I’m a Mom for the Holidays anthology contributor, so I’m published now. Actually. Like in a real book! You know, with paper pages and everything, not just online? And I was on my first podcast with the book publisher, Lisa Nolan, as well on Lose the Cape. The full title of the book is actually: Mom for the Holidays: Stories of Love, Laughter & Tantrums at Christmas & Hanukkah. There are 39 contributing authors. Lisa Nolan and Rachel Demas edited the anthology. My first book review was on the What is a Mother to Do blog.
I made a book trailer also, and here it is. It is about a minute long, and highlights a few of the stories in the book. This book should make you feel great if your holidays are less than Norman Rockwell perfect, which couldn’t be true, but just in case that happens to some people. Many of the stories are humorous, most are heartwarming, and a few share the Christmas Blues.
My Christmas Story
My story is based on the year we lived in the Netherlands and experienced the way a small Dutch village celebrated, which I wrote about at this blog post. I included some teaching resources in that post also. I was a fish out of water!
Read about the baby who learned to crawl in time for Christmas but could only go backwards, what a Jewish mom thinks of kid pictures with Santa, and when Santa devastated one mom — but could not break her spirit. What is nice is you can take a few minutes break and read a chapter or two, and then get back to cleaning, baking, and wrapping without feeling guilty you read an entire book. Unless you do!
Where can you get this book? On Amazon. Here is a link to my Amazon (non-affiliate) author page with the book. And you can find me on Goodreads, too.
Lisa has included a hilarious set of tips to get you through the busy holiday season. There is a planner and also a budget record keeper (if you like budgeting so maybe not).
The bubbling snowman is easy to set up. Begin with a cookie tray and arrange different size lids to create a flat snowman. We drew a face on one lid using a sharpie marker. Be sure the lids are upside down so they can be filled with baking soda.
Mixing colors in the kitchen with a few common ingredients provides an engaging activity for children. This is one they are sure to want to do over and over as it will be different each time.
This post is about how to grow garlic to spice bread at home. Have you noticed garlic scapes on any menus? Garlic scapes are the leaves that grow from a garlic bulb. Do you happen to have some garlic in the pantry?
Free PDF. There are 3 pages of directions: one for a microwave oven, one for using a solar oven, and one for the microwave approach. Children can read the directions and prepare the S’mores for the family. Sneak in some summer reading!
Gummy candy, anyone? We used a candy making kit found online and I purchased my own materials. So the most interesting thing we learned was that seaweed in its dried and powdered forms can make gelatin for making gummies.
Did you know things like ketchup, salt, vinegar, and lemon juice will clean and brighten pennies? If your pennies are all bright and shiny, you can keep them in water overnight to allow them to darken for this experiment. Warning, children might like to do this over and over!
