Dancing lights in Bendigo
Last year we were in Bendigo leading up to Christmas and saw some awesome lights. Not only did they look good – they actually danced in time to music on the radio!
Good enough that we’re planning to drive to Bendigo specifically to see these lights this year!
Address was 11 Greenfield Drive Epsom (north of city centre from memory).
Banning Santa or religion?
At Fort Worth in the USA, schools are not allowed to have Santa and gifts in classrooms – decorations are only allowed if ‘part of the curriculum’ and parties only if for educational purposes.
Keeping distractions (like an actual visit from Santa) out of class time – absolutely sensible and reasonable.
Keeping gifts out because they might have to include a religious message? Santa is not truly part of any religious Christmas. Surely if a child chooses to give a gift with a religious message that is the child’s choice? And the child may give a religious message to friends aside from a gift or Christmas card anyway. I am against religion in state schools (so yah Fort Worth for keeping the two separate) but don’t see that Santa and gifts need to be banned – just ban religious images and stories in the classroom.
Just let the kids have a bit of fun and enjoy the magic of Santa and Christmas – why stop them just because some adults are scared of religious connections causing trouble?
Very glad my kids are allowed to have Santa and Christmas at school – could do without excessive gift giving but that’s another topic altogether! How would you feel if your kids had this stuff banned? How would you have felt as a kid without Santa and cards allowed at school?
Gifts for new parents
aHaving 5 kids, I know about babies and how to care for them 🙂 I also know how tiring a new baby can be – especially for people who are learning who to do the practical things as well as coping with the physical and emotional aspects of new parenthood.
As cute as babies are, remember their parents at Christmas time, too!
So after reading Marissa’s story of loving the babysitting voucher, I thought I would share some ideas for gifts for new parents as family and friends often want to help but have no idea how…
There are 2 concepts – one is to give them some pampering to refresh them and remind them they are people beyond parents – but I’m just going to give ideas for helping them as new parents.
- a bag of nappies – most cloth using parents will still use disposables for holidays or big outings, or you can give cloth nappies (they can turn into doll blankets and cleaning cloths later!)
- a subscription to a nappy wash service
- a basket of items such as baby wipes, baby shampoo, laundry detergent, clothes pegs, baby socks/tights and cleaning cloths
- vouchers – think of babysitting, cooking a meal, cleaning the house, doing some clothes washing, buying groceries, mowing the lawn and weeding. For an even bigger gift, give them a collection of vouchers…
- photo frames and albums are always good – but modern alternatives may be gift vouchers from a
photo printing service
or spending some time putting their photos into folders (on their computer, a USB stick or an online service) - look ahead and give the baby gifts for winter – not only does it save them going out in the cold, I always found that I got so many summer clothes many weren’t used much and winter was expensive
- find a way to help them communicate with the outside world – top up their prepaid phone credit, pay for membership at an online parenting site or a play group, teach them how to use Facebook, advice on a good phone plan, etc
- for very new parents, maybe get with some others and buy a high chair or booster seat (like a high chair for when they’re out) – or give them money/voucher towards it
- ask what they need! Radical idea really to ask but it’s better to ask before giving more singlets (despite what many say, you can have too many singlets!), grosuits and bottles. If they have everything practical they want, look to the child’s next stage and maybe give some infant/child cutlery and crockery, car organisers or training pants
- money or store vouchers may not seem an exciting gift but it is a practical way to help new parents who may be struggling with the extra expenses and less income
- give some music – it can make life easier (such as music that calms a baby), provide enjoyment for parents and child (and music is good for baby’s development), and it’s something that is often left off new parents’ shopping list
The night before Christmas in Aussie Land
‘Twas the night before Christmas; there wasn’t a sound.
Not a possum was stirring; no-one was around.
We’d left on the table some tucker and beer,
Hoping that Santa Claus soon would be here;
We children were snuggled up safe in our beds,
While dreams of pavlova danced ’round in our heads;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,
Had just settled down to watch TV sports.
When outside the house a mad ruckus arose;
Loud squeaking and banging woke us from our doze.
We ran to the screen door, peeked cautiously out,
snuck onto the deck, then let out a shout.
Guess what had woken us up from our snooze,
But a rusty old Ute pulled by eight mighty ‘roos.
The cheerful man driving was giggling with glee,
And we both knew at once who this plump bloke must be.
Now, I’m telling the truth it’s all dinki-di,
Those eight kangaroos fairly soared through the sky.
Santa leaned out the window to pull at the reins,
And encouraged the ‘roos, by calling their names.
‘Now, Kylie! Now, Kirsty! Now, Shazza and Shane!
On Kipper! On, Skipper! On, Bazza and Wayne!
Park up on that water tank. Grab a quick drink,
I’ll scoot down the gum tree. Be back in a wink!’
So up to the tank those eight kangaroos flew,
With the Ute full of toys, and Santa Claus too.
He slid down the gum tree and jumped to the ground,
Then in through the window he sprang with a bound.
He had bright sunburned cheeks and a milky white beard.
A jolly old joker was how he appeared.
He wore red stubby shorts and old thongs on his feet,
And a hat of deep crimson as shade from the heat.
His eyes – bright as opals – Oh! How they twinkled!
And, like a goanna, his skin was quite wrinkled!
His shirt was stretched over a round bulging belly
Which shook when he moved, like a plate full of jelly.
A fat stack of prezzies he flung from his back,
And he looked like a swaggie unfastening his pack.
He spoke not a word, but bent down on one knee,
To position our goodies beneath the yule tree.
Surfboard and footy-ball shapes for us two.
And for Dad, tongs to use on the new barbeque.
A mysterious package he left for our Mum,
Then he turned and he winked and he held up his thumb;
He strolled out on deck and his ‘roos came on cue;
Flung his sack in the back and prepared to shoot through.
He bellowed out loud as they swooped past the gates-
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and goodonya, MATES!’
Make ornaments and reuse the bits
Lego ornaments hanging on a tinsel tree adding Christmas cheer to the kitchen!
I just found some instructions for making some really cool Christmas ornaments – made out of Lego!
They are even ‘green’ ornaments as you can pull them apart in January and use the bits many times before recreating ornaments next Christmas if you wanted to.
So check out these Lego ornaments instructions and have some fun decorating your house this Christmas! Great entertainment for the kids and the whole family could work together on these – or maybe have friendly competitions to see who can make the most, the biggest, the most colourful, the hardest shape, the most…
Just loving that I found these!
Silly family things
Christmas children dancing and laughing
We spend Christmas Eve doing silly things as a family!
It started when our kids were little but we all love it so it’s kept going – our kids are now grownup and bring along boyfriends and wives, too. The new comers find it a bit strange at first but soon they’re hooked – it’s a lovely way to relax before the big day and it really gets us feeling good and happy to be together.
Being silly on Christmas Eve is great family fun!Click To TweetA lot of it is just silliness that follows when you laugh a lot but some things we do are:
- think up lots of alternative reindeer names for Santa or give each other reindeer names
- tie pillows around our tummies and say ho ho ho a lot
- someone usually finds something silly at a discount shop and we all take turns wearing it and acting to suit – so we get snooty with a feather boa or have a twang with a cowboy hat
- read out spoonerisms (where parts of words are swapped around in a story e.g. Santa’s sleigh skies through the fly)
- having staring competitions
- sing silly songs (like ‘next verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse’)
Drawing on a parent’s face probably counts as silly!
- tell tall tales where one person starts the story and stops mid sentence for someone else to continue on
We’re always keen for more silliness so bring on your ideas please!!!!!
* Images courtesy of Love Santa and ximagaination (at 123rf)
A gift to treasure
I found it challenging to have a little boy when I first became a parent – he was enthusiastic and energetic, and I had a lot to learn. Between my nervousness and his exuberance, my son wasn’t babysat very much except by my parents so I didn’t get out much.
For his second Christmas, my cousin gave me an awesome present. She had written out a voucher for a night’s babysitting!
It was such a thoughtful gift – she’s often given thoughtful gifts but this one was a stand out and probably kept me happy many times leading up to and after the actual night we used the voucher. It helped that she was experienced with kids and is so calm that trust was easy.
This is my thank you to my cousin, plus a little hope that someone else could give a similar gift to new parents they know – it could make such a huge difference to them and its cheap, too!
First Christmas stockings
I don’t remember such a fuss being made about a baby’s first Christmas when I was younger – I never saw baubles and stockings declaring ‘baby’s first christmas’ until my own kids were at least teenagers! 
And I’m not sure anyone benefits from this change – well, no one other than the retailers that is.
For starters, the baby can’t read and doesn’t really care – sorry to disappoint you but it’s true. If the baby is old enough to sit up and watch Christmas around them, they’ll be more interested in the wrapping paper, people and decorations than a stocking (especially as many are insipid pastel things for some silly gender bias).
I prefer the ideas from Santa’s Elf on items that are at least reusable – put the year of the first Christmas on the stocking they’ll use for the next decade or so or get a beautiful photo you can display. Much better use of money than a stocking that is too small to hold anything and looks silly if used for baby’s second or third Christmas.
But even better is to just enjoy Christmas with that baby – they don’t stay babies for long so treasure it by playing together rather than buying mementos you’ll just have to store and never look at again.
A special note for grandparents, aunts, uncles and so on – it’s cute to acknowledge someone’s first Christmas with a baby but think about if they really want a cheap stocking or a genuine keepsake. My daughter was inundated last year with cutesy stockings and baubles – she feels guilty throwing them out but hates the idea of storing such nonsense. The friend who took a lovely photo of each parent holding the baby and framed them put in a little more effort and his gift is proudly on the wall for all to see.
My daughter was also happy with her brother’s ‘first Christmas’ idea of starting a family album where a photo of my grandchildren (I assume more will come!) will be placed each Christmas as a record of the family growing.
So I just think people should put a little thought into first Christmases rather than those commercialised ideas retailers want us to follow. I don’t mean to offend, just to get people thinking…
Multicultural Christmas activity
As a cub leader, we’re always looking for ideas for fun nights that help the kids develop in some way. Throwing around ideas this term, we thought of doing a Christmas night where kids’ families come along and share their culture/traditions.
Santa, Sinteklaus or St Nick, Zwarte Piet, boomers – different Christmas traditions
The idea is for a parent/grandparent to talk for 10 or so minutes about the Xmas traditions of their home country/region, showing any costumes or props, then answering questions.
It’s a nice way to celebrate Christmas without just being about gifts or decorations and it’s a fun way to teach them about different cultures and countries (must remember to have a world globe handy!)
* Collage made form images from capl.washjeff.edu, free digital vintage stamps and private sources
Love Santa on Twitter – and prizes!
Did you know that you can easily keep up with the Love Santa blog by following us (LoveSantaAu) on Twitter?
We tweet all posts (whether written by us or by the community, so yes if you post we’ll tweet about it!) and other bits of information and updates.
And this week, we’re running a competition through our Twitter profile, too – all the details are in our specials page but the short version is just retweet any of our tweets this week to be in the running.
Reindeer treats
For something a bit different, over the weekend I got my kids to cook some biscuits that reindeer and boomers will like – we will make them again on Christmas Eve but we HAD to test them first of course!
Make your favourite biscuit dough
roll out the dough then cut into carrot shapes (I found a carrot cutter in a local homewares store but you could do it by hand…)
put carrots onto greased trays and into the fridge
after about 20 minutes, put tray in oven to cook (15 minutes at 180 is usually enough but check your recipe)
cool then remove from tray
make some green icing and cover the carrot tops
make some orange icing and put into an icing pipe (or a ziplock bag and cut the corner off)
zigzag the orange icing over the carrots
let the icing set then store in an airtight container (if they last that long – my kids have never eaten carrots so willingly!!!)
For icing I mixed 1/2 cup icing sugar with 2 teaspoons of water and 2 – 3 drops of food colour. Add a little more water if needed but make sure it is thick rather than runny.
Remembering baby’s first Christmas
As parents and families, we often get excited by a baby’s first experience of things – and Christmas is no exception to this.
Of course, what happens for the baby on Christmas can be very different as it could be one day or 364 days since their birthday. A newborn will have no idea Christmas Day is special but an older baby will notice things are happening.
Many of the things done to show it is a special day for the new family form mementos (keepsakes) that can be saved or even reused, such as:
- a Love Santa letter that is added to a scrapbooking album or frame after Christmas
- a toy Santa or reindeer labelled for the baby or ‘first Christmas’ can be used as an annual decoration or plaything for a limited time each year
- giving a (full size) Christmas stocking with the child’s name and year on it – this can be used at subsequent Christmases
- Christmas tree decorations with the name and year or ‘first Christmas’ on the decoration – again, this can be used each year as a reminder and given to the child for their own home when they are an adult
- mini Christmas stocking with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ printed on it
- a top or suit with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ printed on it – if given early enough, this can be worn at various December events, too!
- a special photo (such as a photo with Santa) can be framed or highlighted in an album
- a personally written letter, poem or story can be displayed that Christmas then stored in a scrapbooking album or treasures box
What special items has your family got stored away from a baby’s first Christmas? Do they ever get looked at or reused?
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