Author Archive

Children love to be active and they appreciate receiving activity related toys as Christmas gifts. Sure, they appreciate the quiet toys too but there’s nothing like something that gets you moving or creating. Plus, it makes life easier for us parents when they get some of that extra energy out.

Christmas has rolled around again like it does every year. Just trying to think of new gift ideas can be a challenge so what can you do? Well, giving the gift of a new timepiece may be just what you’re looking for. Young or old, male or female, you can find a watch or clock [...]

As parents and grandparents, we can’t be too careful about the toys we give our children each Christmas. It used to be that you assumed toys were safe if they were on the store shelves, that the proper consumer agencies had certified their safety. However, that’s not true any more. With the proliferation of toys [...]

Before you know it, Christmas will be here again. So, have you started shopping for those on your Christmas list yet? If you’re wondering what to buy for your favorite homemaker, here are a few suggestions.

Choosing a Christmas gift for your boss can be a challenge. You have to weigh the delicate balance between giving an appropriate gift without seeming like you’re trying to win favors. So, how you can you find an appropriate way to express your holiday spirit to your boss?

Are you a parent?  If so, there is a good chance that you already know just how much kids love the holidays.  That is why you may want to think about letting your children help you decorate for Christmas.  In fact, in addition to just letting them help you hang Christmas decorations, you may also [...]

What You Need: 2 (1/4-ounce) pkgs. active dry yeast 1 cup warm water 1/3 cup butter at room temperature 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 5 cups flour 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon cold water 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

“Dress Santa” is a silly game that can be a lot of fun at a Christmas party. Be sure to have a camera on hand so you can capture the memories forever.

What You Need: 2 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup + 6 tablespoons sugar, divided 2/3 cup evaporated milk 1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided 1 quart peppermint ice cream, softened 1 (9-inch) deep dish pie shell, baked 3 egg whites 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract [...]

Here are some fun Christmas Eve games you can try while you’re waiting for Santa to arrive.

How to Make It: 3 cups warm water 2 cups sugar 3 bananas, sliced 1 (46-ounce) can unsweetened pineapple juice 1 1/2 cups orange juice 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 (2-liter) bottles ginger ale

Planning Christmas games for young children can be a lot of fun. Just be sure to have enough room for the children to run around and don’t forget to plan for the unexpected.

What You Need: 3/4 cup butter, room temperature 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, divided 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, divided 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 1/4 cups flour Red and green miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

In the past, most families had no rules about gift buying. Everyone bought a gift for everyone else, and gifts were exchanged when the family all got together somewhere during the Christmas season.

Giving Christmas gifts doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. After all, what your loved ones really want is to share time with you during the holidays. Take a little time to create a unique gift that your loved one will remember for many years to come.

There’s nothing quite like fun games to liven up a Christmas party. Make your next party a lot more interesting by trying out a new game or two.

Living nearby to all of your relatives can be a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and relatives are often separated by vast differences. Sometimes you are forced to relocate because of a job and sometimes you just move because you would like to live in and experience a new city, state, [...]

It’s no secret that kids love to play make believe. Just watch a group of children play together for few minutes and you’re bound to see them playing ‘house’ or any number of imaginary games that their young minds can come up with. It’s important to help foster that imagination in young children and that’s [...]

Christmas shopping for close relatives can be extremely easy in some aspects but it can also be extremely difficult in other aspects. One the one hand shopping for close relatives is simple and a great deal of fun because they are people you really care about and people you know really well. However, on the [...]

Commercial activities during Christmas today are often decried as making the season too materialistic. This has caused comments that the religious aspect of Christmas is so overlooked and overshadowed that its celebration seems to be purely pagan. But today’s comparisons aren’t the first there has been some link between Christmas and pagan celebrations. As a [...]

The tradition of Christmas trees in America came from German immigrants who had settled in Pennsylvania. It is believed that the tradition of Christmas trees started in Germany from as early as 700 A.D and was practiced by many Germans in the 1800s. It’s also since that period that Christmas trees have also been available [...]

What You Need: 1 (6 lb) beef rib roast 1 tablespoon anise seed, crushed 3 garlic cloves, minced 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 3 cups dried apricots 12 red boiling onions, halved 1/3 cup orange juice 3 fresh pears, wedged

The story of Rudolph, whose glowing red nose made him a standout, first appeared in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department stores distributed about 2.4 million booklets with the poem in the form of a story about “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was written by Robert L. May, who worked in the store’s marketing department, to [...]

A Christmas dinner party is typically an elegant affair. People enjoy dressing up and mingling with coworkers and other friends in an adult setting. It is as much fun as it is formal. Here are a few tips for planning the perfect Christmas dinner party.

How can you, as a parent, help your children learn to read at an early age? One way is to start reading to your children as early as possible. Another way is to give them learning tools that aid their development and understanding of language. One of these vital tools is the Pink Tag Reading [...]