Tips for Coping with Politics on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be stressful all by itself. Things can get even worse when a presidential election happens a few weeks before Thanksgiving day. Some of your relatives might want to talk about politics. Here are some tips for coping with political discussions on Thanksgiving. Make a conscious effort not to talk about the election at Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t ask your relatives who they voted for. Stay away from topics that were especially controversial during the election. Thanksgiving dinner is not the time to wear a political t-shirt, button, or hat that came from the campaign of the candidate you voted … Continue reading

Tips for First Time Hosts of Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is celebrated with family. It always includes a big dinner with tons of food. This can be overwhelming for first time hosts of Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t panic! Try these tips to help calm your nerves and make your first hosting a successful one. There are two things that can make a person who is hosting Thanksgiving dinner nervous. One is that the guests are going to expect specific foods that are made exactly the way that mom or grandma used to make. Their big expectations can be hard to live up to. The other difficulty, of course, is that … Continue reading

Have Fun Toasting Mom

“All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” Those wise words are courtesy of the late, great Abraham Lincoln.  The 16th President of the United States knew a thing or two about waxing poetic, especially when it involved his dearly beloved mother. Lincoln’s mom Nancy died when Abe was just nine years old. Whether your mom is with you physically or in spirit tomorrow is the day set aside to celebrate the blood, sweat and tears she has shed to make you the person you are. Make it a Mother’s Day to remember by … Continue reading

Spice Up Thanksgiving Layouts

Depending on the size and scope of your Thanksgiving Day festivities you could opt to create an entire scrapbook documenting the occasion or simply dedicate a few pages in a holiday-themed memory album. Many beginner scrapbookers select the latter because they don’t know how to fill the space. However, you don’t have to shoot hundreds of photos or go broke purchasing stacks of expensive embellishments to get rid of white space on your layouts. An affordable way to spice up your Thanksgiving layouts is to pepper them with poems that sum up the tone of the holiday. Fortunately, you can … Continue reading

Thanksgiving for One

Cooking for one is a challenge any day, cooking for one on Thanksgiving is even harder. I just found out that Logan will be at his dad’s for Thanksgiving this year and now I’m stuck debating whether or not to make a Thanksgiving dinner or not. Cooking a traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie seems like a bit overkill for one person. I’m afraid we’d be eating left overs for the next year. Instead, I think we will have Thanksgiving dinner the night before. Perhaps the portions won’t change much by adding a 4 year old to the mix, … Continue reading

Capturing the Spirit of Thanksgiving

This is peak season for scrapbooking. Once Halloween hits and we roll into Thanksgiving and Christmas, avid scrappers shift into marathon mode. With so many special occasions at hand, it’s often hard to keep everything straight. There are photos to take, edit and file; embellishments to buy or make; and journaling to write and proof. With Thanksgiving just a week away, now is the time to focus on the first step in creating a memorable scrapbook—-documenting. In order to fully capture the spirit of the holiday, it’s important to snap pictures that tell the story of your celebrations, and then … Continue reading

Can You Afford a Traditional Thanksgiving Meal?

Last night, our local food bank issued a public plea to area businesses and families who have the ability to help the community’s less fortunate. The non-profit needs monetary and/or food donations immediately or hundreds of needy individuals won’t be able to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year. With the economy in the dumpster and millions of moms and dads out of work, it’s no surprise that a record number of parents are being forced to swallow their collective pride and turn to community food banks for assistance. And it’s not just the unemployed who are struggling to prepare … Continue reading

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – July 1 – 7, 2012

Once a week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a brief summary of each of the blogs that appeared here in the past seven days. This is a fast way to find out about the blogs that you might have missed when they were first posted. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on July 2, 2012. This week, I’d like to point out an episode of The Coffee Klatch podcast. The episode is called “The Best of the Coffee Klatch – Sensory Processing Disorder”. The episode features Dr. Lucy Miller, author of “Sensational Kids: Hope and … Continue reading

Happy Father’s Day Mom

Today was Father’s Day. I spent the day having a BBQ with some friends, none of our children were in attendance. We are single mothers, this is not our day. Yet for many of us, it still is. Getting your child for a day or two a month is not what it takes to be a father. Sending a child support check but not coming to their choir performance, is not what makes a father. Just like being a mother, being a father is made up of a million little things, most that we do without thinking. My daughter has … Continue reading

Thanks Mom

In honor of Mother’s Day, I would like to acknowledge the valuable that many mothers play in ensuring that knowledge of their family history is passed from generation to generation. From the moment that their children are born, it seems, mothers are involved in helping children become aware of and get to know their family connections. I know that my mom has, and I feel that while there is always more to learn I do know a great deal about who her family was and where they came from. When I was a child, my mother took me to visit … Continue reading