Helpful Mom

As if we moms don’t have enough clutter to deal with on a daily basis, then comes the holidays with all it’s decorations, gifts, and cards.  Here are a few ideas I came across for wrangling all those cards.

1. Hang a Card Garland. To create a festive garland, laminate the cards, then punch a small hole in the top conrers of each and link them together with ribbon.  This makes a unique and inexpensive decoration and adds a personal touch to the holiday trimmings.

2. Give them a place at the table. After the holidays you can make place mats with photo cards sent by family and friends.  Arrange the pictures on poster board, add borders and text cut from other holiday cards, and laminate the finished product.  Your family can enjoy the photo cards year round.

3.  Start a Blessings Basket. This one is my favorite idea.  Place the photo cards in a basket in the kitchen, then choose one card each night at dinner.  When you say grace, ask a special blessing for the person or family whose card was chosen.

4.  Make an ornament. Cut the card front into even strips.  Stack strips and poke a hole through both ends.  Using a needle, pull sturdy thread through one hole, knot at the base.  Thread through other hole, leaving enough string to make a loop for hanging.  Push the stack of strips down into an arc, knot thread at the base.  Fan out strips to form a ball.

5.  Spice up Recipes. No you’re not going to eat them!  Cut the fronts off your cards and use them to make festive recipe cards by writing a favorite holiday recipe on the back of each one.

6.  Lend a hand. Cut out your child’s handprint from card fronts.  On the back of each hand write a kind act your family can do for others.  Attach to a garland and hang.  Each day, pick a hand, then perform that deed.

• Advent Chain-Cut 1 inch strips of red and green construction paper and write a verse that relates to the birth of Jesus on each.  Glue or staple each into a circle, making a chain.  Each day in December, let your child carefully tear off one link and read the verse.  (This can also be done to countdown til a Birthday or other big day your kid keeps asking when it’s coming ;P)
• Help your kids make their own gift wrap with butcher paper, sponge stamps, and poster paint.  Instead of the usual Santas or snowmen, buy or make Nativity-themed stamps such as stars, mangers, angels, doves, and crowns.  Discuss the importance of each symbol.
• Instead of the usual gingerbread house at Christmastime, in one family the children would make a gingerbread stable.  They would create a special place for baby Jesus to help remind the kids of the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

While we were at the Garden Factory last week I decided we should begin a tradition a friend had told me her family had done for them as kids.  Each year they would purchase an ornament for each of the kids that would go on the tree but then would be theirs once they got married.  I loved this idea because I can remember our first Christmas after we got married.  We got married in November and Joel hadn’t found a job yet so we had no money and no decorations for a tree, so I love the idea of buying ornaments for them over the years to help get them started and they would have some meaning behind them, rather than the beautifully matching ones we have now but there is no meaning behind them other than the fact that they coordinate with our living room decor.  And it doesn’t have to be expensive either, the ones the girls picked were $1 and $2 each.

Well as Christmas comes upon us we struggle with how to keep Christmas centered on Christ while our kids are excited about the gifts, decorations, baking cookies, parties, etc.  So in an effort to help you do this I’m including some ideas I’ve read in various magazines.  You don’t have to do them all, just pick and choose what may work for you.

• “A walk through the Moyers’ home in December reveals a variety of Nativity sets, both large and small, but not one contains a baby Jesus figure.  Four year old Lydia Moyer can tell you why.  “Jesus is born on Christmas.”

Not until the morning of Dec 25 do the baby figures appear in their beds of straw.  Lydia jumps out of bed and races downstairs to rush from one manger to another.  As the preschooler hugs baby Jesus, welcoming Him to their home, her mother smiles.  What better way to begin the day, focused on God’s gift to the world?”

• “Imitate the Wise men.  Buy only three presents for each child in remembrance of the Magi’s gifts to the Christ child.  These presents don’t need to be expensive in order to be meaningful.  To keep Christmas Day focused on Jesus, some families postpone their gift exchange to Epiphany on Jan 6. By tradition, Epiphany recalls the arrival of the wise men to worship Jesus and so reveal Him to the world as Lord and King.”

• “Share Christmas joy. Spread Jesus’ love by helping others and by lifting the spirits of those who might not see a reason to celebrate.  Together as a family, visit a nursing home, serve meals at a mission or church, or pack and deliver Christmas baskets for food pantries.  Make sure your children know you do this not to earn favor with God but to love Him by loving others.”

Other simple ideas are to bake Jesus a birthday cake or go check out a live Nativity scene with your children.

If you are looking for some family fun this Christmas look no further than the Garden Factory in Gates, NY.  This is a yard and garden store much like a Gro-Moore farm during the spring, summer, and fall months, but come Christmas time it’s transformed into a family center.

Last week my girls wanted to go to the zoo!  It was less than 20 out so in an attempt to do something different I suggested going to a couple of Christmas stores to see the decorations.  Some simple FREE fun that didn’t involve much effort, I just looked up the locations of a couple stores dedicated to Christmas decorations.  I laid out the ground rules before going in to each store so there would be no begging or things broken.  Look with your eyes, not with your hands, and we are NOT buying anything so don’t ask, and stay with mom or else you will have to ride in a cart.

That said we had a great time.  They marveled at the trees and various angels, Santas, deer, and bears that were lit up, moving, or singing.  Katrina couldn’t help but hug the purple decorated tree we came across, since purple is her favorite color.  But our absolute favorite store was the Garden Factory.  I had seen ads for it last winter but never made it so was curious to check it out this year.  I knew that somewhere they have a huge model train set but we took our time exploring the entire store before finding it, I hadn’t mentioned it in case we couldn’t find it.  There were whole rooms with nothing but poinsettias and Christmas wreaths, decorations and lights.  The girls delighted in the large selection of wind chimes and the stuffed birds that play the authentic bird calls.  We checked out all the decorations and garden statues and then we found it… The room with loads of beautifully decorated Christmas trees, huge garden fountains, and a HUGE train setup.  Not just one train but more like 5 or 6 sets all set up together in one huge display.  I find these model train sets fascinating because of the attention to detail is amazing.  They have whole little towns set up with tiny people, cars, animals, you name it they have it.  And the girls could watch the trains go round forever.  It was nicely set up for kids too because all the way around it’s boxed in with fencing, but then they would have steps up to a platform where the kids can stand up and get a good view of the trains going around.

And beyond that is all set up for their Holiday Family Fun activities which includes: a child sized train for rides, bounce house, turbo tub, speed slide, mini ferris wheel, firetruck playfort, and make your own ornaments for kids.  Now this is not free and is only open on weekends but it sure looked fun and I’m hoping to fit it in before Christmas sometime.  It’s for ages 2-10 and most of the rides cost 2 tickets, which are either $0.50 each or 25 for $10.  It began the weekend of Thanksgiving and continues through Christmas.  The remaining weekends are Dec 13 & 14, and Dec 20 & 21 from 11am-4pm.  The model train will be set up through Dec 27, closed Dec 25.  And on those weekends from 12-4pm Santa will be there for pictures and taking wishes.  And while you are there it’s a great place to pick up a precut tree while your kids are playing.

The Garden Factory is located at 2126 Buffalo Rd, Rochester, NY 14624

Undo toys from boxes and packaging to help easy frustration in preschoolers who just want to get their hands on the new toy.  If you have opened a new toy recently you know what I’m talking about, all the ties, wires, plastic things, and the tape, oh the tape!  And if it needs batteries put those in too.  There’s nothing like a 3 year old who can’t wait to get their hands on that toy to make you blow your cool on what should be a happy day.

When our girls were younger we would give them the box first and then after a while when that began to wear off, then we would give them the actual toy.  And as one and two year olds we only gave them one gift.  That young they are getting new toys all the time as they develop so we didn’t feel it necessary to pile on the gifts.  Plus if you give them lots of gifts at once there will end up being toys that just get shoved aside and never get played with.

One article I read suggested that when your kids are under 2, you can hide some of their toys a month ahead of time.  Then you can wrap them up as gifts.  I know I used to have two baskets of toys for the living room and I’d rotate them monthly, so there was only one in the living room at any one time.  And when I brought out the new basket it was like all new toys had appeared.

Ask for gift certificates towards museum or gym memberships, or movie tickets, etc so you won’t be bringing lots of toys in taking up valuable space.  They can also be enjoyed by everyone in the family yearround.