Strollerderby : holidays

Weird Holiday Alert: My Bucket's Got a Hole in it Day

JeanneSager — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:32:00 GMT

There are certain things every child needs to know. Chief among them: at least one song that will drive their parents absolutely bonkers (or their grandparents if you prefer).

And considering today is "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It Day," we're happy to oblige.

Because if Pete Seeger at 90 can get up onstage and inspire a rendition of There's a Hole in the Bucket (out of Kris Kristofferson and Ani DiFranco, no less), than your kids surely need to know the story of Liza and Henry. Right?

The old German folk song has been a Seeger favorite and recorded by the likes of Burl Ives, about a couple who just can't seem to get things right. Or at least never fix their bucket.

It's annoying as all get out, but hey, you have a whole summer to teach it to your kids then let them loose at the family reunion, right? So we rustled up the lyrics for you, courtesy of a Girl Scouts Song Lyrics Index on About.com:

Liza: Henry! Fetch me some water!
Henry:There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, a hole.

L: Well, fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Well, fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

H:With what shall I fix it ...
L: With a straw dear Henry ...
H:The straw is too long ...
L: Well, cut it dear Henry ...
H:With what shall I cut it ...
L: With an axe dear Henry ...
H:The axe is too dull dear Liza ...
L: Well, sharpen it dear Henry ...
H:With what shall I sharpen it ...
L: With a stone dear Henry ...
H:The stone is too dry dear Liza ...
L: Well, wet it dear Henry ...
H:With what shall I wet it ...
L: With water dear Henry ...
H:In what shall I fetch it ...
L: In a bucket dear Henry ...
H:There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza ...

If you take a video of your kids doing it, put it up on YouTube, but really, you don't have to share it with us. The knowledge that we're not the only ones with this song now permanently stuck in our heads is thanks enough!

Image: Current

Weird Holiday Alert: Lost Sock Memorial Day

JeanneSager — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:04:00 GMT

Settle down now. I'd like to call for a moment of silence for all of my daughter's teeny tiny little socks, paid for with my precious funds and STOLEN by the gnomes that live in my dryer.

And while you're snickering, I am all too glad to tell you that somewhere, out there, there is someone who has thought to treat this tragic loss with proper reverance.

Also known as the loon who thought up Lost Sock Memorial Day.

It's a real honest-to-goodness holiday. I'm expecting Hallmark to roll out a card any moment now y'all!

Of course, the day preceding Lost Sock Memorial Day may have something to do with it. See, tomorrow, May 8, is NO Socks Day. It's the day after that, May 9, that's Lost Sock Memorial Day. So I'm thinking that all the people who ran around without their socks on No Sock Day were mourning the loss of their socks, and . . . well, OK, I'm thinking much too deeply about this one.

Perhaps this is why Crocs got so popular in the first place? No socks means no lost socks.

But this is such a parent-friendly holiday. Because, like it or not, we have to encase those adorable little tootsies in fabric at least some of the time. And since even the teeniest baby manages to burp her food to all the way down there, they will, at some point, have to go into the washing machine. And then to the dryer. Oh, the dryer, place where socks head shaking their little elastic tops in dread.

Anyone smell a dryer industry/sock industry conspiracy? Well, it's a thought. If we could only get the gnomes to move to their homes.

Have a happy lost sock memorial day this weekend!

Image: LittleMissMatched

The Holiday Dilemma: When Parental Gift-Giving Goes Too Far

Jen Chaney — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:28:00 GMT

It's Easter Sunday. Have your kids opened their Easter presents yet?

Easter presents? Yes, some parents really do treat the spring holiday as a time to give gifts that go beyond the standard Easter baskets -- including pet rabbits or chicks, which, by the way, typically aren't a good idea.But the live animal issue aside, this raises a question: which holidays really do merit the giving of gifts and how do we, as parents, know when we're going too far?

I am chagrined to admit that I was raised in a present-focused family. Easter Sunday, for example, was treated like Christmas: Part Deux. Which kinda makes sense from a biblical perspective, but doesn't, really, as far as gifts go. Every year, I got up on that spring Sunday to find an Easter basket overflowing with chocolate bunnies and Reese's peanut butter eggs, but also other stuff -- trinkets, dolls and tiny toys. Then on top of that there were wrapped gifts, which contained more books and toys and albums (remember those?), the sorts of items one typically expects to receive on a birthday or during the holidays.

And it didn't stop with Easter. My parents gave gifts on Valentine's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, even the last day of school. To them, it was an expression of generosity. I had a stay-at-home mom who lived for her children and giving gifts, to her, was just one way to bring joy to our lives. In fairness, I don't think receiving all that stuff warped me in any way. That scenario was certainly better than the alternative: having a parent who forgets birthdays or doesn't share any tokens of affection. But I do think those traditions may have spoiled me a bit. At the least, all those gifts definitely resulted in a house that was filled-to-bursting with unnecessary objects, things that, in the end, my brother and I didn't really need and my mom and dad didn't have to give us to remind us we were loved.

With a two-year-old son, I'm still semi-new at all of this parenting stuff. But I'm trying to take a more tempered approach to present-giving. My childhood experience compels me -- wrongly or rightly -- to feel like I have to do something special on holidays, which is why I found myself at a Hallmark store on Saturday throwing together a small-scale Easter basket at the last minute.

I kept it very simple -- I purchased three objects total -- but I know that as my child gets older, the temptation to inflate that Easter basket or Christmas stocking or, um, celebratory Fourth of July receptacle will only get greater. Still, I'm determined to find some kind of middle ground between the extreme parent-with-presents model and the cheapstake Mom role. But given the precedent my parents set -- not to mention corporate America's insistence that every holiday is a reason to spend hundreds of dollars -- that's something that will require serious dedication on my part.

What about you? Did you give Easter presents this year? And do you ever find yourself fighting the urge to overgift?

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Obama Girls Meet the Easter Waterhound

JeanneSager — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:14:00 GMT

Charlie Brown had the Easter Beagle. Sasha and Malia Obama have the Easter Waterhound.

The president's daughters met their new puppy this weekend, just in time to ring in the Easter holiday by hiding their chocolate from him!

The dog will come home to the White House on Tuesday, but he's already got a name - Bo, the same as the girls' cousins' cat, and in honor of Michelle Obama's dad, whose nickname was Diddley.

Michelle had promised the dog would come home in April earlier this year when she released the news that they'd settled on a Portuguese waterdog, a pup that won't stir up Malia's allergies to pet dander.

It's not technically an Easter present - after all, Dad made the announcement that a pet was promised back in November - but the timing means the girls will probably always remember this Easter. It's a holiday that is often associated with getting kids bunnies and chicks (something most animal welfare officials advise against, because the kids soon tire of their new friends and all the work they entail). Have you ever considered Easter a pet-giving holiday?

Image: NY Daily News

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Peeper Madness - Crazy For Peeps

Brett Singer — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

I thought I was into Peeps. I mean, I am. They're tasty. (Some would say sexy. I wouldn't. But some would.) They make great dioramas. And you can control your Wii with them.

But Aaron at Unlikely Words is REALLY into Peeps. So much so that he wrote "Marshmallow Peeps On the Internet - A Study," a collection of over 150 links to pages praising the perfection of the Peep. Actually, that sentence was mostly written for its alliterative properties; some of the sites Aaron links to don't much like Peeps at all.

Housekeeping note: It's Easter Sunday, which means that Peep time has ended. But not really. The day after Easter is when the Peeps go on sale. You can wait a few extra days to get them really cheap (no pun intended), but that's risking having no Peeps at all. So pick up a couple of packs for your kids. And ten or twelve for yourself. They are on sale, after all.

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Peeper Madness - Control Your Wii With Peeps (VIDEO)

Peeper Madness - Control Your Wii With Peeps

Brett Singer — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

In a very real way I don't want to think about how this is possible.

Do Peeps contain some substance that acts as a conductor for Bluetooth, the wireless technology in the Wii-motes? If so, could you use a Peep as a cellphone headset? Could a Peep replace your wireless mouse? And if you eat too many, could some nefarious ne'er do well control you? The mind boggles. Or perhaps I've just eaten too many Peeps.

Source: Gizmodo via Buzzfeed

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Peeper Madness – Nude Peeps

Peeper Madness - Peeps On The Pole

Peeper Madness - Supeep Court

Brett Singer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:30:00 GMT

This bit of Peeper Madness is inspired. The facial expressions (such as they are; Peeps are not known for their emotional range) are priceless. As the artist who created this image puts it, "The Supreme Court is a wonderful, serious institution of high-minded thinking. Therefore, what better way to memorialize their noble work but in peeps?"

See more Peep-a-rific pics here.

Source: Chicago Tribune via Buzzfeed

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Peeper Madness – Nude Peeps

Peeper Madness - Peeps On The Pole

Brett Singer — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Another piece of Peeper Madness for your enjoyment.

Let's call this one: a Peep show.

This time of year, I find this image more exciting than one of an actual strip club. Like I said, I need help.

More to come...

Source: somebody's tumblr via Buzzfeed

More Peeper Madness

Why Do Parents Cheat at the Easter Egg Hunt?

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:35:00 GMT

They're apparently one of the most foul creatures on earth - the parents who help their kids a little too much at the Easter egg hunt.

Excuse me while I cough this one into my hand - that was me, last weekend. I followed her around, hinting, "Honey, look to your right. No, your other right."

To be fair, it was FREEZING in upstate New York, and my daughter had spilled a bottle of Yoohoo all over my winter coat the day before. So while the other parents stood outside wearing down-filled parkas, I was wrapped in my decidedly spring weight poncho, my fingers jammed in my jeans pockets while I whined like the little kids to the mom who set the whole thing up. My daughter is also only three and a half - of all of the kids present at the birthday party, there were only two younger than her, including the birthday girl's little brother. I didn't pick any of the eggs up off the ground, nor did I drag her around the backyard. But you better believe I stepped in when she had five eggs and six more to go to get to her eleven (the number put out for each kid by the mom organizer) to offer up some big hints.

So I read this story in the Daily Item about overbearing Easter egg hunting parents with a little bit of self-loathing. Just a little - because to be honest, I was much too cold to do any heavy duty helicopter movements. Whirring around would have required removing my hands from my pockets.

But I have met this kind of parent, the one who not only instructs their kids as to where to find the eggs but picks them up FOR them, and will yank an oblong piece of plastic with a bunny tattoo inside out of the hands of a two-year-old. And celebrate their massive victory!

The Easter egg hunt brings out the competitive streak in normally docile parents, the type who instruct their kids on helping old biddies across the street. Suddenly, their kid needs to gather some three thousand eggs, and who cares if little Jimmy from down the street has a single one.

The best part of our weekend hunt at the birthday party was the eleven egg limit per kid. Letting them have a goal of a certain number makes it more challenging, and it ensures no kid is left behind. But I can tell you my kid wasn't going to get to eleven without a little help. So is it wrong that parents step in? Do you help your kids?

Image:SagerScenes

Peeper Madness – Nude Peeps

Brett Singer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:15:00 GMT

With Easter coming up this Sunday, I feel the need to do several posts about my personal favorite part of this holiday. Peeps.

First up – a Peep in his/her/its' birthday suit.

This image is of a Peep pre-sugary coating. To me it's both slightly disturbing and also somewhat beautiful. Look at the purity of the marshmallow... um, whatever that substance is. I actually find the pic oddly soothing. Not unlike eating a Peep. Or perhaps a whole box of them.

The really sad part is that I love Peeps more than my children. Wait, I mean more than my children love them. The Peeps. I didn't mean that I love Peeps more than I love my children. I don't think that's what I meant... Oh man, I need help.

Peeper Madness Image

Nude Peep: Chicago Tribune via Buzzfeed

Don't Let Your Kids Grocery Shop With Grandma

JeanneSager — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:24:00 GMT

Are there any four words in the English language worse than, "But Grandma lets me?"

In our case, it's technically Oma, but you get the point.

Because now, when you repeat the words "No, you may not have the plastic egg filled with candy that the oh-so-ingenius grocery store designers have placed at eye level," you will sound like the heavy. The meanie. The grinchiest grinch from grinchville.

Because Grandma - or Oma, or Granny, or Nana - bought them an egg LAST week on the trip to the grocery store, filled with little bunnies whose ears loop together like an Easter version of the barrell of monkeys you weren't allowed to have twenty years ago (but asked for, on more than one occasion).

So you try explaining, "No, you already have an egg."

"But I want anoooother one," they tell you (insert exagerated eye roll).

"You don't need one."

"But I want one. Please, please, pretty please." Which, you all know, works when you're informing them they cannot have another cookie until they say "please," so why won't it work this time?

I could relate the entire conversation, complete with the fit at the tail end, right near the cash register where the older women who work part-time during the day while the teen cashiers are in high school stand, clucking and whispering, "Oh, but she asked so nicely, and isn't she a doll?"

No, she didn't get an egg. I'm the grinchiest grinch from grinchville, and as soon as I get ahold of Oma, I'm cancelling all future visits to the grocery store.

Image: Slashfood

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Kitchenista: It's Chocolate Chip Cookie Week!

JeanneSager — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:07:00 GMT

When I was a kid, my tastes for chocolate chip cookies were almost sacriligious. I prefered them out of the box to fresh from the oven.

Boxed cookie were verboten in my house - making their soft, chocolatey goodness so much sweeter when I got my hands on a box. Because the boxed cookies, found at the end of the grocery aisle with the donuts and coffee cakes, were far and away THE best. No sleeves of Chips Ahoy for me.

Fortunately, I've learned the error of my ways. So my family can celebrate Chocolate Chip Cookie Week the way it was meant to be honored - muching on homemade goodies a la my old French friend Nes-lay Toulouse (yes, that's Nestle Tollhouse to you party poopers).

Because like Monica in one of my favorite Friends episodes, I have resigned myself to the fact that all my home tinkering can't improve on the original . . . with one exception. I leave the chips up to my daughter. She's allowed to pull anything I have in the closet out for CCC baking - the white chips, the caramel swirled chips, the half butterscotch, the semi-sweet, the dark, the milk chocolate - and they all go in one big batch.

Yes - it's my kid who has improved on the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It seems fitting - chocolate chip cookies are, after all, the ultimate kid treat. Is there any kid that WON'T eat them?

Are you ready to celebrate? Chocolate Chip Cookie Week is the second week of March, and courtesy of Nestle Tollhouse, here's their famous recipe:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chips - they call for Nestle Tollhouse, of course, but throw in EVERYTHING you've got
1 cup chopped nuts (with all the nut allergies, I leave these out)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for nine to eleven minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for two minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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When the Kids Are Your Valentines

Jen Chaney — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Remember when Valentine's Day was all about negligees and jewelry and candlelit dinners with the one you love? Well, not anymore. Apparently like Christmas, Easter, Halloween and, of course, Arbor Day, this holiday is all about the kids.

The Detroit Free Press recently ran this story announcing that Valentine's Day has been "reinvented as a day to celebrate the love of family." According to the article, all of us parental folk now spend the red-and-pink-colored occasion throwing "family love parties," baking Valentine's Day goodies, buying valentine-oriented gifts for the kids and enjoying meals of heart-shaped pancakes.

"There's a kid-centricity in our culture today," business professor Kit Yarrow tells the Free Press, adding, "It's a completely different holiday than it was for the parents of today's kids."

I'm not going to deny that Valentine's Day is focused on children. It's kind of hard to do that when I am currently faced with the prospect of writing valentines for every child in my two-year-old's daycare class. But I'm not sure I buy into the notion that this is a new phenomenon.

Maybe my childhood was unusual, but I remember my parents making a big deal about Valentine's Day, putting up decorations, giving us small gifts and baking cookies. It seemed to me the event was just as much about us as it was about the romance between our parents. Of course, my perception of all this could be understandably biased. But that's my recollection.

Besides, if Valentine's Day hadn't always been a child-centric thing, would the greeting card companies have been selling all those kiddie valentines for as long as they have? Would there have been a Charlie Brown Valentine special? Would Ralph Wiggum have been able to "choo- choo-choose" Lisa Simpsons in that classic Valentine's Day episode of "The Simpsons"?

Sure, there may be more Valentine's Day products available for kids these days than there were when we moms and dads were young, but I think that's just a fuction of companies doing what they always do: take advantage of the bump in commerce that holiday shopping inevitably brings. The same increase in commercialism has happened with Halloween and almost every other holiday you could name.

But maybe it's just me. Do you think Valentine's Day has radically transformed into a family-oriented affair? And will you be focused this Feb. 14 on your significant other, or the kids?

Image: Meta Dad

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Celebrate the Holiday - It's Bake Pizza Week

JeanneSager — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:26:00 GMT

Sometimes the "holidays" are just darn silly (kiss a pig day? really?) But who am I to pooh pooh a week dedicated to our kids' favorite food? Especially when I might get an extra slice of mushrooms and extra cheese out of the deal?

It is, after all, Great American Pizza Bake Week (kicked off yesterday by Pizza Pie Day).

Apparently, pizza is so popular (do you know a kid who doesn't like it? Really?), it's celebrated in October - which is Pizza Month and again the second week of January which is Pizza Week.

This week is by far the best on the parenting front, however, because instead of calling out for a pie, it's one week when you can show them how you get your hands (and your counters) dirty. It's bake your OWN pizza week.

Inspired of late by our own Keri Fisher's mouth-watering Kitchenista posts, I've taken a renewed interest in getting my daughter into the kitchen with me - and at three, she's the perfect age for helping. Pizza, in particular, is one of those foods that kids can be a real help in making.

If you want to go real simple, go the English muffin route - they can break them open at almost any age, they can spoon on jarred sauce, they can sprinkle them with cheese and cover them with toppings. If you're ambitious to make your own dough, measure out the ingredients, and let them pour them into the mixing bowl. When the dough has to be kneaded, let their little fists do some punching. And when it's rolled out and ready to go - once again, let them at the sauce (homemade, jarred or canned - it doesn't matter), the cheese and the toppings.

Nothing makes a kid like eating dinner like getting involved in the making.

Image: Steffens Dinners

Babble Talk: Fighting Around the Christmas Tree

Amy Kuras — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:31:00 GMT

Yes, they believe we can change the color of traffic lights by blowing on them, that we can make whatever they want to eat magically appear, and sometimes even fall for our explanations of why the sky is blue or why water is wet – but you can’t BS kids on the really important stuff.

And never does this become more apparent than when they’re sorting out family relationships. Let’s just say I’ve learned to be verrryyy careful when I complain to my husband about certain people.

That may have been what the little one who’s my pick for the Babble kid's quote of the day had in mind – although it was most likely adorable toddler mispronunciation:

"Mommy I love all the Christmas arguments," while looking at our ornaments!

At least someone does, kiddo.

Got a sweet little quote machine in your house (and really, who doesn’t)? Click on over to our “Kids Say The Cutest Things” feature and you might see us highlighting your kid’s brilliance in a post.

Toddler Injured in Xmas Tree Fight Between Mom and Grandma

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:15:00 GMT

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and put your irritation with your mother-in-law on hold—particularly when it’s Christmas Eve, your toddler is in the room, and you’re wielding a large Christmas tree like a weapon.

A 21-month-old is in the hospital after receiving a serious eye injury during a tussle between her mother and her grandmother over a four-foot-tall Christmas tree, over which they each claimed ownership. (It really is amazing how often Christmas becomes a time to completely obliterate the Christmas spirit.) The holiday did not begin auspiciously for the family, as they were celebrating in a motel after a fire forced them out of their home.

The mother, Sandra Price, is being held on charges of reckless conduct, and it is not yet clear whether or not her daughter will lose sight in her eye.

Photo: thetelegraph.com

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Three-Year-Old Captures Essence of Familial Relationships

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:06:00 GMT

This video was just the comedic relief I needed at the end of hectic holidays travels punctuated by highly concentrated family time. It's not brand new, but it's worth resuscitating.

You may think this three year-old is being inexcusably mean to his mom by telling her he only likes her when she gives him cookies, but as he keeps explaining his feelings about his mother, you realize he's just being refreshingly frank about the nature of family relationships.

Photo: simpsoncrazy.com

Babble Talk: Would Your Kids Notice If You Put Their Toys in Storage?

Jen Chaney — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:28:00 GMT

We may be in the midst of a recession, but Americans still know how to accumulate a whole lot of stuff. If you've spent the past couple of days staring goggle-eyed at the mountains of toys under and around your Christmas tree, you surely will relate to Kevin Keck's Babble essay, in which he bemoans the endless number of playthings his children have amassed.

Being a forward-thinking father, Kevin tried to attack the problem by conducting a little experiment. After his son's fifth birthday -- a day when people showed up bearing more gifts than the kid could possibly ever need -- Kevin packed up all the presents and put them in storage. He says his boy never missed them. So over the years Kevin continued to place many of the toys his children received into storage. Consequently, he now has a palace of unused (dare I say misfit?) toys, a tribute to the generosity and, let's be honest, consumer-crazed tendencies of his friends and relatives.

I applaud Kevin's actions. And the reason I applaud them is that I know I could never do the same thing. You see, I come from a long line of hoarders, people who hang onto objects they didn't need in the first place and certainly don't need now but nevertheless can't bear to give up. I am sure that if I stowed away some of my son's Christmas presents, he wouldn't notice. In fact, I could probably bury several of them in the deepest depths of our basement shelves and that little boy would continue living happily, without developing even the slightest emotional scar.

But I would feel mean, probably because of all of that hoarding DNA. So I can't bring myself to demonstrate Kevin's bravery. What can I say? I'm a weak, weak mother with an unnatural attachment to Legos and Fisher Price playsets.

As you watch your kids playing with their new PS3 games or leaving Barbie accessories strewn around the house, are you considering the storage experiment? And if so, do you think you could go through with it?

Image: Maarten Wouters/Getty for Babble.com

Why Doesn't Hallmark Care About Nanas?

Jen Chaney — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:28:00 GMT

Christmas is over. The eight days of Hanukkah are about to wind down. But there's still plenty of time to air some Festivus grievances. So here's one from me, which can be summarized thusly: "Hey, Hallmark. WTF?"

No, I'm not mad at the good people at Hallmark because I bought one of these $100 snowglobes that sometimes sets things on fire and had to be recalled. (God knows what it does if you actually dare to shake up one of these overpriced snowmen.) No, my issue has to do with the company's greeting cards.

Specifically, why the hell don't they make more cards for Nanas? They always have more than a few Grandma cards, at Christmas and on other occasions. I even found a decent Granny one for the holidays. But the one and only Nana card I located -- after visiting two Hallmark stores and a CVS that carries Hallmark cards -- appeared to have been written by an overly sentimental 45-year-old woman. Which just doesn't work when the Nana card is supposed to be for your mother, from her two-year-old grandson.

Now, it's not that Hallmark doesn't get specific enough with its cards. On the contrary, I spotted a Christmas card for "a son and daughter-in-law expecting their first child." And there's always my favorite extremely targeted card, the one that says "You're like a mother to me..." I have often considered getting one of those for my mom, if only to time how long it would take before her head exploded.

But back to the Nana situation. I have done no formal surveys on this subject, but I bet if I asked 10 people what their kids call their respective grandmothers, Nana would rank pretty high on the list, probably second to Grandma. So what's up, Hallmark? What, I ask you, is up??

And another thing: where were all the son Christmas cards this year? I saw a couple of cards for daughters that were appropriate for children under 10, but not one -- not a single one -- for a little boy. Were they all sold out? Am I rapidly going blind? Or did Hallmark take the "less is more" route that so many corporations are forced to adopt in this economic climate and not make as many cards this year as in years past?

If this keeps up, I may have to do the unthinkable: Make my own cards.

Image: Scarborough Town Center

Lost Dog Makes it Home For Christmas

JeanneSager — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:05:00 GMT

If you think a nineteen-hour holiday drive would be tough on a family's three-year-old, how about the family dog?

Nine hours into the trip home from the Freeman family Thanksgiving, Australian shepherd mix Bentley slipped his collar in a hotel parking lot and took off. The Freemans were ten hours from home, and couldn't find their pooch. But three-year-old son Jonathan wasn't worried. Turns out - he didn't need to be.

Bentley was picked up and taken to the Wichita Humane Society in Kansas, who scanned his microchip and called the Freemans in Texas on Sunday. Jonathan was right - his pup made it home for Christmas.

It's one of those awwwwww stories that fills even the grinchiest with holiday cheer. It's also made me start thinking more seriously about taking my menagerie to the vet to be microchipped. All rescues, my pets never came through a store or breeder who chipped them as kittens/pups. Nor did they come from shelters - which have slowly started to invest in the microchip technology (funding his short at most shelters, so it's still hit and miss).

It will mean an expense on my part, but watching my own three-year-old "share" her Christmas cookies with the dog and plop her new crown on the cat's head, I realize I'm not the only one around here who needs the four-legged part of the family around. So I guess we'll be making the investment soon - as much for the kid's sake as the animals'.

Image/Source: The Dallas Morning News

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New Risks Associated With Elective Deliveries

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:00:00 GMT

With induced labors up a whopping 125 percent since 1989, it’s clear that many preterm labors are not medically necessary. And this is particularly true around the holidays, when many parents schedule deliveries in time for a tax deduction or to fit in with a crazy travel schedule.

It’s understandable why parents have traditionally believed it safe to schedule a delivery anytime after the 34th week, since until recently obstetricians believed that everything except for the baby’s size was fully developed by then. But new research shows that those last weeks are more important than previously believed.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that “for each week a baby stayed in the womb between 32 and 39 weeks, there is a 23% decrease in problems such as respiratory distress, jaundice, seizures, temperature instability and brain hemorrhages.” Furthermore, it’s now clear that pinpointing the exact age of a fetus is very difficult; a fetus believed to be in the 34th week may only be in the 32nd.

Doctors must do their part to make sure parents know of the risks of an unnecessary preterm birth. The medical director of labor and delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital admits that it’s simply easier and less time-consuming to “cave” to parents’ request for an elective delivery than to inform them of the benefits of waiting for a full term birth. And according to the March for Dimes, some obstetricians fudge the requirements to qualify parents for a "medically necessary" preterm birth.

But with increasing research like the above study, some hospitals are now wisely requiring parents to sign a consent form before scheduling a delivery before the 39th week. F. Sessions Cole, the director of newborn medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital, urges parents to trust their babies. "The idea is that somehow, if you're in complete control of the delivery, then only good things will happen," Cole said. "But that's categorically wrong. The baby and the uterus know best."

Photo: mothering.com

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Is This Why We Escalate the Holidays?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Is some of the holiday excess we see a symptom of parents trying to recapture the thrill of introducing a special time to their youngest kids?

I ponder that in my biweekly column for the local paper this week:

"If you enjoy the winter holidays, as my family decidedly does, introducing them to a toddler is a blast. Our daughter wakes up each morning (and after each nap) asking "Is it a new day?" because she wants to snap another felt ornament on our advent calendar ("alendar calendar" to her). She hugs the Christmas tree. She wants to take walks to see her favorite moving lit-up reindeer contraptions in neighbors' yards. . . .

Right now it's so easy. She's full of wonder anyway; everything is new and exciting. . . . In fact, if we act excited about something, we have an 80 percent chance of her being excited too. I remember clearly how last year, when she was one and a half, getting to eat a cookie first thing in the morning and getting a gift of a container of raisins that was under her control, to be eaten at whatever pace she wanted, was enough to make a red-letter day.

This year, the simple little idea of shining our shoes on Christmas Eve is so exciting she can barely wait and keeps lobbying to do it earlier.

I think it was the shoes thing that made me realize: I am in grave danger of trying to recapture this thrill, this sense of being able to effortlessly offer my children wonder, every December. I know that no matter how much she might continue to like the holidays, it won't be like this again. But who wouldn't want it to be?

Suddenly I had a flash of compassion for the parents escalating their purchases each year or fighting to hold on to their kids' belief in Santa one more season. Even if you're not facing peer-instigated disappointment from older kids who didn't get the latest whatsit, who wouldn't feel the urge to keep reaching after the irreplaceable delight of a kid facing her first snow, first menorah, first stocking?"

Here's the rest. Does it ring true, or am I off base?

Photo by OctopusHat.

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Holiday Rich or Rehab: Whatever Happened to Margaret O'Brien?

Jen Chaney — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:33:00 GMT

In need of a good Christmas cry? Grab a box of tissues and watch this:

Of course, that's the famous scene from "Meet Me in St. Louis" that gave us one of the most enduring holiday tunes of all time, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." But that's only part of the reason that scene is so wrenching. A lot of its sadness emanates from the performance by the talented Margarent O'Brien, who plays young, trouble-making Tootie in the film and more than holds her own opposite Judy Garland and every other adult star in the picture. So whatever happened to O'Brien, one of the most famous and well-regarded child stars in cinema history?

First, a little background. In the 1940s, O'Brien was one of the best known young actors in Hollywood. She appeared in numerous films, from "Journey for Margaret" to "Jane Eyre" to "Tenth Avenue Angels" to "Little Women." But her work in "Meet Me in St. Louis" was undeniably her most outstanding, and it won her a juvenile Academy Award, back when the Oscars honored the performances of child stars.

But like many young actors, once she got older, the movie roles dried up. In the '50s and '60s, she turned her attention to television, guest starring on a wide variety of shows, including "Studio One," "Rawhide" and "Perry Mason." During the '70s, '80s and '90s, she acted on television only occasionally, reportedly worked the dinner theater circuit and, according to several Web sites, served as a civilian aide for Southern California to Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander.

O'Brien, a close friend of fellow child star Elizabeth Taylor, married twice and has one daughter. Next month, she turns 72. And apparently, she has made a small scale return to movies, recently appearing in two independent efforts: "Dead in Love" and "Frankenstein Rising." I think it's safe to say that neither of those will reach Turner Classic Movie status, but it's heartening to know that O'Brien is still working and making use of the talent that was so evident 64 years ago, when Garland urged her to "have a merry little Christmas now."

Image: Fest21.com

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Are Email Holiday Cards Tacky?

Brett Singer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

You know the drill. The holidays are coming and you need to get the family card ready. In my house, my wife takes the lead on this, mostly because I'm not inclined to do it. Some people are tremendously organized and take the whole process very seriously — photos taken by a professional no later than the 1st of November, cards printed by Thanksgiving, in the mail by December 1. Most people (our family included) use Shutterfly or another online photo service to get their cards made, which is a little boring but very easy.

Even easier, though, and certainly cheaper since there's no printing or postage, is the email card. I've received many from acquaintances and merchants, but I've only gotten a couple so far from family types. I'm not knocking anyone for doing it, especially if the reason is financial. At some point its fair to call The Annual Holiday Card a luxury item, even if it doesn't cost that much. I haven't priced them out so I don't know how much the cards will set you back. But they certainly aren't free, nor are the stamps. So if someone chooses to go this route, whatever the reason, that's your choice. (That's a disclaimer meant to make up for what I'm going to say next.)

Still, it's not the same, is it? The email card? Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I still like to get regular mail (when it isn't a bill, catalog, or junk), and I enjoy hanging the holiday cards I receive on my door for everyone to see. I suppose you could print out the email card, but that seems a little silly.

So what do you think? Are the email cards tacky? (The Obamas did one in 2006 [see image at right], but I imagine that was for general supporters, rather than family and close friends.) And have you gotten/sent one yet?

image: respublica

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Gramps Goes Christmas Crazy with 20,000 Santas

JeanneSager — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:58:00 GMT

Jean-Guy Laquerre really likes Christmas. No, we mean he REALLY likes Christmas.The grandfather from Boucherville, Canada has cornered the market on Santa spirit with more than twenty thousand of them.

The retired teacher has been named as the biggest collector of Santa Claus memorabilia on the entire planet, earning his place in the Guinness World Records for 2009.

It all started with a papier mache Santa, to this day his favorite in the collection. But Grandpa Jean-Guy has moved on to inflatable Santas for the outside, Kriss Kringle shower curtains and Father Christmas pie plates (check out the photo gallery of some of his favorites at the Mirror). There are stuffed Santas and Santa statues, Santas for the tree and Santas set up in front of the TV.

And somehow, his grandkids aren't embarrased by all this Father Christmas fervor. Perhaps the craziest (and sweetest) piece of this Christmas story is the response of Jean-Guy's sixteen-year-old grandson and nine-year-old granddaughter. They invite their friends over to check out Grandpa's collection!

Image: The Mirror

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