How We Spent the Holiday Break (or My Love Affair Roku)

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I think I may be the only sad mom on Facebook to see her kids go back to school this week. It could be because it also means that it is time for me to go back to my day job. I thoroughly enjoyed laying around the house and binge watching Netflix.

Since the start of fall all the way to Christmas Eve, we have had plans every weekend. We wandered, explored, created, and enjoyed Northeast Ohio. From Halloween scares to the twinkling lights of Christmas trees and so much in between. When it was all done I can honestly say - I was pooped! The kids, too.

Once Christmas day hit, I tried very hard to not leave the house. One Sunday we headed over to the Botanical Gardens but too early, they don't open till noon on Sundays so we played with the helicopter the oldest got for Christmas, till it broke, and headed home. Sure, we could have hung out at the Art Museum until it the gardens opened, but...

We ventured out to the Children's Museum for the annual sand exhibit, but only because I had made plans a month before and my darling friend reminded me. I needed the push and the kids needed to get out. I was still pretty reluctant to go despite knowing it would be fun for all.

The oldest is nine and still loves to go and this is the first trip RD went and was able to explore on her own. She even attempted the climbing wall, where she made it to the top, stopped, cried, and held up the line until she finally overcame her fear that there was no slide to go down on the other side.

Climbing to the top she realized there was no going back. She sat at the top and cried but eventually headed down. She came off and told a (great) staff member, "I want to go home," through tears and by the time she got to me she was ready to try again. She went at least seven more times. #kids #thisiscle #passtheplus #humansofcleveland #fearless #girlpower

A photo posted by Mary Johnson (@mryjhnsn) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:39pm PST

Week One of @BloggerIdol Plus a Play at Home Version

It is Week 1 of Blogger Idol!

The auditions are over and after 150+ submissions the top 13 were announced last week and the first assignment handed out. In case you are reading this and did not know - I am a judge! I didn’t have the never to try out and after seeing all of the brilliant submission, sort of glad I didn’t try out. On the other hand, I can play along, unofficially, but if you would like to play along for real there is a linky for your post.

This week’s prompt:
Your audience needs to get to know you, and be able to connect with you. So, your first assignment is to introduce yourself to them by telling them about a family tradition you have. It can be with extended family or whatever, but it should really give them an idea about who you are.

 

Ah, Family Traditions. As long as you do it more than once it is a tradition, right? All though I secretly dread the holidays I love the little traditions the Husband and I stated with the kids. Some are play-offs of what we did as kids and some we just made up ourselves. For instance, I am not a fan of overindulging at Christmas time. Plus, when we had our first we were broke so I thought we should limit our gifts to the kid. I remembered hearing a story about giving three gifts based on the three gifts of the wise men and what do you know - a tradition was born.

Each kid gets three gifts, one for each wise man and then one from mom and dad. They also get whatever I can stuff in their stocking. It has really helped me in deciding what they really want and not what getting everything advertised. And, if it was good enough for Baby Jesus, well, I think you get where I am going with this thought.

Another tradition in our little family is Easter cake. I bought this adorable bunny pan and thought it would be fun to decorate it with my oldest when he was three. We now do this every year.

It has also become sort of a family joke because the boy puts so much crap, err, decorations on it that it is way too sweet to eat! Sprinkles, candied sugar and jelly beans are piled on top of frosting and after it is all done it takes a whole lot of imagination to see the bunny. Everybody will take a bite and the boy grins in satisfaction. It really makes the whole thing worthwhile.

I guess that is what is all about, not the big family dinners but the little things that make it all worthwhile.

Do you have a special tradition?

New Post! Week One of @bloggeridol Plus a Play at Home Version goo.gl/fb/gVwX0#writersarethenewrockstars
— MryJhnsn (@mryjhnsn) September 26, 2012

Don’t forget to check out this week’s contestants and sometime today their posts will go live and you can vote for your favorite.

HolidayComforts - What Makes Your Holiday Merry and Bright?

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What is it about this time that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Could it be the soft glow of Christmas lights? Could it be the cozy feeling of cuddling with hot cocoa and watching the endless array of holiday movies on the couch? How about all the extra joy that is in the air? Or maybe it the contagious giddiness of children (and adults) who still believes in Santa?

Despite the initial dread of the holiday season, for me, it dissipates once our tree is standing in our living room. I love how excited the kids are when they get the go ahead to start hanging ornaments. They can’t help but giggle and laugh with each decoration that is hung. Even the baby participates, of course, hers are all on one branch, on the very bottom of the tree, but she is so proud of that part of the tree.

There are so many things that bring comfort this time of year. The sights and sounds of this magical season is just the start and I want to share with you my top 5 holiday comforts.

Top 5 Holiday Comforts

1. Cinnamon
I love the smell and taste of cinnamon. Every year, right before Thanksgiving our local grocery store sells bags upon bags of pine cones covered in cinnamon and I am in heaven breathing it in. The smell sends me to that happy place of baking for the family and drinking hot chocolate dusted with this wonderful stuff. I’ve even started adding it to the salt and flour ornaments that the kids make every year.

2. Making Christmas Tree Ornaments
Speaking of the salt and flour ornaments - since my oldest has been able to manage a crayon, we have been making Christmas tree ornaments. One year it was popsicle sticks, another year was holiday themed plastic sun catchers and the last few years it has been salt and flour dough ornaments that we cut in to shapes with cookie cutters, bake and paint. Extra ornaments are handed out as gifts (and now smell like cinnamon).

3. Cookie Decorating
I know this is probably on many people’s list but for the last couple of years my son has been inviting friends over to decorate cookies together. This year he has invited his entire 1st grade class plus his PSR group. That is a lot of kids in my house and a lot of cookies but it will be worth it. Since there is always, extra cookies we decided to share the extras with the local nursing home.



4. Holiday Blankets
I am not one to do a theme for anything but I have two blankets that I keep stored away and only come out for Christmas. One is red and fluffy with white snowflakes and the other is bright red with Christmas stockings embroidered on it. Somehow seeing those blankets on my couches always make me feel cheerier and I love wrapping the kids in them when watching the Christmas specials.


5. Corny Holiday Movies
And by corny I mean all those made for TV, typically aired on ABC family and perfect to watch with the kids. Not to say that I am not embarrassed to be caught watching them but it quickly diminishes when the commercial is over and Santa is revealed to be real.






What are your holiday comforts?  Feel free to share in the comments or leave the link to your blog post!

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The Dreaded Holidays

I have a confession - I dread Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Easter.

I am filled with utter, sometimes debilitating, dread at the approach of each and every holiday.  It has gotten better since the Husband and I got hitched and as our family and extended family grows but, I still have a sense of dread and probably just as much sadness as a holiday approaches.

Growing up, I remember big, wonderful feasts with a big, beautifully set table using the good silver and a kid table.  I remember watching the Macy's Day parade and munching on stolen black olives.  There was marathon cooking and cleaning, there was homemade pies and real stuffing and just so much food.  And, then just when you thought you could eat no more there was ginormous leftover sandwiches eaten while adults played cards at the kitchen table way past our bedtimes.  It was such an active and hectic occasion and it was wonderful.  Just wonderful.

It was a time when my uncles, aunts and cousins gathered at my Grandparents' house to celebrate, together.  I was ensconced in my mother's family traditions, until my grandmother died.  The dinners continued for a few years but the people eating together became fewer as the family grew apart, other traditions were started and others just moved away or died.  Finally, it was just my mom, brother, uncle and me at dinner time.

I miss those family gatherings and prayed to be part of a big family again.

It makes me a little sad to think how we once gathered, as a family, to share a meal for the holidays and then it stopped.  It makes me sad that because everything revolved around the one family, we never got the opportunity to really get to know the rest of the family growing up. And, I am more then a little sad when it comes to not being able to have those wonderful family gatherings to share.  I know that there is more to it then not spending holidays together or why dinner attendees thinned out, but, I see the cycle being repeated.


I do have a deeper appreciation for the dinners we do host or attend.  And, I do realize that I am very lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have an even more amazing extended family but I can't help wishing, sometimes, for the way things were - only now with the whole family participating.