We will be hitting the road and heading to Ohio this week for Christmas. Each year we make the 12 hour drive to see our parents, cousins and friends we have left behind. While none of us enjoy the long road trip, we do enjoy the time we have once we arrive. The one thing that makes it even more special is some snow while we are there. We have our fingers crossed for a White Christmas again this year.

Jake and Sam enjoying last years NC snow

I miss snow. I can’t say I miss days and days of it non-stop or wind chills below 0, but I do miss snow. I spent my entire childhood in Ohio and I remember the snow forts, snow men, snowball fights…you name it and we did it when the white stuff came raining down. I am sad that my boys don’t have that same experience so if we can get just a few flakes during our 4 days at my parent’s house I would be happy.

Last year the boys lucked out…snow in OH and snow here in NC. Who would have expected that?! I have already been checking the weather channel and it seems we may get lucky again this year….it may even snow on Christmas Day!  Of course, just like the weather here, that forecast can (and will) change 10 times between now and December 25th. I can only hope we get just enough for some fun outside and not so much that we add 4 hours to our car trip

What about you? Are you heading north for the holidays? Hoping for snow?

As my tween is growing older, her gifts seem to get more practical and expensive.  Her request this year…a computer.  Only Santa knows how we adapted to this request.   We are grateful for some wise friends who once shared with us their Christmas gift policy to keep things into perspective, especially now with the economy and the reality of present finances.  They suggested 3 gifts representing gifts from the wise-men.  One gift is a want.  One gift is a need.  One gift is a “spiritual” gift.  Once you add in the gifts given from friends, neighbors, and family, there are plenty to go around.

I recently read in a Family Fun magazine about another idea to help our children learn about giving.  Each person has a jar of simple acts of kindness listed on strips of paper.  They also have a star box.  Daily you pick an act of kindness and perform it secretly and then when it is done, place it in the star box.  On Christmas morning you place the star box under the tree as a gift to Jesus.  I told my tween about it and she got excited like the other children.  The purpose is to teach giving and without recognition and teaching the “feel good” is the gift you receive from giving.  It could be simple acts like: smile at a stranger, hold the door open for someone, make someone’s bed, leave secret kind messages, do a chore without being asked, etc.

With the economy, there are many creative ways to give gifts that don’t cost money and keep us focused on the real reason for the season.  Even if you can’t “adopt” a family this year, giving what you can will still make the family feel good.  Think about donating time at a soup kitchen, donating gently used toys or books or outgrown coats to shelters.  Visit a Nursing Home and carol as a family.  Make cookies or breads for neighbors.  Remember those without families.

May this season be a season of creativity, gift giving and teaching our tweens that gifts don’t need to be bought, they can be gifts of the heart.  Handmade.  Made with love and freely given to those who may be forgotten.  Let’s teach our children how blessed we are despite the hard economic times.

How do you help your children understand gift giving?

There is something about old school games and fun!  With all the technology we have now, things have really changed for our children.  I’m not complaining, it is just how the world is going and progressing.  But really, those things we grew up with….simple, fabulous fun are really the best!!

This Halloween we enjoyed a few old school games like bobbing for apples and musical chairs.  It was honestly the funnest night ever!  The kids loved dunking their head in the bucket to get some apples.  A lot of the children had never done it before and were so intrigued!  They finally got the hang of it and we couldn’t get them to stop bobbing!!

When I was a little girl, my Mom had a backyard carnival for me which was such a treat, we had lemonade stands and tea parties with our cabbage patch dolls.  Going to the movies was a huge treat and getting popcorn was, well….unheard of!!  I feel like I really have to work hard not to spoil my children.  I also think I am failing in this area a bit too!  When they show in-gratitude or pitch a fit if they don’t get what they want, it makes me so mad!!

So, the start of this new year (come January) we will be making some changes with our children.  As a Mother, I have gotten so busy and caught up in life that my children have suffered!  They don’t know it, because they are a bit spoiled right now….but in the long run, it will only hurt them!!

I’m ready to take it back to the old school ways with my parenting and with my family!!  I will keep you updated on the progress!!  Until then….how do you have fun with your family, old-school style?

There are times that we all need to “escape.”  Whether it is from the realities of our situation, from homework, from the mundane routine we find ourselves in or in meditation and relaxation.  I recently caught my tween in the backyard on our teeter totter looking like she knew where she was going to escape.  In her imaginative way she was heading on a fabulous journey with determination.  It was OK to go with her, but she wasn’t stopping to wait.  How do our tweens escape the pressures on them?

My tween loves to create.  She “escapes” in drawing, reading, playing in nature, and by crafting.  She doesn’t always have to be with others and frequently chooses to do this on her own.  She has learned that it is OK to escape and find respite in her activities that bring calm, peace and joy to her.  How do you foster a healthy imagination?  I believe in trying not to over-schedule so that our tweens can have time to play, create and enjoy time.  Boredom is not in our vocabulary.  We only watch TV (this includes me too) as a family on the weekend and non-school days.

I loved watching my children create things out of boxes, swing in the hammock, jump on the trampoline and imagine together in the “treehouse” this past week with their cousins and friends.  I love watching my tween “morph” into that place of escape on the beach as she walked and relaxed in the sand.

As mothers, we too need our escapes.  Whether our escapes are in crafting, reading, watching a favorite show, exercising, creating, get-togethers, spending time with a friend, dreaming, writing, discovering new ideas, we  need these “escapes” to keep us sane and healthy.  We are also teaching our children through our examples of how to do this.

What are some things that you do to find mini escapes?  Have you built them into your Mom routine and how?  How do you teach your children to “escape” and relax?

Lastt weekend marked the Mullet Festival in Swansboro and many performances, including a performance of my tween daughter and her fellow dancers.  What I didn’t realize she had when she was younger, was very apparent now that she is a tween.  She was worried about fellow classmates coming and laughing, she was worried about boys standing around watching, she was worried about things I didn’t know she worried about.  Performance jitters or pre-performance anxiety is common and can be managed.  Here are some helpful tips to in dealing with performance jitters: