SEND HOLIDAY LOVE TO OUR TROOPS! - A Great Family Project for the Holidays

Being a former military wife, I know as hard as it was to be the family at home without your husband, or wife, dad or mom its even HARDER to be the one away. This holiday season, why not make it a family project to reach out to those troops who cannot be home in the warmth of their home and family love for the holidays. Send emails to the troops! As a family, have each person write what they want to say to the troops to thank them, to pray for them, to entertain them... anything that will show them our love and support this holiday season. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Community Relations, fosters public awareness and understanding of Department of Defense (DoD) missions; and sponsor this site, so you know it will get to our men and women in the military serving overseas. Below is a sample of an email sent... click here to read more emails that have been sent to those serving. It doesn't have to be that long, a minimum of 10 words is all they ask. 10 words/30 seconds, such a minimum investment of time with a huge ROI.

Dear Soldier; This letter comes to you from a nursing home in Rochester, Minnesota. At our facility, there are several veterans who have come together today to express their appreciation for your service and dedication, and to let you know that they truly understand what it means to be in your position. Most of our veterans served during WWII and the Korean war. Some did not see action, some were on the front lines. The men here want you to know how important it is to them that you have stepped up to defend the country they once defended. They are proud to be veterans, and although they fought in a different time, a different place and almost seemingly a different world, they understand what you do and why you do it. Veterans of Golden Living Center, Rochester, Minn.

For all my twitter friends, you can also post a twitter using the #HolidayLuv Hash tag. On Decmember 20th, I will gather all messages posted with the tag and send all of them to the troops. Lets show everyone that people in this "E-world" support them! We have the opportunity to show the world the power of people who link together to show LOVE and support; our troops will be amazed and they will know just how much support is out there for them! Click here to access the message template to send our troops HOLIDAY LOVE from all over the country (and world, for that matter). Agree with the war or not, it is that time of year when we should all promote Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward Men (and women!). Operation Phone Home is sponsored USO - an organization supporting our troops in ways you would never imagine! My personal favorite is sending the USO financial donations that go directly towards purchasing Phone Cards for the troops do be able to call home and hear their children and spouse's voices. Click the link and choose "specified donation" to choose which effort you want to support. Letters, packages, and emails are always great, but there is something special about HEARING your loved one's voices, the next best thing to being with them. From my perspective, a few minutes out of your day, will brighten many days for those who need to feel the strength that comes from KNOWING you are loved and supported.

TEEN Gifts - Be Creative, From Twilight to Surf Camp and Everything in Between!

A quick guide with recommendations on gifts for teen girls and boys that are creative, ranging from affordable to extravagant, and always fun!

Feeling frustrated roaming the malls looking for that something special for your teen? Finding it harder and harder to find that perfect "ta-dah" present? Shopping for teens can be crazy, they either want everything, or your teen has no answer to the cheerfully offered, "so, whats on your list to Santa this year?" "I dunnos" are followed by "whatever," only to be concluded with "clothes?" While I love the thrill of locating that perfect gift, the gift you know will totally make their morning, I also know when that "perfect" gift just isn't to be found, there is a lot of fun in being a little crazy and creative. Teen boys and girls who love the ocean will love this idea. If you can afford to get really wild and crazy and your teen tends to get bored in the summer, think "board" as in SURF BOARD or Surf Camp!

Creative use of those stockings hung by the chimmney with care, can be the perfect home for gift certificates to fun places:

Last year we stuffed stockings with gift certificates from Chipotle -- I haven't been to a Chipolte lately and haven't seen 50 teenagers lined up for chow, my boys loved that card. Baja Fresh, Dominoes, Panera and Red Robin have also been very popular with my kids (and their friends!) Not sure if there are any teen girls who haven't seen Twilight yet; for those who have seen the movie, I'm thinking the replica of Twilight's Roasalie's necklace would be a guaranteed hit! Twilight Posters and Twiglight T-shirts are also a pretty safe bet right now, with the younger teen girls especially. If there are kids out there that haven't seen Twilight yet, Movie Theater gift certificates are always appreciated teen boys and girls!

My thirteen year old daughter would flip for a Sephora Gift Certificate. My teen girl is also a great bargain bidder and I recently saw that you can purchase gift cards for EBAY! No arguments on bidding, she has her own purchasing power on Ebay with that gift card!

Teenage girls who love a day at the mall would love getting a few hours with a personal shopper helping them create that perfect look! Maybe your teen girl is more of a Project Runway type of girl, try a gift with a creative spin on it, like designing her own purse! The love affair between teenagers and music continues in the new millenium. What teen boys and teen girls don't have and Ipod anymore? I tunes gift cards are always welcomed in our house. Tickets to a concert with their favorite band. Skullcandy Earbuds are on sale for $9.99 at my always favorite Target! Aside from things, and certificates to get things, I think giving memories, or events, can be a fun option for that teen that has everything, or wants everything, or doesn't know what they want at all! Local College Sporting Events can be fun! Are you close to a local sports arena that hosts any of your city's professional sports teams? You would be suprised how easy it can be to write to the marketing department of a sports team and get an autographed picture of a player. Or get tickets to the big game! If your in a snowy part of the country, try giving a crazy ski hat and gloves with Ski Lift Tickets inside the hat for your local ski resort for a fun day in the snow! "Home made" gift certificates allow you to personalize a bit. Try giving your kid a day of paintballing with 2 friends on a paint splattered "gift certificate" hand made from mom and dad. Or, if you really like a showstopper, consider giving a Limo for the night. (One of my friends got that for her son, who promptly "saved" it for prom!). For teens in college - college themed gifts are fun - and useful. I'm getting my college boy some much needed new clothes, the gift box will be a "cool looking" laundry basket, on top will be two rolls of quarters, and right beside the basket will be a big thing of laundry soap. The gift card is going to be a laminated Laundry Instructions guide. The poor kid has zero white clothing left in his closet and drawers at school. For that matter, if the kid needs dorm supplies, all kinds of dorm living materials can always be found at Bed Bath and Beyond. Now that all college kids have their own laptops and/or computers at school - an office type trashcan filled with office supplies for their dorm room is helpful too - printer paper, ink cartridges, highlighters, stapler, clips etc, My favorite teen gift I'm giving this year is to my new college kid; a poster sized blow up of a picture of him with his tight group of buddies that have been friends since Junior High and still continue to be just like a big 'ole pack of bear cubs together. That picture, I think.... will be my "ta-dah" Christmas morning, that simple picture of friendship and laughter might just elicit a 7 year old's happy grin - on my 18 year old boy/man's face. A moms reward, a happy smile.

From my perspective, that is the joy of Christmas! Giving an ear to ear grin to someone you love with all your heart!

Macy's Believes in the Make A Wish Foundation

Give a child the gift of joy of a wish come true this holiday season. With a simple Letter to Santa from your child! Each year, thousands of children across the United States eagerly write their letters to Santa. This year, bring your child to the closest Macys, and let them mail their letter to Santa in the Macys' North Pole mailbox.

For each letter mailed from Macys, they will make a $1.00 donation to

The Make-A-Wish Foundation

Do you believe in Santa?

Macys does, and they believe in the

kindess of their customers!

Simply bring your letters, stamped and addressed to Santa at the North Pole, drop them in the official R.H. Macy Red Santa Letter Box at the Belive Station in any Macys during the holiday season.

In the iconic words of Francis P. Church, the journalist that responded to eight year old Virignia's letter in 1897,

"..Yes Virgina, their is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist..."

Now that is a gift all children in the world need to recieve: the message in our words and in our actions that clearly tells them that believing in love and generosity is most certainly worth their while. As they grow up and become young adults, they will continue to recieve the joy in this gift as they, in turn, reach out to others just as you showed them how when they were young.

Do you want to give more to Make-A-Wish? Simply click on this link to find out more ways you can help this organization make wishes come true. http://www.wish.org/help/macy_s_believe.

While visiting the site, download some letterhead for your kids to write to Santa and take a look at where we stand on the "Believe" meter of goodwill and generosity.

From my perspective, when you have an easy win-win opportunity, you should take advantage of it, especially when it involves helping a child's wish come true.

For a Macys Store Location near you: http://www1.macys.com/store/locator/index.ognctore/locator/index.ognc

*image from www.macys.com

Give Your Children the BEST Gift of the Season - The Gift They Shouldn't Live Without

Feeling the stress of pre-holiday gift giving? Always in the search of that "perfect gift." Problem solved! Give your children the gift of knowing the value in living a life being grateful. Make your child happy with this gift! The sooner our children, everyone for that matter, learn that the true secret to happiness is gratitude, the better off we all will be. Help your children find the Zone Being grateful for the many blessings in your life is the best way to keep yourself in the zone - that utopia of positive thinking, paying it forward, treating people with care, sharing your gifts and overall happiness. As parents, we all know our actions teach volumes more than our words. Children who grow up in an environment of grateful and positive people, tend to become another generation of gratefulness. Experience the benefits of living in the Zone People who are focused on and appreciate all they have been given do not have time for envy, jealousy, spitefulness and selfishness. It has been my experience that:

• Children growing up in this type of environment learn to celebrate their peer's victories and accomplishments versus envying them.
• Because they can appreciate their peers accomplishments, they allow themselves to be inspired by them, instead of being stifled or intimidated by them.
• Children grateful for what has been given to them, tend to take care of their gifts, because the appreciate them. This includes both their god given and material gifts.
• One could make the connection that children raised to appreciate their god-given talents are less likely to abuse their mind or body housing those talents.
• These children have a better sense of the value each individual offers the world and therefore they are better able to see the positive attributes of the people around them.

Don't stress over the holidays and perfect gifts, you are only instilling this sense of stress in your family at a time when should be for exhibiting gratefulness in all that you have, all that you have created, all that has been given to you, and all that is yet to come. In all things given there is a lesson to be learned. Those who learn it, tend to receive their gifts to the fullest extent. What am I #absolutely grateful for?

1. My family.
2. Our health.
3. Our gifts that enable us to provide for our family.
4. Our ability to give some of what has been given to us.
5. My husband, partner, friend and lover.
6. My daughter when she sings out loud with out knowing it and her passion and zest for life.
7. My one son's ability to acknowledge the team effort behind his many incredible athletic accomplishments and his determination to get what he wants during the difficult transition between high school and college.
8. My other son's confident sense in who he is which allows him to defend those his peers would ignore, his sense of justice, his willingness to go against the grain when he feels it is just, and to wear what he wants to wear, not what is expected to wear.
9. The incredible generous spirit in my new found world of Twitter and all that accompanies it.
10. My belief in a higher power which enables all of the above.

Happy Thanksgiving, tell someone how grateful you are they are a part of your life. Better yet, show them!

Necessary Gear for Road Trip Part II

Having boldy dashed off my list of things to pack to for a road trip with kids, I find myself corrected, in a big way. My husband's smart packing is what really made our trip with 3 teenagers and 120 lb lab in the Honda Odyssey do-able. If you made note of my first list, please do add the following items to that list: especially if you have teenagers.

1. Splitter for the earpohnes on the laptop.
2. Earphones, extra earpohnes and back up earpphones!
3. Freshly synced I-touch or phone, with latest and greatest podcasts; This Week in Tech, Buzz Outloud, Security Now, etc.,
4. Iphone with GPS - gotta love that.
5. One Pillow and blanket for each kid (teenagers don't really like to share)
6. DVDs for watching on laptops.
7. Chargers for phones and laptops.
8. Flashlight ap for ipod for the "reader" in the van
9. Card for mom's laptop so she can get internet on the road.
10. Book for Mom to read when Dad finally loses it and begins his highway attack mode driving

Caution: not wise to bring freshly baked pies in the car with the dog, or if you do, bake double. Caution: when the dog suddenly starts to bark in the car, he realy needs to go, he isn't joking.

Footnotes:

• Plastc bags to pick up what the dog does
• Patience, lots of patience

We survived, it only took 5.5 hours to do a trip that normall takes 4 hrs. tops, on "Exodus Wednesday" from the DC Metro to New Jersey, just outside the city.

What am I thankful for? Arriving! And much, much more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kids Halloween Party Ideas - Have a "Howling" Good Time!

For kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, a good 'ole fashioned, fun back yard, costume party can be a howl!

Invite Ideas: Basic Black Invites: Black Construction Paper & Chalk Cut Paper into Tombstone, Bats, and witches hat shapes Use chalk to write party details. Haunted House Invites: Black Construction Paper Scissors Purple, Orange and Green Tissue Paper. Draw a simple outline of an old, rickety house. Use scissors (or with parental help) exacto knife with cutting board underneath; 3 sides of a door, and windows. Or cut out "shutters of windows" Tape different colors of tissue paper to back of house over the windows and doors - write invite info on the inside of the flaps of doors and windows. Games / Activity Suggestions: Mummy Wrapping: Materials - TP Split kids into teams of 3 or 4 people. 1 Person is the "Mummy" the others are the wrappers. All you need is cheap TP (toilet paper). First team to completely cover their mummy wins! Face Painting: Materials - Poster Paints or Water Colors. New, fine paint brushes. Spider Search: Materials - Kite String, dollar store plastic spiders and prizes of your choice. Cut long lengths of string - 1 for each guest. Paint the tips of the string, 1 color per guest. Paint matching color dot on each of the spiders. Create a tangled web among trees or bushes. Each kid is assigned a color. Have them start at the colored tip, have them try to follow the web until they reach their matching colored spider. Paint a Pumpkin: Materials - small or medium sized pumpkins, tempra paints, paint brushes. Just as fun as carving, but much safer. Do this in the beginning of the party, so they have time to dry! Witches Broom Limbo: to funny "scary" music mix String Candy Necklaces: Soft candy (jelly type work well too), colored marshmallows, cheerios, elastic, embroidery needles, masking tape. Tape one end of the elastic with the tape to prevent any candy from coming off, have kids carefully string candy, tie off when complete. Bubble Blowing Contest: Ghoulish green colored gum - two or three pieces per kid (if they can handle it). Biggest bubble wins! Mummy Bandage Race: Materials - Old Sheets, scissors, red paint. Cut longish "bandages," splatter some red paint prior to party. Traditional 3 legged race, use the "bloody bandages" to tie ankles. Scariest Movie Trivia Contest: For the parents that may hang out to help or enjoy.... (My examples will date me!) Who had a bucket of pigs blood poured on them? Carrie What movie made the steps by Georgetown University Famous? The Exorcist Name of boy behind the hockey mask? Jason in Halloween Have a howl, enjoy the season, make the "scary" so exaggerated, its funny not frightening! Know the kids you are having, and whether or not certain treats will work. Don't feel the need to overload on the candy - there will be more than enough opportunities throughout the week of the holiday in most schools and neighborhoods. Suggested Menu: Bowls of Guts (Macaroni and Cheese) Scary Sandwiches White Bread cut in shape of "ghosts" PBJ filling 2 Raisins for eyes Cut-off Fingers (Hot dogs cut in 1/2 with Ketchup) Eyeballs (Deviled Eggs - use blue food coloring for yolk filling) or Peeled Grapes Ghouls Grub (Your favorite Trail Mix with Gummy worms thrown in) Frankenmellows Marshmallows on popscicle sticks. Melted Choc Chips to dip one side of marshmallow for hair. Skinny Pretzle sticks broken smaller - "bolt ears" on each side of Marsmellow. Green food coloring paste (a little) goes a long way, for Frank's face. Small Candies for his eyes. Black edible decorating pen - dots for eyes and crooked mouth. Goblin's Teeth Green Apples, Peanut Butter and mini marshmallows Slice Apple into 8ths (keeping skin). Spread peanut butter on one side of each apple slice place small marsmallows between two pieces of apple and peanut butter - looks like a Goblin Smiling at you! Graveyard Cake Any Flavored Cake Green Icing with Green food colored Coconut mixed in (grass) Milano Cookies Chocolate or Black Fine Icing tubes "RIP" on Milano, push into cake to create tombstones. Gummie worms and other "buggy" candy to decorate around he cake. Apple Cider / Apple Juice