. Stay "tuned" for updates on the traditions that we create this year...I'll try not to get too mushy. :)

As I wipe the "mush" from my face after the Hallmark movie ends, I really hope that you find a way to bring back some old traditions this year and show your children how to mix them with the new ones...

Happy Holidays!

You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

Not too long ago, I posted about my little ones calling me a mean mommy in My Children Think I'm Mean. I love it! LOL

But, I want to remind everyone that I am certainly not the only meanie around...this holiday season, someone else will be up to his shenanigans again, stealing stockings and shoving trees up the chimney. Don't you just love the holiday movies from when we were little?



I had to add to this post, because it tickled me so much. I showed Dylan and Dakoda the Mr. Grinch song video right here on Mommy Rantings, and they both think that Mr. Grinch is (in Dyaln's words): "werry, werry mean for taking those kid's - what are those called ag-in? Oh, yeah...candy canes."

Christmas Family Traditions (Guest Blog Post)

I am honored again to present you with another guest blog post. Laurie Neumann from Gift Expressions has contributed her take on Christmas Family Traditions - why didn't I think of that? - and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for such an inspirational blog post.

Do you have some Christmas family traditions? Or are you in the process of making some? Maybe you haven't thought much about it and don't feel they are all that important.

I think Christmas traditions are important to make no matter who your family consists of. Maybe it's just a mom and a child. Or a dad and a child. Or maybe you are a two-parent family with lots of kids, but not a lot of time. But traditions are still something you should be considering.

In our family, we have a few Christmas traditions. We ride around and look at outdoor Christmas lights that have been strung up on the neighborhood houses. We did this when I was growing up. Every Christmas Eve we would all pile in the car and ride around and look at Christmas lights. So, we have carried on this tradition for many decades.

We also watch a family Christmas movie on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. It is usually The Christmas Box and some other one we choose. I feel very fortunate that my kids (now in their twenties) still do this with us. I know it won't always be like this, so we are enjoying it while we can:-)

We have also had the same Christmas breakfast since our kids were born. We have an cheese and sausage quiche, warm apples and raisins and a homemade bread. Yum! This tradition, too, came from one we had when I was growing up. My mom always made us scrambled eggs among other things. So, I have adapted it to fit our family now.

My daughter has been invited to go to her boyfriend's house for Christmas. His parents live in another state, and they have offered to pay for her plane ticket to come down. But she declined. Why? Because she doesn't want to miss out on our family traditions! Now, are you starting to see the importance of them? It gives a reason for a family to stay close and spend time together. And, in my book, it doesn't get much better than that.

Need some gift ideas for Christmas this year? Visit Gift baskets for women and browse their beautiful selection. Gift Expressions http://www.giftexpressionsonline.com

Best Hayrides in the Fall

Picture credit: http://www.pack570.org/index-body.htm

What is fall - or Halloween, for those of us that celebrate it - without making our way to the cornfields or the pumpkin patch for a hayride?  I don't think my children have actually made it through one fall without that must-do trip on the hay wagon. We've been on the horse-drawn wagons and the tractor pulled wagons, and I think I'll leave it up to the children to come up with which type they prefer (but I think I like the horse-drawn carts for the leisurely strolls. However, for the hayrides that clunk through haunted trails, the tractor pull with the bigger wagons are my preference). What do you think?

A New Place For the Holidays

This year, we can get excited. We're no longer in the Carolinas...Buffalo is our spot for spooky adventures this year. If you live in the Buffalo area, you probably already know about the Fri-Howl-O-Ween Hayrides at The Buffalo Zoo. We can't wait! They're going to have doughnuts, apple cider, some free treats, and it only costs $9 for non-members (if you have your membership at the zoo, you're in luck - you will only have to pay $6). They only do this on October 17, 18, 24, and the 25th.

Get In Line!

We plan to get there early, as we are sure that the lines will be craaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzy!

Costume Time

The kids just asked me last night when we are going to get their costumes, and I gave them the diplomatic answer that I normally try to stick to: if you behave and take care of all of your responsibilities as you should, we might be able to get your costumes this weekend. That inspired a big, "Yay!", although I am sure that they won't hold up their end of the bargain as usual.

Sorry, Linda (Survive the Cost of Living), I'm Not Saving A Penny This Year!

I still plan to get out there to the stores and get their costumes this weekend. No, you won't find the do-it-yourself costumes on our kids this year. The store-bought ones, whether they rack up to a total of $150 or not, are my costumes of choice this year, and we'll be hitting the stores before everything in there whittles down to next to nothing.

I never look forward to the costume shopping escapade, but for some reason, I always come out of it feeling good. Maybe it's the kids excitement...it always seems to rub off. Either way, we're geared up for some excitement and adventure this year! We've already scoped out our trick-or-treating route! :)

What are you doing with your kids this year?