Christmas Joys

The Top 10 Toys For Christmas 2008
By Tiffany Dow

It’s quickly approaching - the most wonderful time of the year. The Christmas season brings out all the joy and wonderment, not only in children, but adults, too. Who can resist the decorations, the cookies, the parties, and the gifts?

Children especially love Christmas. They enjoy baking cookies with mom and dad, and making snowmen and decorating the Christmas tree, but what kids love the most is - Presents! Here are the top 10 toys for Christmas 2008 - what your kids really want and will love:

This is the group of gifts that your boy or girl will love to see when they tear open their Christmas packages, and will love to play with over and over throughout the year.

Star Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer

For all those Star Wars fans, the Star Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer is the perfect gift. It amplifies and changes the voice so your child will sound just like a member of the Grand Army of The Republic! This life-size full helmet is big enough for kids of all ages and speaks signature phrases from the show.

Rescue Pals Swim To Me Puppy

Cute as can be and ready for a swim, the Rescue Pals Swim To Me Puppy is ready to play and give your little one hours of enjoyment. This frisky swimming pup comes with its own swim goggles, puppy-sized towel and adoption certificate. A perfect, fun Christmas pet!

My Life

Girls over six will love My Life! It’s a virtual life simulator that allows her to create her own custom character, shop until she drops, play games and send and receive messages from her My Life Friends. Looking like a cross between and iPod and a cell phone, she’ll love how sleek and trendy it is.

High School Musical 3 Dance Mat

There is hardly a girl or boy who hasn’t seen High School Musical 3 (possibly several times). Kids know the songs, they love the dancing, and now they can dance their own socks off with this High School Musical 3 dance mat. This is a great gift for the dancers, singers and performers in your home.

FurReal Biscuit, My Lovin’ Pup

For every kid who has wanted his or her own puppy - here’s the Christmas answer - the FurReal Biscuit, My Lovin’ Pup. This pup is a two-foot tall lifelike dog that looks and acts very real. He barks and plays, does tricks and makes a great companion for your child. Maybe the best part for mom and dad is not having to clean up the “messes”.

Elmo Live

Elmo comes alive more than ever before with Elmo Live. He’s one of the most popular Sesame Street characters and now he speaks (his mouth actually opens and closes), he sings, tells jokes, sits, waves his arms, even crosses his legs. Elmo Live is a whole bunch of fun for any little one who is a die-hard or even a casual Elmo fan.

Cupcake Maker

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? Young bakers everywhere want to have this bake and enjoy toy for Christmas. Your young baker can make cupcakes and decorate them with favorite frostings and sprinkles, and make a perfect icing swirl to complete the bakery style presentation.

Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix

Amazing light and sound effects of the Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitirx watch calls forth ten aliens for your adventuresome child to see. Red and green flashing lights mix with sound effects from the TV show to give a great role-playing experience for Ben 10 fans.

Bakugan™ Starter Pack

Battle ready Bakugan warriors are deciding the fate of the galaxy - your child can help as they bring the warriors to life by rolling their spheres on Gate cards. Strategy is the name of the game in the ultimate battle!

Baby Born® with Magic Potty

Baby Born has been around for a long time - she’s a favorite of little girls who love to play with baby dolls. This Baby Born doll is potty training and comes with a purple potty and many other accessories.

This Christmas, find out what the top Christmas toys are for boys and girls by stopping by http://www.squidoo.com/topchristmastoylist to see what your special boy or girl might be asking Santa for!

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Where Did the Christmas Tree Come From?
By Wanda Ball

The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When winter arrived, they brought palm leaves into their homes to symbolize life’s triumph over death. The Romans celebrated winter with a fest called Saturnalia to honor Saturnus, the god of agriculture. They also decorated their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts. They gave coins for prosperity, pastries for happiness, and lamps to light one’s journey through life. In Great Britain, Druids, who were woods priests, used evergreens during winter rituals. They also used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life. And they would put evergreen branches over doors to keep away evil spirits.

Now that we know a bit about the history of the evergreen. How did the Christmas tree come to be? In the late Middle ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or outside their doors to show hope in the coming of spring. St. Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity was said to have come across a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree. St. Boniface became angry and cut down the oak tree. And to his surprise, a young fir tree sprung up from the roots of the oak tree. So St. Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith. It was believed that the Christmas tree tradition came to the U.S. with Hessian troops during the American Revolution or with German immigrants to Pennsylvania and Ohio.

There is nothing in the bible that either commands or prohibits Christmas trees. Some have claimed that Jeremiah 10:1-16 which states in part, “For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter,” says that he prohibits the cutting down and decorating of trees in this manner. But Jeremiah is actually against idols made of wood, plated with silver and gold and worshipped. So unless we are worshipping and bowing to our Christmas trees and praying to it, this scripture cannot be applied. There is nothing spiritual to having or not having a tree. Whatever choice we make, must be made to please the Lord. Romans 14:5-6 says, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” Christians shouldn’t look down on one another for choosing to celebrate Christmas with or without a tree. This is considered spiritual pride. And is a misuse of our freedom in Christ. If you remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, then all you do- will be to glorify God.

Wanda is a wife, mother, public speaker and contributing author of EzineArticles.com. She has been writing about God and spirituality for over 20 years and has researched the bible and its history. Wanda also specializes in Christian poetry and children books and believes and teaches that regardless of a person’s background or their mistakes of the past, God has a place for them.

She is the publisher and bestselling author of “Kids Ask The Darndest Things About God And The Beginning- Answers From The First Five Books Of The Bible” available at http://www.amazon.com

Visit Ball Publications Christian Books at http://www.ball-publications.com and sign up for “The Knowledge” monthly Newsletter. Gain Knowledge and Power with articles, discussions, tips and special offers that will be provided from time to time. Take advantage of up and coming events, radio broadcasts and recommended products of interest for you and your family!

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Christmas Cards - A Dead Tradition
By Jan Gamm

I have finally reached the stage where most of my friends and all of my relatives have ceased to buy me Christmas cards.

For years I have struggled with an endless Christmas card list of people I hardly ever see and mostly have no interest in, other than to send them a Christmas card every year! Why do human beings put themselves through such agonising rituals? Many of the people who once graced said list were old work colleagues - half of whom were the reason I sought alternative employment in the first place! Distant relatives who fell into the ‘related and ungrateful’ category were always at the top of the list, mostly because they were the type who would talk about your neglectful ways after Christmas if they did not receive the obligatory glitter infested, pointless, tree murdering offering every year.

When I reached fifty, I stopped pandering to such nonsense. Disliking the tradition of sending Christmas cards used to be tantamount to saying you did not believe in Santa, or wishing the Easter Bunny would fall down the nearest mine shaft, or not liking small puppies. Nowadays, people have a wider view of such things and I have been able to stamp out the card thing and draw very little comment in the way of criticism.

I do, however, fasten gift tags to presents and take delight in the home manufacture of creative tags. I view this as a different thing entirely to buying mass produced insincere sentiments and despatching them to people you couldn’t care less about and if you did, you would have some contact with them more than once a year.

Cards and good wishes, like everything else, should be tailored to the individual. There is nothing more soul-less and cynical, in my opinion, than Christmas cards in a budget box of thirty others, in three designs of varying awfulness. One then sits writing endless best wishes on the bottom, frantically trying to remember the names of recipients’ children and scrawling the darkly offensive ‘and family’ when you finally have to admit you couldn’t give a monkey’s **** what their names are.

What are you supposed to do with hundreds of Christmas cards anyway? I have visited some homes at Christmas time that are literally festooned with the wretched things and they blow all over the place whenever a draught wafts from an open door. The occupants of the house asphixiate from lack of fresh air by the beginning of January and if you ask, ‘who is this one and that one from,’ two out of three are from people they hardly know and one or two will be complete strangers! Will someone please tell me why it is necessary to lovingly hang a card on a string from someone you would not know if you saw them in the street?

Here’s a good idea: If you know someone well enough to really like them, phone them now and again but especially at Christmas, and say, ‘Hi.’ Even buy them a small gift, probably not as expensive as some of the Christmas cards on sale.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

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Christmas Presents Ideas 2008
By Jonathan Richards

Its nearly Christmas and finding those Christmas presents ideas can be a nightmare.When you have a large family finding Christmas presents ideas can be difficult. I never know what to buy for my husband and the grandchildren want all the expensive Christmas presents. If you look around the shops now two months before Xmas you will find many bargains, its when we get nearer to Christmas that the prices rise.

Do you wander round the shops aimlessly hoping that something will jump off the shelf.I usually get all my family to write a list of Christmas presents ideas that they would like and choose from the list. I know this means the element of surpise is lost, but better to buy an Xmas Gift that is wanted.

If you do not live in the UK but have family that do buying Christmas presents can be expensive when you add the shipping costs. There is a way around this by doing your Christmas shopping online. Look for UK stores many will allow you to purchase your xmas gift and then they will post if to your relatives in the UK.
Some of the stores will even gift wrap it for you.

I do most of my shopping for Christmas presents ideas on line because I get so fed up with wandering round the shops and waiting in long cues being served by miserable staff who just want to go home. The problem with online shopping is that you have to keep loading up different sites for different shops.

With the present credit crunch, a good way to save money on your Christmas presents for 2008 is to find sites that offer voucher codes with money off or free delivery.

Shopping for Christmas presents online means you stay warm and dry, you can have a cuppa and lunch and your feet don’t ache when you have finished.

You will find all your Christmas presents ideas and some voucher codes with discounts available on this site. http://christmaspresentsideas.org/

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Christmas Games and Other Fun Activities
By Kevin Garland

Maybe no other single activity really embraces camaraderie, playfulness and fierce but friendly competition as heartily participating in playing indoor games with friends and family. Christmas games does all those things but also serves the purpose of bringing friends and family together to interact directly with each other in a competitive and happy way.

Participating in Christmas games is another way of sharing, but it is also doing something tangible to get into the festive, jolly and relaxed mode for the holidays. Otherwise, its easy to get caught up in all the preparation and shopping and become ridden with anxiety. Here are some holiday and Christmas games that will cause fierce but friendly competition and leave everyone in a jolly mood.

For the ‘Gift Wrap’ game, items needed will be small gifts, wrapping paper, scotch tape and music that can be turned on and off at will. Each gift item is wrapped in several layers of paper. The number of layers used will depend on the duration you want the game to last. A gift is given to the group which should start passing around the gift when the music starts. Whenever the music stops, whoever has the gift should remove one layer of gift wrap. This continues until the last layer of paper is removed. Whoever has the gift unwrapped gets to keep it.

The items needed for the ‘Sock Guessing’ Christmas game are two or three thick new thermal socks, items used or seen during Christmas, pens, pencils and paper. Each sock is stuffed with 20-25 items that are used or seen during the Christmas season. These can be useful items such as scotch tape, ornaments, decorations etc. Each sock should have the same items and the opening should be tied with a ribbon so the contents inside aren’t visible. The socks are then passed around for each person to try to feel and guess the items then write down what they think is in the sock. The person with the most correct guesses of objects is the winner and can be awarded a separate special gift or token.

The ‘Gift Grab Card Game’ needs two deck of cards and a few small Christmas gifts that are wrapped to look very interesting and enticing. One deck of cards is passed out one at a time to guests. Each should have an equal number of cards from the deck. The gifts are then placed in the center of the group. Someone then calls out cards from the second deck. Whoever has an identical card gets to choose a gift. When all the gifts are taken, everyone can steal gifts from each other until the deck is finished and those with gifts get to open and keep them as prizes. The fun increases when the stealing begins because everyone will have different ideas about which gift looks interesting and try to hang onto it by stealing it over and over if it is stolen. Some people will also try to disguise the fact they have a gift, although they should be kept in sight.

A children’s Christmas game is ‘Pin the Nose on the Reindeer,’ which is the Christmas game version of ‘Pin the tail on the Donkey.’ The items needed are a drawing of a reindeer’s head with an incomplete drawing of the nose and several noses with the names on one side and tape on the other. The picture should be placed against a wall so that children can reach the nose. Each child then gets a nose. They take turns being blindfolded spun around a couple times to disorient them a little then told to walk to the reindeer and place the nose on the picture. The child who places the nose closes to the reindeer’s nose wins. A delightful Christmas game for work is the ‘Match the Desk to the Item’ game. A day or so before the Christmas party at work, someone needs to secretly take one item from each person’s desk and assign a number to each item. At the party, all the items are displayed for everyone to guess whose desk the item belongs to.

Looking for Fun Christmas Games you can play?

Check out http://www.Squidoo.com/Fun-Christmas-Games for your holiday games!

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