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1822 The poem, “Night Before Christmas” was originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. This poem is where we get the names of all 8 of Santa’s reindeer.
1843 Charles Dickens’, “ A Christmas Carol”, is published.
1857 The song “Jingle Bells” is written for Thanksgiving.
1863 Thomas Nast, political cartoonist, changed Santa’s coat from brown to red (Nast also created the elephant as a representative of the Republican Party and the donkey for the Democrat Party).
1870 President Grant declares Christmas a National holiday.
1881 First time Santa is depicted as living at the North Pole.
1882 Tchaikovsky’s, The Nutcracker, is a flop.
1890 Macy’s hired the first Santa Claus for the Christmas shopping season.
1890 Salvation Army began bell ringing.
1903 GE sold the first electric lights for Christmas trees.
1904 First annual Time Square New Year’s Eve celebration (first New Year’s Eve ball drop was in 1907).
1916 Lincoln Logs invented by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John.
1924 First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
1931 First Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
1931 Santa Claus is transformed from an elf to a round jolly man in a Cola-Cola ad appearing in the Saturday Evening Post
1934 Miracle on 34th Street wins 3 Academy Awards.
1942 Irvin Berlin writes the song White Christmas for the movie Holiday Inn (White Christmas the movie was made in 1954).
1947 Gene Autry wrote and recorded “Here Comes Santa Claus”.
1949 Gene Autry recorded “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.
1962 US Postal service sold first Christmas stamp.
1966 First showing of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.
1966 First showing of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
There’s always so much hustle and bustle the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s exhilarating getting ready for the holidays but also a bit stressful (major understatement, right?). There’s something very peaceful about the week following December 25th. All the chaos of the holidays is over and the kids are happily playing with their new toys. It’s a great week for planning a post Christmas playdate for your kids and a few of their friends. Your children will be able to show off their loot from Santa and enjoy seeing their friends over the break.
Here are a few simple ideas for a post-Christmas playdate:
Play board games: have everyone bring a new board game they received for Christmas or their favorite classic game.
Make snowflakes: get construction paper in various shades of white and blue, cut out snowflakes, and then decorate with glitter. (Here’s a link with step-by-step instructions for creating some pretty cool paper snowflakes)
Watch a movie: pick a winter or holiday classic, pop some popcorn and let the kids enjoy the show.
Meetup at a museum or story hour: use this week off to visit a local children’s museum or enjoy a story hour at a local children’s bookstore.
Cupcake decorating: Bake some delicious cupcakes and let the kids decorate them with a winter theme. Ideas for decorations: marshmallows, edible glitter in silver, white, and blue, icing, and edible pearls.
Build a fort: weathering permitting challenge the kids to build a fort outside using materials from the great outdoors. If it's too cold, let them build one using items from the great indoors.
Team SeeSaw wishes you a very happy holiday season!
Are you looking for a new menorah this Hanukkah? Do you simply want a fun way to get your kids involved while learning about this holiday tradition? To make it easier during the busy holiday season, we have put together a list of our 8 favorite menorahs, one for each night of Hanukkah.
Skyline Menorah. Is it time to update your traditional menorah? This skyline menorah is a modern twist on the classical favorite. In the words of designer Jonathan Adler, it provides 8 days of light, 365 days of gorgeousness.
Lego Menorah. Because who doesn’t love Legos!?
Felt Menorah. This adorable menorah features fire made out of felt, so even the youngest children can participate without burning themselves.
Pool Noodle Menorah. Another safe option for the kids in the house, this pool noodle menorah also features felt candles. “Whooshing” sound optional when “lighting” each candle.
Altoids tin Menorah. For those traveling during Hanukkah, this mint-orah from Bible Belt Balabusta is the perfect size to fit in any bag or pocket. Or if you’re just simply looking for a way to send a menorah as a present, this is the perfect size to fit in the mail.
Kid-friendly Menorah. For some family entertainment, get all the kids involved by letting them make their own flame headpieces from construction paper to become a live menorah. Afterwards, they’ll dazzle the whole family with their telling of the story of the menorah.
Manzanita Branch Menorah. This manzanita branch menorah from Martha Stewart is modern enough to sit on your table long after Hanukkah ends.
Dancing Rabbi Menorah. Sometimes even a rabbi needs to relax and have a dance party. Add some comedy to this Hanukkah tradition with a dancing rabbi menorah from uncommongoods. It will leave the whole family laughing for all 8 days.
Name: Oregon Trail (iPhone or Android)
Cost: $4.99; a free version is available, but we highly recommend the paid version
Highlight: Your favorite pioneer adventure game from grade school is now an app. Oregon Trail has all of the decision-making and problem-solving fun of the original game, plus additional features to take the experience even further than before.
Name: Minecraft Pocket Edition (iPhone or Android)
Cost: $6.99
Highlight: Minecraft to go! They can play it for hours at home and for hours in the car. Pocket Edition includes Survival and Creative modes, infinite worlds, caves, new biomes, mobs, villages, and lots more. This app is even better on the iPad because of the larger view.
Name: Hay Day (iPhone or Android)
Cost: Free
Highlight: Not every app in the store has a commercial featuring the hilarious Craig Robinson. Hay Day lets you grow and customize your farm, trade crops, fulfill orders, and build your own town. Hay Day is completely free to play, however, some game items can also be purchased for real money. If you do not want to use this feature, please set up password protection for in-app purchases.
Name: Scribble Press App (iPhone)
Cost: $3.99
Highlight: Scribble Press for iPad is a book creation platform that allows kids to create and share their own stories with hundreds of great drawing and writing tools. They can easily write their own or use one of over 50 story templates and use the 500 drawing tools. Stories can be shared or printed.
Name: License Plate Game (iPhone)
Cost: $0.99
Highlight: The License Plate game is super simple. The kids can search for plates while the app keeps track of the states found and the states remaining.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and filled with lots of fun goodies to make children cheer! Finding the perfect stocking stuffers can be a bit time consuming and costly. We’ve compiled a list of some unique items that will surely bring lots of smiles Christmas morning.
1.Toy Smith Melting Snowman. Watch this little guy melt right before your eyes. The kit includes reusable melting putty, hat, scarf, eyes, nose and arms.
2.Cincinnati Pops CD – Carnival of the Animals. This delightful album will have the whole family guessing which animal is being musically portrayed in each composition.
3.Eco-kids Gluten Free Finger Paint. Kids will spend hours with this exploratory molding dough handmade with natural and organic fruit, plant and vegetable extracts.
4.Bath Time Water Flutes. Fill these flutes with varying amounts of water to create different tones. Bath time music making!
5.Jonathan Adler Giant Erasers. With several different animal options, you can create a whole collection of these fantastic giant erasers.
6.Kinetic Sand. It just feels so weird! Stretch it, twist it, stack it. Easily cleans up and makes very little mess.
7.Hexbug Aquabots. These first water ready Hexbugs come to life in the water. They dive and swim around exploring their environment.
8.Tell Tale Card Game. Invent stories with 120 illustrations of characters,objects, settings and emotions. This game will unlock the creativity of everyone in your family.
Thanksgiving is a time for family, football, and of course FOOD! To help you spend less time planning your menu and more time with your family, here is a list of 10 Thanksgiving side dishes everyone will be sure to love.
1. Parmesan Garlic Roasted Mushrooms
Mushrooms might not be traditional for Thanksgiving dinner, but this is side posted by My Kitchen Escapades might just start a new family tradition.
2. Creamy Cauliflower and Cheese with Bacon
Barefoot in the Kitchen presents the best of everything in this dish...bacon and cheese! This side is also a perfect way to get kids to eat a few veggies before diving into the desserts.
3. Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Save even more time on the big day by making these potatoes the night before. They not only save you time but taste delicious!
4. Honey Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Here’s a little twist on sweet potatoes from Buns in My Oven. Instead of the traditional sweet potato casserole try these deliciously sweet honey cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes.
5. Sweet Potato Casserole
Even if you’ve tried several kinds of sweet potato casseroles over the years, you’ve never had anything that tastes this great. (shhh… the secret is in the toppings)
6. Green Bean Bundles
Even if green beans are not your favorite vegetable, these have baco and they’ll be sure to impress your guests. Thank you Spend with Pennies. Vegetables wrapped in bacon is definitely a win.
7. Broccoli Casserole
Green Bean Casserole tends to get the fame and glory, but the real winner is this Southern Broccoli Casserole from Spicy Southern Kitchen.
8. Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios, Cranberries & Parmesan
Brussel sprouts have been all the rage for the last few years and with this recipe Cookin’ Canuck confirms why they are still so popular. This side dish will make even the pickiest eater want to eat all of their vegetables!
9. Baked Pears with Walnuts and Honey
Pears, cinnamon, honey, and walnuts—it doesn’t get any simpler than this!
10. Creamy Fruit Salad
A healthy and delicious side that has all of your favorite fruits mixed with marshmallows, coconut, and Greek yogurt.
Spending all that time in the kitchen on Thanksgiving can be taxing but with the right recipes and company, there’s real joy in the end product. SeeSaw wishes you and your family a very happy and healthy holiday.
Just because the snow is falling and the temperatures are dropping doesn’t mean it’s time to pack away the potting soil. Planting an herb garden is a fun, cold day activity that the whole family can enjoy. In a few simple steps you can create a fragrant collection of herbs that can be used in recipes and the kids will enjoy watching their plants grow from little seeds to thriving plants.
Here are some of the most popular and hardy herbs to grow indoors:
Basil
Bay
Chives
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Be creative in coming up with unique ways to plant your herb garden. Just make sure that the container is deep enough, allows for proper drainage and can fit in the area of your home with the most sun. Herbs like lots of sun exposure.
After you picked out your seeds and found the perfect container to house your garden, follow these easy steps:
Pick out your seeds.
A great idea for getting the kids involved is to buy some plain planting pots and let them decorate each pot using craft supplies. Add handprints using paint, color a favorite picture, throw on some glitter, or decoupage pictures on to the sides.
Fill your container with potting mix (use potting mix instead of potting soil. Mix is lighter and made mostly from organic matter). Kids will love scooping the potting mix out of the bag and filling up the pots. They get to play with dirt inside!
Add labels or tags to your containers. Do this step before adding your seeds just so there is no confusion as to what seed went into which pot.
Add your seeds to your pots following the instructions on the packet.
Cover seeds lightly with the potting mix. Don’t plant the seeds too deep because they need sun and water to germinate. Here’s a wonderful opportunity to learn through play. Teach children about how plants germinate while they are planting the seeds.
Add just enough water to wet the soil and the seeds.
Put your garden in a bright, warm, sunny spot.
Create a weekly chart where kids can track the growth of the herbs.
Now wait.
Within a couple of weeks you should start to see substantial growth. In no time at all, your kitchen will smell delightful and you’ll have fresh herbs that the family can cook with on a daily basis.
During the cold winter months, there’s nothing better than curling up on the couch with the family and watching a movie. Many of the movies from the 80’s and 90’s are now classics to be enjoyed by another generation.
The Muppet Movie: a make your own puppet station with paper bags, markers and felt.
The Goonies: set up a treasure hunt around the house. Create clues for kids to follow and place a bag of treats where x marks the spot.
Mary Poppins: put out bowls of yummy ingredients to add to popcorn. Let everyone create his or her own bowl of popcorn mix.
The Sound of Music: each family member must create a song using only items found around the house.
So, pop some popcorn, snuggle up and watch one of these oldies but goodies.
Kids of all ages like finger paint. Sure, it’s messy. But that’s the fun in finger paint. There are several ways to find finger paints. There is paint specifically for finger painting and it is usually labeled as such.
But you can make your own temporary finger paints. There are several different ways to do this. The basic and simplest finger paint recipe is using dish soap and tempera paints (which can be bought at almost any store and most certainly hobby shops). The mixture should be one part dish soap to three parts tempera paint.
You can also use a half cup of cornstarch, three tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, two cups of cold water and food coloring. Mix all the ingredients (except the food coloring) in a small pan and cook on low for ten to fifteen minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Then let cool. Once the mixture has cooled you can separate the mixture into different containers and add food coloring for different colored paints. You probably want to mention to your kids especially the younger ones that even though this mixture technically has edible substances in it, it probably wouldn’t be very tasty. The paint should be stored in tightly sealed containers to prevent it from going bad.
Start An Indoor Garden
Gardening indoors is not quite the fun that an outside garden is but it can do in a pinch. Starting seeds can be rewarding, give a head start on the outside garden and give the kids something to study (without knowing they are learning something) on a cold, windy or otherwise outside inaccessible day. All you need are some seeds and some seed starting materials. Seed germinating mix or seed starting mixes of soil can be found at almost any home and garden store. You can use potting soil if absolutely no seed starting mix can be found.
You next need a container to grow the seeds in. There are many different options you have. Paper cups, plastic cups, foam cups, peat pots, regular pots, plastic pots, and even seed starting trays can be found at home and garden stores and in early spring, they can be found at a lot of chain stores and grocery stores.
Get some seeds, read the instructions and plant the seed. If you have a sunny window that’s great and the best thing for the seeds. But most times you might have to supplement the seeds with artificial lighting. Find some grow lights or at last resort kitchen flourescent lights at the store and place them several inches above the seeds. Make sure to water the seeds but not too much or you will have the seeds rot. Give the plants a little plant food and wait. In a few weeks you might have a plant that you can transplant outside or into a bigger pot, to wait for the warm weather to allow you to transplant it outside.
Make Snowflakes
Use coffee filters to make snowflakes. Although you can use just about any coffee filters, the cup (regular) filters are best. Fold the filters in half, then half again until you get a triangle. You can continue folding it for more edges and such. Then cut out pieces along the sides. Open it up and you have snowflakes you can place on your window. For a twist, you could use watercolor paints and watch the colors bleed onto the paper for colored snowflakes.
Board Game Night
With today’s video games, it may seem like board games are an endangered species. But there are still some board games that are popular. Plan a board game night with your kids to help fend off the boredom they may feel on those cold “blah” days.
Simple board games work just as well as more complex ones especially with younger children. Perhaps you can go buy a few cheaper board games. Let the kids choose which games to buy and play.
Holiday Plans for the Upcoming Year
Getting the kids involved in the holiday planning can make cold “blah” days go by rather quickly. Just get some paper and writing utensils and have the kids write down things they want to do this holiday season. The kids could even write down a list of what presents they want to receive and give to others.
Since meal times are usually very important during the holiday season, perhaps they might want a special dinner. The kids could help plan what that meal might include (or not include as the case might be). Younger kids can help planning by drawing pictures of what they want to do, present lists and meals they might want.
Choices
It can be all about choices for kids when it comes to those cold “blah” days. The kids will love to have choices. Be ready with activities for them.
