Christmas Joys

Christmas Gift Ideas For Ages 0-3
By Rodney Grubbs

You make a list and check it twice to get everyone on your list to buy. Now to figure out what to buy those precious little ones in your life. Let’s make it something they will really like and play with. To help you with your buying decision, I have written out some things to consider when buying toys.

Tip #1: Watch the Number of Pieces in the Toys. Although some of these little gifts look great in the box, it is important to think about how possible it is to keep everything together. For some toys it does not matter if things get separated, but for others it takes away from the toy fun when pieces are missing. And let’s face be honest, it does take a bit of work to keep toy pieces together.

Tip #2: Buy Sturdy Toys. Little ones love to play, chew and throw. So make sure the toys are really toddler proof. It seems silly to me that not all newborn and toddler toys are not made to last when ‘real kids’ use them. This is especially with books. I always buy board book or fabric books instead of the thin page books.

Tip #3: Buy Different Stage Toys. Yes, your adorable six month old needs toys for play and development. But in just eight weeks your baby will be eight months and heading into the next development level so have different members of your family buy different stage toys. This way your little one can really enjoy the toys he/she receives. Christmas is also a great time to buy tricycles the kids will be soon needed. If you do not have an outdoor playset, it is also a great time to think of some these bigger tickets items.

Tip #4: Buy a Good Variety of Toy Styles. I am thrilled at the variety of toy choices you have to buy for ages 0-3. When you are Christmas gift shopping buy a variety of toys.

• Noisy (trust me, you only need one Christmas of buying all noisy ones to remember this one) • Quiet toys (a true blessing at the end of a long day)
• Learning
• Books (board books)
• Moving toys (ones to pull, push, crawl with)
• Bath toys
• Sit and play toys

By following these tips, you should be able to find really great gifts for the little ones in your life.

Lamaze Mortimer the Moose Mortimer the Moose will keep baby amused for hours with his many colors, textures, and sounds. His antlers are soft, sturdy rubber that’s perfect for teething babies, his feet are colorfully patterned and make a variety of sounds, and he chimes when you pick him up. From birth on up, Mortimer is a cute toy that will hold your baby’s attention. The Lamaze link on his back makes it easy to take baby’s favorite moose along, and you can hang the toy over a crib, car seat, or play mat. Your baby can enjoy the chimes, squeaks, rattles, and crunches anywhere you go.

Busy Zoo Activity Center This large wooden cube offers a variety of colorful animal-themed activities on all four sides and on top, activities include rolling beads, doors that open and close to reveal animals, spinning letter and animal blocks, and a set of rotating blocks that form silly mixed up animals, or real ones when the sides align properly. At one year, children aren’t ready to do more than move objects randomly.

Radio Flyer Fold 2 Go Trike Every kid needs a little red trike! The Fold 2 Go Trike is the ultimate first tricycle. It comes fully assembled and ready to ride straight out of the box. When it’s time to store or transport this trike, it folds up into a small compacted size. This tricycle has a sturdy steel construction and rubber tires, so it can stand up to even the toughest terrain. With the classic Radio Flyer style you can bring parts of your childhood memories to life. Children love the fun storage space behind the seat for their little treasures. This award winning bike has easy pedaling.

Have a great Christmas with your family. And do not forget to buy extra batteries.

Find great Christmas gift ideas for your newborn and toddler.

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Think Twice About a Christmas Bunny
By Liz Ryan

They’re hard to resist, those precious little fluffballs in the pet store. A baby bunny may seem like the perfect Christmas gift for a friend or family member. But think twice before leaving a bunny under the Christmas tree. There’s plenty of time after Christmas to welcome a house rabbit to your family.

Why don’t bunnies and Christmas mix? Here are a few reasons. People who are new rabbit guardians (to your bunny, you’re the pet human) won’t know exactly what bunnies require, and while house rabbits make terrific companions, stress is no good for them. And Christmas is nothing if not stressful, so if you’re sure you want to share your home with a bunny, do it after New Year’s.

Electrical wires are very dangerous to bunnies. You’d hate to invite a furry friend into your home only to see it harmed by biting through a power cord (rabbit-proofing is essential for a bunny-safe home). Also, when guests are over, rabbits can get spooked and run for the door, or a staircase (which they won’t navigate easily the first time) or even a window, and tragedy could follow.

Lastly, house bunnies need quiet time to get used to their surroundings. If you’re sure a friend or family member would make a great rabbit guardian, cut out a picture of a bunny and paste it into a Christmas card - an I.O.U. for a trip to the local animal shelter or House Rabbit Society facility for a bunny adoption. (Don’t, ever, buy a pet shop bunny.) You’ll know that your rabbit will get the best start in your home that it possibly can, when the holiday frenzy is over. And isn’t that the welcome you want to give to your new best friend?

Liz Ryan is a workplace expert, mom of five, and founder of the online network WorldWIT (http://www.worldwit.org). She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her family and seven animals (including four house rabbits).

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How Elf Dolls Create Treasured Christmas Traditions
By Margaret Lunn

How would you like to have a house guest who arrives the day after Thanksgiving and stays until Christmas Eve? A mischievous house guest who plays a daily game of hide and seek? Hmmmm … is this a trick question?

For many families, having a surprise “guest” has become one of their most beloved Christmas traditions. I’m not talking about just any visitor, of course, but a very special and magical visitor. It’s an elf! Specifically, one of the toy making elves from the North Pole workshop of Santa Claus himself.

So how do you get an elf to visit your family, and what kind of magic can he create while he’s there?

Make an elf doll! Elf dolls are the foundation for a charming Christmas tradition in many families. Here’s how it works: These special Christmas elf dolls arrive the day after Thanksgiving, to help the family prepare for Christmas. It’s a never-ending game of hide and seek, as the elf dolls mysteriously pop up in the most surprising places.

Children are entranced by these Christmas elf dolls. The elf dolls take their minds off the endless waiting for Christmas morning, by giving them a little mystery to solve each day, as they search for the elf doll’s hiding place. Children adopt their elf dolls as special friends, sharing secrets and special wishes with them.

Part of the charm of these Christmas elf dolls is the brevity of their stay. On Christmas Eve, they vanish (back to the North Pole, of course!), not to be seen again until the next year. But of course, by then they’ve accomplished their goal of helping little ones cope with the unbearable anticipation of the season.

Elf dolls are readily available for purchase from many sources, but you can assure that your child’s little friend is absolutely unique by making your own. Making elf dolls is really quite easy, if you have the right pattern. What’s more, you’ll have the added satisfaction of creating a cherished tradition with your own hands.

Margaret Lunn is an educator, doll artist, and puppeteer. For more detailed instructions and patterns for elf dolls be sure to visit http://www.SoftStuffedToys.com.

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Using Reverse Phone Number Finders to Send Christmas Cards
By Chris Redstone

Many people send Christmas cards out to friends and family every year. To do this, they have to verify that all of the addresses are correct, and until reverse phone number finders came along, that meant endless hours spent calling around to check the list. For many, this made the cards a chore that they were reluctant to start, not because they didn’t want to make all the calls, but because there was simply too much time involved in chatting with each person. The task could take days if you call each person individually, luckily there’s a clever solution to solve this problem.

With reverse phone number finders, the same task can be done in only a short time, sitting comfortably at your computer and even performing other tasks while you are at it. You just log into a reverse lookup website, enter the phone number you are trying to verify an address for, and click the submit button. In the blink of an eye, cellphones and land lines alike can be checked for proper names or addresses. And because you aren’t talking endlessly to each person on the list, you can finish a job that once took days in only a few hours.

Reverse phone number finders can also verify an address before sending out gifts for any occasion. You don’t want to risk sending a package to the wrong address, but don’t want to spoil the surprise of the gift either, and that makes using a reverse lookup an great idea before addressing those packages.

To access the easiest to use tool to perform a reverse phone lookup all you have to do is Click Here

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How to Plan a Homemade Christmas
By Jennifer Carpenter

Remember the days of popcorn and cranberry garland and paper snowflakes on the window? With everyone thinking frugally this holiday season, an old-fashioned homemade Christmas is making a comeback. But how do you plan a homemade Christmas that is fun, simple and still beautiful? Following are a few easy to make ideas for holiday goodies.

Homemade Decorations

Making holiday decorations by hand is an activity that not only produced unique Christmas creations but can also bring the whole family together. Stringing cranberries to wrap around the Christmas tree is always fun. All you need is some thick thread or string, a bag of fresh raw cranberries and a large craft needle for each person. Thread the string and gently stick the needle through the center of each cranberry.

For the windows you can make paper snowflakes. Children as young as three or four can help create one-of-a-kind designs in plain white paper. Adults then can cut the designs out and unfold the paper to produce beautiful snowflakes for the window panes.

Homemade Cards

Family and close friends will appreciate handmade cards much more than the generic store-bought ones. If you have children, you can have them draw or paint pictures on the front. You can also draw or paint to decorate the cards. Or you can stencil a pattern yourself if you lack artistic ability. Don’t forget to write a little holiday message on the inside of the card with your signature.

Homemade Desserts/Goodies

Break out Grandma’s old recipes and whip up a batch of gingerbread men. Sugar cookies are fun because you can use cookie cutter to make holiday shapes and then your choose of extras to decorate the cookies to your liking. Fudge is always a family favorite and there are almost endless flavor possibilities.

Homemade Presents

Gifts that are made by hand can be a bit trickier. After all you don’t want to look cheap but you also don’t want to spend an arm and leg making a gift with saving money is the goal. As a writer one of my favorite handmade gifts is a personalized poem or bit of prose printed out on special fancy paper purchased at an office supply store and placed in a nice frame bought at the local dollar store for half what it is worth. Another simple gift idea is a gift jar. You can fill a jar with the dry ingredients to a favorite recipe (the recipiant’s favorite, not yours).

Dress up the outside of the jar with a piece of fabric over the lid and a pretty ribbon around the rim. Finish it off with a printed card of the recipe on one side and a holiday design on the other.

Homemade holidays don’t have to take a lot of skill or talent to pull off. All you need is some time, willingness and a good Christmas spirit.

For more information on living simple and frugally, visit http://www.tryurbanhomesteading.com

Jennifer Carpenter is a work at home mother of three, two teens and a preschooler. She is a writer and Internet marketer who is currently working towards financial freedom through working online. Read more about her incredible journey at http://www.livingmybigdream.com

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