Holiday Guide

This is the first year we plan to leave cookies out for Santa. Since it's the start of what will become a tradition, I want to start it out right and make our own cookies to leave out for the jolly guy. I decided to share the recipe I'm going to use with you. It's the best sugar cookie recipe I've tried so far. It's simple and rolls out just right. I've used it three years in

Only a few short days left until Christmas, and if you're anything like me, you aren't anywhere close to being done with your shopping. I'm in full-on panic mode myself. Trying not to be Mrs. Grumpy McCrankypants during this time is extra hard. Especially for the little ones who are building excitement for Santa Claus, and don't understand your stress. Take some time to treat yourself to a little

Our lives are full of traditions and rituals. The way we put on our socks and shoes can become a ritual. Do you put on two socks and then then two shoes or do you alternate? The holidays, no matter which ones you celebrate can be bogged down with traditions. I have so many from growing up that I want to share with my kids and so many more that I think about starting. It all starts wit h

My husband and I moved to Denver 15 years ago. In fact, we trekked to Denver in a U-Haul leaving right after New Years Day 1994, driving all the way from Baltimore, Maryland to the Rocky Mountains. It's been a tremendous change in many ways - but one thing we've had to get used to is being away from our families - all still back in Maryland - during the holidays. Sure, there have been a few here a

As I think I've mentioned before , I haven't had a whole lot of personal experience with Hanukkah. But, I'm inspired by its meaning, the hope it gives to the Jewish people and the incredible fortitude it brings to mind for each of us. If you'll allow me to share a personal story of admiration and courage, please read on. I've grown up and lived in the same, very homogeneous community for

Hanukkah 2008 started yesterday, and runs through December 29th. And if you're looking for fun things to do with your little ones while its too cold to play outside or brave icy roads, here's a couple of fun activities we've compiled here at Savvy Source. Because what kid doesn't love glue, scissors and glitter? Hanukkah Activities

For me, nothing tops the holidays more than the smell of baking food - the delicious aroma of warm cinnamon, melting chocolate, and browning coconut are positively drool-worthy. Teaching another generation the family recipes and watching as their math, science and creative experience translate into a yummy treat, makes the holidays what they should be all about - family. My 4-year old

We are a musical family. My husband is happiest with a guitar in his hands and I tend to sing all day long without even noticing that I am doing it. The children seem to be taking after us. They both love their father's guitars and the piano, my three year old daughter sings and dances from the moment she wakes up in the morning until she falls asleep at night, and even the baby is starting t

Now, four days until Christmas and one until the first candle of Hanukkah, is when the last-minute gift idea requests come rolling in. I'm widely known as a reformed procrastinator, so I get many of these desperate pleas for help. Here are a few of my old standbys for last-minute

I love movies. It's probably the one part of my life I miss the most from my pre children life. I don't miss going out in the evening and having some drinks. I don't even miss using the bathroom whenever I want to, alone. But I miss going to the movies on a whim and sitting through one just to kill some time. Read more

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here... and I can't believe we are less than 8 days away from the big event. While we have our houses trimmed with lights, and our trees decorated with colorful balls - it is the moments we gather as a family each night, that really honors the meaning of the holiday. A lot of time is spent preparing for Christmas Day - from gift giving to hosting

I used to think holiday cards were a waste of money. Why buy something that you know the recipient is going to throw away? Instead of saying Merry Christmas with a card, why not say it with a phone call, or better yet, a hug? That was before I left my home country, married a man from another country, and settled down with kids in a third. No matter where we spend Christmas, we're always thousan

It's a tad chilly today for caroling here in Kansas City, but hopefully by next week as we wind down toward Christmas Day there will be some opportunities to dress up in our coats and hats and gloves and be comfortable enough to ring our neighbor's doorbells and sing them classic holiday songs. Kids love to sing, especially songs that are familiar and associated with specific rituals - whether it

One day, I will have a perfect Christmas tree. It will be lit with sparkling blue and white strings of lights with branches weighed down with shiny, glass ornaments. This year? Our tree is the complete opposite of that vision but is perfect for our young children. We chose an artificial, pre-lit tree for our home because my daughter is allergic to pine trees but even if she wasn't, our kids wo

Some families top their trees with angels or stars passed down from generations before them. In our house, that sacred spot is occupied by an angel with undeniably canine features. We call him Max, and he sits there in honor of a dearly departed dog by the same name. In some homes It's A Wonderful Life is required viewing on Christmas Eve. At our house it's that other holiday classic, Christmas Ev

Sometimes religion is hard to explain to children. Especially at this time of year, if you happen to not be Christians celebrating Christmas. My Jewish friends tell me that Hanukkah is not meant to be the holiday is has become here in the US. It is not really that high on the list of Holy Days within the Jewish tradition, it doesn't carry nearly the importance that Christmas does to Chr

I enjoy sending out Christmas Cards, I really do. The one thing I don't enjoy is squeezing in the time to do it. This year the Parent Bloggers Network gave me the chance to review Minted Holiday cards. These are not chain store cards, these are gorgeous one-of-a-kind designs. You start out choosing a creation of your choice but it doesn't end there, you can then change fonts, colors, text to c

For every year of our marriage, in spite of long distances and busy schedules and being poor graduate students, my husband and I and our children always went home for Christmas. "Home" is near Phoenix, Arizona where both my husband and I were raised and where both sets of parents and all three of our sisters still live. Given that we were the only ones that left -- to Michigan, to Tennessee, and n

I come from a family that loves to cook. Holidays are an especially memorable time because of the favorite dishes that I've come to associate with each occasion and Christmas is all about cookies. Each year we made many different kinds of Christmas cookies that filled the house with the warmsmell of baking. Snickerdoodles rolled in red and green sugar, white powdered Russian tea cakes, brown sug

The hardest part about the holidays for me this year is being "present" during our family time. It seems nearly impossible to sit down for a meal or to help my almost-three-year old son with an activity without shifting my attention, and instead thinking about the gifts I need to make & send, how I still need to get that flu shot, or that I MUST renew my drivers license before our holida

Over the years, we've received numerous books about Christmas and the holidays as gifts. Everything from Disney characters like Bear in the Big Blue House to really smart, sophisticated stories that become heirloom books. One of my favorites is Auntie Claus and The Key to Christmas. Auntie Claus is a story about Santa Claus' older sister, who lives in a Penthouse of a fancy hotel in New York Cit

The thing I love most about the Christmas season is a chance to revisit family memories. In our house, most of the decorations have a story attached, and each year when we pull them out of storage, we tell those stories, keeping them alive. A lot of this tradition started with my parents, who always indulged me when I asked about every single ornament placed on the tree. I now tell those stori

Toy picks that encourage science exploration: Giant Horseshoe Magnetic Kit : a big, PINK magnet to test on everything except mama's laptop. It comes with small beads and other swallowable parts, so DO NOT give to small children under the ages of 3/those still putting things into their mouths. But it's a great gift for an older child who'll want to experiment with it right away. Butterfly Pavilio

All is fair in love (and war) and holidays in a marriage until children enter the picture. In my family, since our in-laws and siblings' families all live out of our area we trade off the major holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) between the two families. What this means in reality, is that we are away from our home most of the time for these celebrations. For my husband and I, this was n

Some of my happiest and sweetest memories from my childhood took place around the Christmas holidays. Like most parents, my Mom and Dad went above and beyond in making every moment magical- so magical I believed in Santa until 5 th grade (when my Mom finally took me aside and broke the news to me). I (and my siblings) still wanted to continue the traditions until we moved out of the house. Before

Now that I have kids, I have been thinking a lot about the holiday traditions that I will carry on from my childhood. One of the strongest memories for me is more auditory than visual and that is the music that used to come out of our stereo every December. While we were decorating the house my mom always played the same Christmas albums. We had a huge stereo that was more like a piece of furnitur

Although the economic news seems to be getting worse every day, there is at least one silver lining to the recession. There are amazing deals to be had on holiday entertainment - at a time when there are usually no deals to be had! Many shows are closing, but as a last gasp effort, they are offering some very affordable tickets. Here are some of the deals available now. Disney has announced a limi

Holidays are all about spending time with your family, right? Making long trips to see grandparents or cleaning until your fingers bleed because you'll have a house full of guests. Right? Not in this house. I love spending time with my family and with my husband's family. I do. I really do. And it's not that I don't want guests for Christmas, or I don't want to go anywhere... It's just not a

Our household is full of toys. Full of stuff and full of excess. Over the summer and in recent months, we have struggled through what seemed like hopeless attempts to de-"stuff" our house. Our children are privileged and over-toyed. They have TOO MUCH! We got rid of boxes of mismatched toys with missing pieces. We donated the toys we'd outgrown and participated in a toy swap with friends to brea

Welcome back to this week's edition of Crafty Friday, where we're taking a minute to enjoy the simpler (in theory), more handmade facets of the holidays this year. If you missed last week's installment, you can see our gingerbread tree (which, I am proud to say, is STILL in tact!) here . Who needs a bunch of shiny, mirrored balls or crystal icicles on their pre-lit tree this year? Well, we do, act

My family may not follow all of the holiday traditions but we always send out Christmas cards to family and friends across the country. This year, we are tried something different with our holiday cards by making our own greeting cards. Making cards can be simple or very complicated depending on how involved and kid oriented you want the cards to be. When the kids were too young to participa

My oldest is seven, and she's getting to that age where she's questioning the magic of things. She wants to believe in Santa, but every once in a while, she gets a doubt and the look of fear on her face is so sad! The first doubting moment came last year when she realized a few days after Christmas that she had never mailed out her letter to Santa. She bought my explanation that I had sent in a co

Today's focus is on Richard Scarry, beloved author and illustrator of children's books. Don't tell your 1-4 year old, but his funny, lively characters Lowly Worm, Huckle Cat, and the road-trippin' Pig family are really a delightful way to help very young children through the "What's that?"/"How come?" stage without them having to know you're showing your child a picture-based dictionary. Deta

During a recent shopping trip, my four-year-old and my husband came up a secret sign that my son would show anytime he saw something he thought I would like. I know I won't be getting any of those things (I think it was maybe a ploy to keep him occupied) but it was so fun to see him excited about finding things that he thought I would like. It can be hard to get preschoolers excited about gi

We love to eat in our house.By default, we also love to cook!This holiday season, we're going to spend time in the kitchen making all kinds of treats.Here are some delicious and really easy treats to make - and enjoy - with your little elves.J Hello Dolly Biscuits (aka 7-Layer Bars) 1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs (these are fun to make yourself!Toss a bunch of graham crackers in a bag and let the

Five toy reviews for holiday gift-giving: My First Quatro Set , Lego: Colorful, chunky, rounded-corner blocks just right for little hands to mash together and pry apart. Great for 1-2 year olds! Note, the Quatros and Duplos (for slightly older toddlers, 2-4) dont really stick together well, so they aren't really reuseable when your child grows into the other sets. Little Tikes Ride 'n' Res

Here at Savvy Source, we'll be offering some picks for beloved and road-tested books and toys for the holidays. Watch for these throughout the month and into December. Some of my favorite books: Blueberries for Sal , by Robert McCloskey: A little girl on a berry-picking trip with her family has a gentle encounter with a mama bear and her cub, also foraging for berries. Delicious to read with your