Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Polly (12), Tigger (9), Sweet Pea (6), Miss Lili (3), and iBoy (0, or 7 months)!

I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break for the next week or so.
See you in 2014 - with some exciting new to us things and news to share.

19+ Christmas Playlist Substitutions

The content in this post is now available at Living Unabridged.

One Way to Keep a Preschooler Busy During the Holidays

So, it's the holidays. You have roughly 50,000 things to do. The 3 year old has already watched a video this morning. She is tired of playing by herself while the big girls do school. The baby needs to nap.

What to do?

Break out the old-school tech, of course.

The first step is: be sure you own a record player. (I'm partial to my Crosley, but any turntable will do as long as it's in working order.)

The second step: find a read-along record. Maybe you have one from your childhood. I found this Little Critter's Christmas record at a thrift store for a quarter.

Final step: save it for Christmas time. Only break it out when you need it. Show her how to follow along in the book, play the record, and use your next minutes wisely. You'll have to come back and switch from Side A to Side B but that's a small price to pay for a relatively still 3 year old.

She may want to listen again. You can reluctantly agree. Try to hide your glee, lest she catch on.

Play it, again, Mom.

Top 10 Worst Christmas Songs

A timely repost from the Candid Diversions archives (December 2011):
There is a common, but unfounded rumor going around that I am addicted to Christmas music. You may have heard this from my {occasionally} grinch-like husband. (Sample dialog: "And they'll sing and they'll sing and they'll sing...")

Just to prove that I do not love Christmas music indiscriminately (because, I think I love wisely and well) here is a list of Ten Songs That The Christmas Radio Station Should NEVER Play Ever Again Because Some Other Songs Are SO MUCH BETTER:

10. Grown Up Christmas List. I don't care if Amy Grant sings it, Vanessa Williams or (even worse!) Michael Buble. Cut. It. Out. The Santa Claus thing is creepy enough ("He sees you when you're sleeping" anyone?) without having a fully grown adult asking Santa for something.

9. Christmas Through Your Eyes. I am not a Gloria Estefan fan. Full stop.

8. All I Want for Christmas is You. Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Michael Buble (again!), LeAnn Rimes...please remove all versions of this obnoxious song from your Christmas playlists. There are better things to listen to. Like the Emergency Broadcast System tests.

7. Wonderful Christmas Time. I usually love Sir Paul but this song is annoying. It's like part of a cool song but he couldn't think of the rest. And it's annoyingly catchy (witness my children, after hearing it once or twice being repeating "Simply having a wonderful Christmas time," which is essentially the entire song anyway, for the rest of the day).

6.Christmas Time Is Here. One of the most depressing songs of the season, no matter who covers it. And while we're at it, please permit me to remind our local radio station that the Charlie Brown theme song is NOT a Christmas Song at all.

5. Anything by Kenny G. guarantees we will be changing the station immediately. If, in your misspent youth you happened to see Norm MacDonald express his opinion on Kenny G's Christmas music, let me just say I agree completely with Norm. If you don't know what I'm talking about, never mind.

4. Likewise: anything by Johnny Mathis. I particularly dislike when the radio plays his version of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." Why would you play that when you could play Bing Crosby's version? Or Alvin and the Chipmunks? Yes, even the sped-up, squeaky voices of imaginary woodland creatures is better than Johnny Mathis.

3. Same Old Lang Syne. NOT a Christmas song. This is a depressing song about meeting a former flame ("at the grocery store"), going out together, drinking, and then saying goodbye. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-LA!

2. Christmas Shoes. Depressing. Manipulative. Nonsensical. (Spoiler alert: What was that kid doing in a store by himself anyway? If his mother was so close to dying shouldn't he be by her side?) Truly one of the worst Christmas songs to be released in recent memory. (If you're really looking for an amazing Newsong offering that will give you goosebumps, listen to "Arise My Love" right around Easter.)

And, the worst "Christmas song" (I use quotation marks advisedly here), in my humble opinion:
1. Last Christmas. First off, George Michael is a truly disgusting person. Second of all, this song is whiny, ridiculous, not really about Christmas anyway, and a complete waste of space on the radio. And yet it feels like I hear it every time I walk into any department store to do some shopping. Please, please stop playing this. I'd even take Johnny Mathis over this. It's just that bad.

So, what would make your list?
This post is linked to Top 10 Tuesday at Oh Amanda.
The images in this post are Amazon Affiliate links for demonstration purposes only. I wouldn't want you to actually listen to these songs. Save your ears!

We Wish You...

Source: jotslifestyle.nl via Me on Pinterest

My family wishes yours the sweetest, most peaceful, and merriest Christmas in the world.

Previous Christmas posts here and here.

Some Quick Gift Ideas

Did you know that Amazon has many Melissa And Doug Toys half off today only? That means things like:

Or


My girls have both of those sets and love them.

Our little folks (specifically Sweet Pea & Fen) really like these puzzles with the magnets:


I know some girls who would love this:

There are some other great deals too but I'm not going to show them because we bought some of them as gifts today.{shh!}

Another great deal:
My daughter is selling the game she created - Tiger Stripes - for 20% off right now. Which means you can buy the kids in your life a really cute game for $11.99 plus shipping. Her autograph is included free of charge.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Action taken with these links could result in compensation for me. Opinions are my own. I do not, alas, receive any financial compensation from my daughter. It's her game and her money.

Dear America

source

You're beautiful. (I know this because I've seen you from sea to shining sea.)

I love you. (One reason I know this: because even with all your faults, my heart beats faster when I see our flag waving in the air.)

Happy Birthday. (One thing I know I should say today: thank you to God, our military, and our founders for an 235 amazing years.)

It's That Time Again!

From all of us, to all of you:

Merry Christmas!

The 12 Days of Christmas...Among Other Things

Favorite Reads - Christmas Storybooks

1. A Christmas Alphabet. Illustrated by twenty-seven vintage illustrations. We especially love the Jessie Wilcox Smith art. Ours is a well-loved discarded library copy. I originally bought it thinking I might use some of the pages to frame as art for the girls' room but they wouldn't let me take it apart!

2. The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot.Once again, ours is a former library copy but the paperback copies of this are quite affordable. The girls love this story and ask for it often. So sweet and the illustrations are so rich it almost makes me want a cat. Almost.

3. Peter Spier's Christmas! We just discovered this one this year at the library. Wordless, with amazingly detailed pictures that invite you to create your own story.

4. The Church Mice at Christmas by Graham Oakley. A bit long for a picture book but very enjoyable story and more amazingly detailed pictures make it worth the effort. These books are hard to find but it's well worth checking your library.

5. Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins. This is a Russian folk tale that Polly read for history last year. Includes music at the back, just in case you're inclined to sing the tale. Another version of the story that we found at our library: Babushka by Charles Mikolaycak. The girls prefer these illustrations to the stylized ones in the Robbins version.

Last, but definitely not least, our favorite:

6. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. By Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P.J. Lynch. This picture is different from ours but I hope it's the same other than that. This book is so beautiful. The story just about makes me cry and I very rarely feel that way about a book! The art is deep and rich. Lovely!

This post contains Amazon Associate links. Any action taken with these links could result in compensation for me. Opinions are my own and I encourage you to check your library or Paperback Swap first - these books are worth it! 

Favorite Reads - Christmas Treasuries

1. The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury Selected by Alice Low. We bought our copy of this at a library sale when Polly was young. Contains such favorite stories as Ramona and the Three Wise Persons by Beverly Cleary, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Uncle Wiggily's Christmas and Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Lots of poems too, including our favorite Trouble With Pies by David McCord. The girls enjoy the childishly fun pictures (this is illustrated by Marc Brown who also does the Arthur books).

2. The Anne of Green Gables Christmas Treasury by Carolyn Strom Collins & Christina Wyss Eriksson. Beautifully illustrated and just as fun as the first Anne of Green Gables Treasury. Designed for older children with ideas for decorations, gifts, games and a dinner (including a recipe for Mrs. Lynde's Plum Pudding!).

3. A Child's Christmas Treasury. Compiled by Mark Daniel. Beautiful art work alongside poems, songs, and selections from classic stories.

Not a treasury but I'll mention it here anyway:

4. A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. I love the illustrations in this version, both full color and black and white. A bit long to read at one sitting, but enjoyable nonetheless.

This post contains Amazon Associate links. Any action taken with these links could result in compensation for me. Opinions are my own and I encourage you to check your library or paperback swap first - these books are worth it!