Holiday Tips For Stepfamilies
June 30, 2007
Holiday Tips For Stepfamilies: Let Go Of The “Brady Bunch” Fantasy!
When my co-author–Bill Merkel Ph.D.–and I first formed our stepfamily, I had many fantasies about how our family would behave like the “Brady Bunch” over the holidays– a happy, harmonious, singing-and-dancing unit. Then reality struck, and we couldn’t even agree on how to decorate the Christmas tree!
Ultimately, we created a “his” side-with multi-colored, blinking lights and tinsel–and a “hers” side-with hand-painted eggs and popcorn strings. Seven years later, I can tell you that trying to create a “Brady Bunch” holiday sets stepfamilies up for failure. Instead, I suggest you follow these tips:
1. Examine and try to let go of your “Brady Bunch” fantasies.
2. Continue “old” holiday traditions with your biological kids while creating new ones for the stepfamily.
3. If the kids don’t buy into your fantasy holiday, try to see
the world from their point of view.
4. Practice the fine art of silence when your stepfamily is stressed by the holidays. You don’t have to share all your negative feelings.
5. Don’t compete with your children’s “other” parents by showering kids with expensive gifts.
Top Family Vacation Destinations
June 29, 2007
Planning a family beach vacation? Looking for destinations with family resorts that have fun sports and activities for the whole family, all inclusive resorts where meals are included and kid clubs? Here are some of the most popular beach destinations for families to unwind and relax:
Mexico
Mexico, especially the Cancun area, and Mayan Riviera, an hour’s drive south of Cancun, is a popular place for family beach vacations. The Mayan Riviera is one of the regions of Mexico - and the world- which offers the richest variety of landscapes and archaeological treasures including Mayan ruins, coral reef, snorkelling lagoons, and eco-theme parks such as Xcaret. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, and attractions throughout Mexico welcome families with open arms.
Jamaica
Jamaica is considered by many to be the most beautiful of all the Caribbean Islands and is one of the top family-vacation destinations in the Caribbean. Many of Jamaica’s resorts offer supervised children’s activities, babysitters, family discounts, and kid’s meals. Jamaica has an abundance of top all-inclusive chains including: Sandals Beaches, SuperClubs Breezes resorts and Club Med. There are also many other family vacation options such as the Franklyn D. Resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, where families have their own vacation nanny during their stay.
Decorate for Christmas
June 29, 2007
It’s your home/your apartment and you want to make it a special sanctuary this Christmas. How can you create a special place for your family and you? Well, we already have our centerpiece?see November’s issue Decorate for Thanksgiving.) Just replace candles and flowers. But how can you make your place shine with love and holiday spirit?
Your dining room table can have a nice Christmas cloth or runner. Replace the fall curtain scarf with Christmas co-ordinates to match your table cloth or runner. Look around your yard for any berries that you might use in your centerpieces. Be careful that little ones don’t put these in their mouths. Make a wreath for your door using a grapevine base and ivy you might have growing around the yard?.place berries strategically around the circle. Make a bow of fine vines and place in the center, a couple of pine cones. What a unique heart warmer for your guests to enter your sanctuary by.
Create a Holiday Feast For The Senses
June 28, 2007
This is my daughter’s first Christmas. Naomi will be nearly nine months old and eager to explore all that the holidays have to offer. Within a few weeks after conception, babies develop the sense of touch, with taste, smell, hearing and sight following in that order. At birth, babies possess all the senses they will have through their lives, just waiting for sensory experiences to learn about the world. The senses quickly become more acute, until adulthood when they are taken for granted. Each sense has its own role in helping create a magical memory, whether you are celebrating Solstice, Diwali, St. Lucia Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, First Night, or Festivus. This year, experience the holidays as a child again. Even if this isn’t your first Christmas, you can make it joyful and loving by using all your senses.
· SEEING IS BELIEVING
Six Good Reasons to Take a Family Vacation
June 27, 2007
When I was young, family vacations with my parents consisted of driving for a week from place to place in a hot stifling car. My parents had the knack of picking the hottest week of the summer to do so. In spite of that, we still had fun, managed to find interesting sites to explore and those are the memories that I still have.
I discovered the joy of travel to far reaching destinations on my own by the time I turned 18. Jumping on a plane and heading off to Brazil, Europe or cruising the Caribbean, has turned into a life long passion my whole family now enjoys with me.
Family vacations have evolved over the years. There have never been more choices, more variety and more options available for family vacations as there is today. Especially since 9/11, the focus on family and community and played a strong role in our society. The travel industry has noticed and has geared up for families. From all-inclusive vacation packages and cruises, which are equipped with kids clubs and special activities; to resorts that supply a nanny for your stay, it’s never been a better time for families to travel.
Visions of Sugar Plums and Holiday Safety!
June 26, 2007
Ho, Ho, Ho, Holiday greetings to you!
Every year at this time I can’t help but notice the beautiful holiday lighting and adornment. It’s great to see that even homes with a “For Sale” sign on the front lawn have been bedazzled with lights! But this good deed seldom goes without also decking the halls with many holiday hazards.
You may be feeling happy for the holidays, but you’ll be roasting more than chestnuts if you lose respect for the dangers inherent in the season! It is sad to say, but more homes burn during December than any other month. And electricity is not the only hazard contributing to the risk.
Candles! Gosh they look so good and the scent can set the perfect holiday mood. But always remember this about candles - they are on fire! Seasonal candles on windowsills near your beautiful curtains and shears is a perfect blend for combustion. Please be sure candles are always attended when lighted, shielded by a glass enclosure, and located so the cat doesn’t knock them over. And put out all candles before snuggling in for the night!
Christmas Holidays: 5 Ways To Make This Holiday Your Best Ever
June 25, 2007
For many people the end of a year is a time of increased stress.
Instead of relaxing and unwinding from a busy year, the pressures of buying gifts, travelling or spending time with long lost relatives makes it a difficult time.
In our household for example, my 4 year-old daughter’s excitement levels have been taken to new highs by performing in front of 800 people as a ‘teddy bear’ in her first ever ballet concert.
Loaded on top of this was her Kindergarten show, this time performing the role of an ‘angel’ in a Nativity Play, and counting down the days to our four-week trip to Tasmania.
Just yesterday, she woke at 5.15 am and started packing her bags to go. I smiled when she told me she had packed 8 videos for the trip!
Now I’m really looking forward to our holiday and spending time at Freycinet Lodge on the Island’s east-coast, feeling the crunch of pristine white sand under my feet at Wineglass Bay, watching the sun set over the pink granite outcrops of ‘The Hazards’ and tasting the fresh salty tang of locally grown pacific oysters.
The Cape Town Wine Route Wonders
June 24, 2007
Just drive out to one of these delightful wine estates to find something quite magical about the art of viticulture and we dare you to say you didn’t have a great time.
The most trouble you’ll have is trying to decide which wine estate to visit on which wine route - there’s so many and they’re all different.
However, there’s an art to this, especially in the busiest tourist times, so let us guide you round our particular favourites and show you how to pick the best ones for you to visit to ensure you make the most of your time and get to experience the best of the wine route wonders around.
Once you get the bug, you’ll want to return more and more often, until finally, just like us, a trip to Cape Town wouldn’t be complete without a wine route trip.
Nailing down your particular favourites can often lead you to a particular estate that specializes in these wines, but don’t let that stop you finding a new grape varietal, or why not discover the skill involved in brandy making?
What draws you up the driveway to discover what’s beyond the rather bland, brown signposts?
Are You Going To Survive The Holidays?
June 24, 2007
Admit it! You promised this year was not going to be like the last few…and here you are, it is December and guess what? You did it again! The TO DO list is growing by the day right along side the gift list. If the holidays are stressful and you start to wish they didn’t come each year then you are doing something wrong and you need to regroup. Not to worry…we are here to help!
1. If you don’t have a TO DO list and are just swirling around, STOP…and make a list. 2. Categorize your list…you know…organize it by types of tasks. 3. If at this point you are already overwhelmed, do not proceed to step 4. Call ON THE GO 4 U (or a local concierge in your area) right now. 4. Assign time limits to the tasks. Similar tasks (that’s why we categorized) can probably be knocked off at one time. 5. Make a schedule. You know your daily routines. Now add the TO DO list tasks to the routine. 6. If at this point you see no way to schedule another thing in your day: a) refer to our November article “Don’t be a Statistic”, b) Call ON THE GO 4 U (or a local concierge in your area) right now and c) do not proceed to Step 7 because help is on the way. 7. OK, now you have the list and the schedule. Stick to it! The easiest way for things to fall apart is for you to get sidetracked.
For Thanksgiving ? Be Thankful He?s Not the Cheating Kind
June 23, 2007
Infidelity is at an all time high. According to the latest statistics, 3 out of 4 husbands cheat on their wives. So if you have a faithful husband, you have much to be thankful for. Faithful husbands are in short supply. While most wives assume their husbands are faithful, only 1 wife in 4 can truthfully make that claim. An estimated 38 to 53 million women are victims of infidelity. Studies further indicate that 2/3 of the wives whose husbands are cheating on them (approximately 26 million women) have no idea their husbands are having an affair — despite the presence of numerous telltale signs. In one study, over 65% of the cheating husbands admitted to having had more than one extramarital affair. With statistics like these, you can see why being married to a husband who isn’t cheating on you is something to be thankful for.
A Rude Awakening
Infidelity now affects 80% of all marriages today. Each year countless women who never dreamed their husbands were cheating, are shocked when their husbands ask for a divorce or simply move in with another woman. Other wives are dumbfounded to find that family funds have been used to finance a cheating husband’s extramarital affair. Still other wives experience a rude awakening when they learn they’ve contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
