Tag Archives: Holidays
Homemade Valentine’s Day Decorations for Home
With kids around, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on decorations for Valentine’s Day. They are full of ideas so enlist their help to come up with decorating tips to spread the love this Valentine’s Day.
Start simple. Decorate the main rooms of your home. Give each kid a ball of ribbon in red, white, or pink and watch what they do. Ribbon can be wrapped around vases of flowers and draped above doorways. A pair of scissors can be run the length of the ribbon to create curls.
Valentine Party Fun for Kids
Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to have a party. Invite family and friends to share the day with you at your home. When a party is on the agenda, everyone can contribute ideas to make it fun.
Plan ahead. To avoid a rush, gather all of the party supplies a week in advance. Let everyone brainstorm ideas until the big shopping day arrives. With list in hand, find games and items for everyone.
Dress each guest to celebrate at the party. For the girls, give them a candy necklace. Once the party is over, she can nibble at her necklace for a sweet treat. For the boys, try candy whistles. It’ll be the most delicious sound they’ve ever made.
Weekly Round Up Jan 9th
Welcome to the First Weekly Round up of 2009. I did take a couple weeks off over the holidays with everything going on things were pretty crazy and this slipped though the cracks.
Here we are wrapping up the first full week of a brand new year. If your week was like ours here in Eastern WA. Its been a crazy week. Full of unpredictable weather and lots of cabin fever running in and out of the house.
Decorating for Kwanzaa
The decorations utilized to celebrate Kwanzaa are quite beautiful. The symbols traditionally used encompass a variety of items which hold a great deal of history and culture as well.
Here is a traditional Kwanzaa setting which is usually placed in a central location on one’s home. First, a piece of cloth made in Africa is placed on the table. On top of the cloth is the Mkeka or the mat which is the foundation for all essential items to be placed upon. The mat is symbolic of one’s roots. The Kinara, or candle holder, is set in the center of the mat. The candle holder is comprised of seven candles whose colors from left to right are: three red, one black, and three green.
Make a Time Capsule for New Year’s Eve
There are events in every person’s life that they want to commemorate, whether it’s the birth of a child, moving into their first home, or their child’s first day of school. You may want to build a time capsule each New Year’s Eve so you can remember the previous year for years to come.
The 7 Symbols of Kwanzaa
In addition to the 7 Kwanzaa Principles established by Kwanzaa founder Dr. Karenga, there are also the 7 Symbols of Kwanzaa. Each of these symbols represents the values of the African culture and is used to reinforce one’s commitment to community, family and unity.
The following symbols are appropriately cited from the officialkwanzaawebsite.org wherein much of Dr. Karenga’s beliefs as well as information pertaining to the origin of Kwanzaa emanate.
Note the symbols are written in Swahili and English.
“Mazao or The Crops: These are symbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor.
Tips To avoid Holiday Stress
This wonderful time of the year has come time to celebrate Christmas and our other favorite winter holidays. This time of the year is when people spend the most time with relatives. As much as we love our family, much of our stress during this time can be due to them along with the actual actions we feel that we must perform.
Holiday stress can be of two types: preparation stress and familial stress. Let’s start with the preparation stress. What is the perfect holiday? If you know what it is, please give me a call. Most people are still in search of it.
5 Tips to Planning a Family Christmas Dinner
It is one of the two times a year that families are guaranteed to get together for a meal. Christmas dinner with family is a big deal in most households. But, this year, plan ahead so that more time is actually spent with the family and not slaving over a hot stove.
Planning saves not only time but money when it comes to having a family gathering. At Christmas, most families are filled with good cheer and a longing to reconnect. Let the family Christmas dinner be the culmination of that celebration.
