I am so excited! Tomorrow my daughter will be coming home from college for 3 weeks of Christmas vacation!
Christmas holidays gives many natural opportunities to spend time together with our children. My younger daughter and I went Christmas shopping for her friends today. We wrapped Christmas presents together with Christmas music in the background. Decorating [...]
How do you help your children budget for Christmas gifts for their friends?
What do you do when your children want to buy an expensive gift for a friend they don’t know that well?
Is it ok to say, “You can’t spend that much on someone you don’t know that well.”? Does it sound like I’m teaching [...]
Can you imagine not being busy for the holidays? It’s almost sacrilegious.
But this year, I am determined to take it easy.
1. Easy gifts. I am giving everyone Kiva gift cards. It’s good for me and good for the world.
2. Easy decorations. Hang up strands of of lights, everywhere, indoor and out. Lights always give [...]
In Southern California, we are really feeling “winter” fast approaching…with high of 83 degrees today.
For the rest of those in the Northern Hemisphere, here is an inexpensive cool item to get for the holidays.
Set up and clean up is easy.
This makes a great family night for the holidays. Make a crockpot of chili, [...]
My recent participating in Blog Action Day made me realize that if we all do a little, we can accomplish a lot.
Poverty can be an overwhelming issue, but if we each do a little, we can indeed make a difference. One way to do so is to participate with The League.
And it’s a great way [...]
Beginning of November marks for me the beginning of the holiday season!
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Food? Shopping? Stress?
Celebrating the holidays is not merely for the food and fun even though we certainly look forward to those. Holidays are also an effective way to [...]
The holiday season is coming up fast - that gift-giving season of Christmas.
Are the images of throngs of shoppers at the mall stressing you out already?
What if I told you there is a meaningful gift you can give, without fighting crowds at the mall?
What if I told you that this gift teaches values, is not [...]
Kids don’t know anything about the economy nor do they care. They could care less about unemployment, recession, or foreclosures.
But kids should be very concern about the economy. Do they know that it has a great impact on their personal lives? Their family vacation, their college fund, the amount of Christmas gifts they get, and [...]
Would you like to give gifts that you don’t have to wrap? In fact, it doesn’t even cost you any money and it’s very meaningful! What can be better than that?
Here they are:
1. Give a compliment. The cashier has been on her feet all day, and everyone in the long line is probably mad [...]
Are you getting overwhelmed by the busyness of the holidays? Take it easy on yourself and keep things simple yet meaningful. Cindy Leung, a mother of 2, shares a few simple ideas for creating great memories for your family.
My family was not financially well off when I was growing up. At Christmas we did not receive any presents from my parents. After all, they reasoned, they give us room and board, isn’t that enough? Can’t argue with that.
I brought along a similar frugal mentality when we had children. Since as a young couple [...]
Do you feel pressure to be a creative homemaker?
Imagine this… your children’s rooms are painted all cute. The dishes are coordinated with cups and napkins. The furniture is arranged like a home magazine photo, with accent pillows, soft lighting…I am getting so tired just thinking about everything that I cannot do!
I am not a perfect [...]
Everyone I talk to is stressed about the Christmas holidays. There’s the shopping, vacation planning, entertaining out-of-town guests, baking, decorating the house, and on it goes.
I actually enjoy being busy at Christmas. All the activity is what adds excitement to the season! I think we purposely put that extra work on ourselves. Don’t [...]
Ask any child to tell you the best thing about Christmas, and what do you think he will say?
“Presents!”
While we want to teach our children that Christmas is not all about getting presents, perhaps we’ve inadvertently conditioned our children to think that it is about the presents! That pile of wrapped boxes under the Christmas [...]
