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Christmas Unplugged

Forget about dreaming of a white Christmas this year, most parents I know are hoping for an unplugged version of the holiday; a Christmas void of blaring televisions, raucous radios and vociferous video games. How likely are you to enjoy a genuine silent night this Christmas? If you want to know how to make your dream a reality, take some advice from the Bear family. In The Berenstain Bears’ Old-Fashioned Christmas, Brother, Sister and Baby Honey Bear get a taste of what the holiday was like pre-TV, when they travel to Grizzly Gramps and Gran’s house. After rolling up in … Continue reading →

Focusing on Christmas

As the Christmas season approaches it is important to take time now to prepare for the spiritual side of the season. While everyone enjoys the lights, the hustle and bustle of the holiday and the gift giving, it is too easy to lose the true meaning of Christmas. Taking time to formulate a plan to celebrate and remember the true meaning of Christmas can really help the season to come alive. One way that you can do this is by making time to serve someone during the Christmas season. Growing up my family always did the Twelve Days of Christmas … Continue reading →

My “Twelve Days of Christmas”

Since it is the holiday season I thought I’d write my own version of the popular song “12 Days of Christmas” that revolves around my kids. I’m sure as you read each line you will easily relate to the joyous and not so joyous things that my kids bring to the holidays. On the first day of Christmas my kids gave to me… A broken Christmas tree. – actually this didn’t happen this year. But two years ago my daughter pulled the tree down on herself and although she was fine the tree didn’t fare so well. On the second … Continue reading →

10 Days Until Christmas …

Today is my daughter’s last day of school until 2007. You remember that feeling – the release and the relief of the break. You didn’t have to worry about getting up early every morning. You didn’t have to go out into the cold. There were no tests and no quizzes. No math classes, no history classes or no class that you may have dreaded. All that you had to look forward to for the next two weeks was two weeks of relaxation and joy. I spent the last week preparing items for her holiday party and you forget the simple … Continue reading →

The Twelve Ornaments of Christmas

There is a beautiful tradition that I read about recently that comes from a Bavarian custom called the Bride’s Tree. You might want to incorporate this tradition into your Christmas decorating or into your holiday wedding planning or in some other way. Maybe you’ll just read this and appreciate the beauty of the custom. Either way, I think this Bavarian custom really does hold some of the secrets to making a good and happy marriage. So what goes into decorating a Bride’s Tree? According to customs, you want 12 molded glass ornaments that are made and given to the soon … Continue reading →

Family Home Evening: The Twelve Days of Christmas

With Christmas approaching you may want to plan your family home evenings so that your children focus on the true meaning of Christmas. One easy way to do this is to pick someone from your family to do the Twelve Days of Christmas for. Planning for this can take an entire evening. It is important that you take the time to plan the activities carefully. This can really bring the focus to giving instead of receiving. Growing up my family did this every year. It was a wonderful experience. We were able to reach out to other families in need … Continue reading →

Time for a Pat on the Back?

Let me be the first to congratulate all you parents out there–you made it through another Christmas! Maybe everything wasn’t picture perfect or like that imaginary fairy tale holiday you have always imagined–but no doubt you did the very best you could and whether things came off without a hitch or not, it’s over, you did it! Time for that pat on the back. After the presents are all unwrapped and you’ve tried to salvage as many bows and ribbons as possible. After the dishes have all been done and the leftovers sealed away in little plastic storage containers. There … Continue reading →

Primary Time: December 2007 Sharing Time Theme

The Sharing Time theme for December is “Jesus Christ once lived on earth and I have the faith that He will again.” The scripture for the month is Acts 1:11 “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” There is not a specific song associated with the month, although the sharing times do have the children sing Christmas songs and songs about Jesus’ life. The theme is divided into four principles. The first principle focuses on prophets foretelling of the Savior coming to … Continue reading →

Wedding Traditions – France

France, the name of the country is as provocative as the romance that is associated with it. When I was younger, I tickled myself silly when I realized the France and romance rhymed together and didn’t that seem appropriate? Whether you are of French descent or merely love all things French, there are many traditions that you can call upon. The Chest of Hopes Did you know that the hope chest came from France originally? The wedding trousseau refers to the bundle of clothes that the bride will take with her to her new home – and for modern brides, … Continue reading →

Wedding Traditions – Japan

My daughter has a great fondness for all things Japanese and she thrills to the knowledge – any knowledge – about Japan. So as I started this new series on wedding traditions, I decided on Japan as our first around the world outing to study the wedding traditions. Most of my information comes from research both online and off. According to Japanese myth, the creation of all things occurred because of the marriage of the god and goddess Izanagi and Izanami. These two gods came down to the primordial earth from their place amongst the heavens across a rainbow bridge. … Continue reading →