Monday Musings – Laughing into the Holidays

 

Come out for laughs on December 6

‘Tis the season to be jolly. There’s nothing more festive than the sound of laughter. Well, there are other things, but laughter is at the top of the list. You may be familiar with the holiday song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, this year let’s change that song to the Twelve Days of Laughter.

If you were given a challenge (which I’m suggesting now) to come up with twelve ways to include laughter in your day, what would they be? Below are a few ideas I came up with:

On the first day of laughter my true love gave to me, a comedy show ticket wrapped neatly.

On the second day of laughter my true love shared with me, two holiday movies, and a comedy show wrapped neatly.

If you haven’t guessed yet, you should be singing (in your head) the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. I won’t ask you to sing the entire song right now, but I will share a list of more ways you can include laughter in your holiday. Since I’ve already shared two ways, below are ten additional ideas.

1.      Read a book that includes humor.

2.      Funny gift exchange – have a white elephant gift exchange. My family does this at our Christmas dinner. I’ve found fun gifts at Five Below and the Dollar Tree.

3.      Ugly Sweater Contest

4.      Play silly party games – my family doesn’t know it yet but we’re playing Pin the Heart on the Grinch. You could also play Pin the Nose on Rudolph or start a game of Christmas Charades. For Christmas Charades create words or phrases that are holiday themed like “Sleigh ride or “building a snowman.”

5.      Karaoke – change the song lyrics to the wrong words and wait for laughter.

6.      Share funny holiday stories.

7.      Silly Selfies – take silly selfies with a friend or family. Have someone else create a funny caption.

8.      Lip Sync Battle – Choose a favorite song, go all out and make the performance dramatic.

9.      Snowball Toss – set up buckets or bowls labeled with different point value and have players toss marshmallows (your snowballs) into them.

10. Laugh Fest – on the twelfth day of laughter, share the gift of laughter with twelve people. This can be friends, family, or strangers. You decide how to deliver joy.

As you laugh into the holidays remember to relax, create memories, and be present in the moment. How will you include laughter in your holiday season?

Fa,la,la…

Muffins with Mom – A K.I.S.S. for the Holiday

One egg, water, add to gingerbread mix. Betty Crocker made it easy to bake gingerbread with my sons as part of our Holiday tradition. The end result was warm, moist cake, with a dollop of cool whip, and an engaging conversation with my sons. My tip for the Holiday is to seal it with a K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Silly).

As part of our Holiday tradition, we put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It’s looking at the Christmas lights that motivate me. When my sons were younger they would help decorate the tree, adding beads, bulbs, and ornaments they made at school.

Although my sons are grown now, the tradition still continues, it just looks a little different. I’ve learned to keep it simple. I asked my older son to help me drag the Christmas tree box from the basement. This also meant hauling out the tote containing all the ornaments (ribbons, bulbs, beads, bells).

“Why do you have so much stuff,” my son asked.

“Accumulation. At least it’s organized.”

It didn’t take long to assemble the pre-lit tree, but it was days before I returned to add ornaments. It was then that I enlisted the assistance of my younger son to help decorate the tree. He is known as the negotiation of the family.

“I’ll help if I can have flavored candy canes, and gingerbread,” said son two.

“You can do it for the bonding and family togetherness, and I’ll consider the gingerbread.”

Well, I did make the gingerbread, and the Christmas tree is decorated with the ornaments and candy canes. I spend a little time each day sitting in stillness (reading, or writing) and admiring the colorful lights.

As you prepare for the Holiday season choose to do something simple that brings you joy. Little things can provide bug joy.

What tips do you have for keeping the Holiday season simple?

Susanna Leonard Hill's 9th Annual Holiday Contest

Photo Credit: Pinterest  -  Vegan Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies- click here for the recipe

It's that time again, another picture book contest presented by Susanna Leonard Hill. Visit her blog to check out all of the stories. My story is below.

Cora’s Christmas Cookies
(250 words)

Neigh, quack, Moo, cluck a-doodle-doo. The animals were in an uproar. The Farmyard Christmas Carnival was in two days and Cora was sick. She was a chicken with a wheezing cough.

Who would make her famous Crunchy Cranberry Cookies?

Animals from all around sought after a bite of Cora’s tasty treats. They were a secret recipe handed down from her great grandmother, Little Red.

The recipe was a secret because no one could read Cora’s handwriting. Chicken scratch that’s what it was.

Cora unhurridly clucked from her coop into the kitchen, “What is going on in here?” She squawked.

Goat dumped flour into a bowl, clouds of white dust drifted onto the floor.

“Hush Cora, get back to bed. We have this under control,” said Goat.

Duck waddled to the table, leaving footprints in the flour. “Sugar is what we need.”

Cow witnessed the mess, “Mooove over, let me add the milk.”

Goat clip clopped over, “Use my milk, it has a better flavor.”

“Too much milk,” said duck.

“How do you know? No one can read Cora’s chicken scratch.”

Stir, mix, squish. Cookies ready for baking.

Before you could say cluck-a-doodle-do Merry Christmas to you, the cookies were ready.

“They don’t look like Cora’s cookies,” said Duck.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. “Tasty,” said Cow. “But something is missing.”

“I added the raisins,” Duck squabbled.

“Craisins, NOT raisins,” Cora squeaked. “Craisins for the cranberry taste.”

Neigh, Quack, Moo, cluck a-doodle-doo, crunchy, not so cranberry cookie treats ready for the Christmas Carnival.

Muffins with Mom – Dashing through the house

 

Dashing through the house, ready for visitors on the way,

Planning a meal for them to eat and games for them to play.

Before my son arrived home from college for the holiday season, I told him everything was the same as it was when he left…a mess. He arrived just in time to help prepare for the family, pre-Christmas dinner.

I waited for help with game ideas for our dinner, but instead, my teen boys were busy dashing through the house playing. From another room I heard the bumping, thumping sounds of WWE Wrestle Mania in my living room. My help had go astray.

I was left on my own to hurry and scurry,

To hang stockings with care and not worry.

In just a couple of days my home will be filled with the laughter and sharing of family that make the hustle and bustle of the holiday worthwhile. There is always at least one story that is etched in our memory from the previous year.

Creating memories is the best part of this time of year. There seems to be a lot of dashing off somewhere. At our house, it’s dashing off to church, dashing to the store and of course, dashing through the house in preparation for family.

What are your plans for the Holiday season? Will you dash around hurriedly with last minute preparations or relax and enjoy a slower pace?

Wishing you a happy holiday season!

Muffins with Mom – In time for Christmas – Holiday Traditions

It’s the most wonderful time of the year-Christmas. During this time, my family celebrates the birth of Jesus and we engage in fun, friendship and fellowship. It’s all a part of our Holiday tradition. What are your Holiday traditions?

Our top three Holiday traditions are:

1.      Decorate the Christmas tree

2.      Family dinner at our house

3.      Participate in the Sunday school Christmas program at church

In case you’re wondering what this looks like at our house, the story begins the day after Thanksgiving.

Once upon a Holiday, on a brisk November morning, I asked my teen son to help decorate our pre-lit Christmas tree. Yes, the tree is one with lights already attached, so decorating should be pretty simple, right? Wrong, it’s a matter of perspective.

The day after Thanksgiving is when I like to put up the Christmas tree. This gives me plenty of time to enjoy the multi-color lights as they illuminate our living room. When I asked my son to help hang the bulbs and garland, he was less than excited. He said, “Can we celebrate Kwanzaa instead?”

I kept hanging bulbs as I replied to my son, “You know, celebrating Kwanzaa is not a replacement for Christmas. And you still have to help decorate.”

“Oh, never mind,” he said.

While decorating the tree was completed in a timely manner, getting my son to hang the Christmas lights outside was another hurdle. After several days of prodding, I arrived home to dangling lights hung with care, well almost.

I’m not sure whether my son carefully hung the lights or just tossed them in the air and hoped they landed in the right places. However, he managed to complete the job in time to go to a basketball game at school. It was mission accomplished according to his teen priorities.

Once upon a Holiday, on a cozy December night, I received a text from my other son who is away at school.  He said he is scheduled to work the day of our family Christmas dinner. Hmph. So my options are to have the dinner without him or reschedule it for a different date. I’m working on changing the date.

Our final Christmas tradition, the Sunday school program, is in the planning stage-lines for the kids to learn, rehearsals to schedule and shopping for goodie bags. And this will conclude the scheduled traditions-just in time for Christmas. The only thing left to do after this is to curl up with a good book and do nothing more.

What are your family Holiday traditions?

Christmas Blessings

Just a short post today wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am taking the week off to work on a few other projects. I will resume posting on January 2, 2013.

Before we head into the New Year, I wanted to share a few blessings from 2012.

1.      Christmas dinner with family – Our oldest family member passed away this summer (95 years old), but we were still able to have joy and peace during our annual dinner.

 

Prayer circle - they're not supposed to be looking at the camera! (-:

 

2.      New friendships

3.      Kids Christmas Pageant…and kids who didn’t want to be in said pageant – I don’t think we have ever had a Christmas Pageant without laughter. There is always unplanned humor sprinkled into the pageant.

Shepherds in our church Christmas program

4.      Writing opportunities experienced this year – I was fortunate to attend two local writing conferences this year. I started my blog this year and I wrote two articles for Prayer and Praise Magazine (www.prayerandpraisemagazine.com).

5.      Having God’s favor over my life.

What are your Christmas blessings?