Holiday Insight and Wisdom

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Too much stress makes trees fly out doors and windows.

I second the motion on not leaving food on the counter top with animals in the house.

Also trees make great cat race courses.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
Santa does not wrap the presents he leaves here. That's how the tell the difference between what Santa gives and what we give.

We don't decorate until the week before Christmas. Missy can't handle the stress and anxiety.

I can't think of any other snippets of wisdom impart. If I think of something, I'll come back to it.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Not only did we use separate Santa paper but he used a different one for each child. That way it was easy on Christmas morning to know which present was for which girl.

We also limited each of the girls to asking Santa for 5 gifts. It seemed so greedy to me when they had lists that went on forever for Santa. So we started the five gift limit with the explanation that Santa wouldn't have enough room in the sled if every child asked for more than that. They also had presents from mommy and daddy and other relatives under the tree.

I also used the left handed method of writing out Santa tags.

Another tradition that the girls loved was Advent calendars that have a piece of chocolate in them each day from December 1st - December 24th. In typical difficult child fashion though, difficult child would end up eating all of the chocolate long before the 24th whereas easy child would only open one each day like she was supposed to.

I didn't buy them this year since the girls made fun of me last year when I gave them each one. So, of course, both acted upset when I gave one to each of our Thanksgiving host's small children and told them that I hadn't gotten one for them this year.

:hammer:

difficult child still opens all of the little doors on the first day and eats all of the candy.

~Kathy

 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
Like Loth, neither of the tweedles can handle the anxiety & anticipation of the holidays - we don't decorate until a week before Christmas.

Having a dog who can jump the island, I also concur with leaving any food out unattended. And having the end of a rib roast gnawed on before guests had arrived - learn to carve with creativity!

If at all possible, shop mid week & miss out on the crowds. It's well worth it to take a personal day from work to get it done in one day with-o fighting hoards of people. Shop early in the day & wrap before kids get home from school.

Take one day before the holiday & get together with a good friend, a sibling and/or a parent; whoever & go out to lunch. Have a warm bowl of soup & enjoy one another's company. Make it an annual tradition. You'd be surprised how much you look forward to that annual luncheon & how much you miss it once it's gone.

Settle on when to open gifts before Christmas. difficult children struggle - we generally open gifts Christmas Eve night (since Santa is no longer an issue here) & the stress has lessened significantly. husband & I are hiding one gift from kt & wm this year to open when we are all together in one room. They just don't know.

Have fun! It doesn't have to be a Martha Stewart day. I look at it more of a red neck kind of day - what happens, happens. Laugh. Enjoy your loved ones. Nothing, not even a dog gnawed roast is enough to ruin an entire holiday!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Oh, I thought of something I started back when my kids were toddlers. It kept Travis from becoming over stimulated thus going into full melt down or withdrawl.

On xmas morning gifts are passed out. Then, youngest to oldest each person opens a gift, thanks the giver, throws the trash away. It goes round and round the room til all gifts are opened.

This also prevented the xmas morning chaos of flying paper, gifts getting to the wrong person, and pieces of gifts getting lost.

Another thing, my kids were taught from the time they could walk xmas was more about giving than getting. They bought gifts from Santa's Secret shop at school for every member of the family and any friends they wanted to give to with money they earned doing lots of extra chores around the house.

The gifts my kids bought for each other were always opened xmas eve night. This way they could appreciate what they gave each other. Only now that they're grown has this tradition stopped, much to their disappointment. I had to explain to them it was no longer necessary. lol

We also had each of our kids purchase a gift for Toys for Tots each year. They really enjoyed the thought of making another child's xmas brighter.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Oh the Advent calendars~ those were such fun. difficult child asks for one every year and then never opens a door or eats any of the chocolate past day 3! She really doesn't like calendars, just the idea of the doors I think. easy child told me a couple of years ago that she's too old for those now - haha.

Aw, I miss that.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I just got back from Whole foods and guess what they had. . .

Chocolate Advent calendars!

And guess who bought two??? :bag:

What is it about Christmas that makes me such a sucker?

Oh, and I thought of another holiday tip ~ to get melted candle wax out of glass candle holders all you have to do is freeze the candle holder for a few hours. I found this tip on Google and tried it today and the melted wax popped right out!

~Kathy
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well I just learned or relearned something...

17 month olds will gorge themselves silly on all the candy canes they can reach on the first Xmas tree they can remember seeing! LOL.

I do have to admit though that Keyana is the neatest toddler when it comes to eating hard candy. She will come to us and get the plastic wrapper off it before she chews it up but she must have hit that tree for at least 3 or 4 candy canes today!
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Kathy-Timely tip on getting the wax out-I'm going to try it-I was just telling husband we needed to get out some wax out of some glass holders.

We also used separate wrapping paper.-

To keep the kids out of where we keep gifts I used to say I saw a big spider back there. Hope that wasn't too mean but it worked!

I also agree about taking lots of naps!

Last year difficult child and I rang bells for the Salvation Army because I wanted him to be less "me" focused and wanted him to enjoy giving rather than receiving. It was good for the first hour but for difficult child two hours was too long. We need to find something different this year.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kathy813</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Oh, and I thought of another holiday tip ~ to get melted candle wax out of glass candle holders all you have to do is freeze the candle holder for a few hours. I found this tip on Google and tried it today and the melted wax popped right out.~Kathy </div></div>

Wonder if I can get H to hold his head in the freezer long enough :smile: I swear the man is going deaf but he refuses to believe its anything other than wax. Ugh!
 
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