………And through the barnyard gate
We seem to go extremely slow
It is so hard to wait……….

Uuuggghhhh…….holiday travel! It’s that time folks, pack the car, say a prayer and hit the road.  Oh, I feel for anyone who has to travel this week.  When my kids were much younger we had family living a couple hours away, every few years we’d make the trek on Christmas morning to have breakfast with them.  It was torturous some years!  Besides the stress of the holiday itself, I needed to think about prepping for a trip.  There was the midnight pantry hunt for snacks on Christmas Eve, or the sudden realization we didn’t have ‘blankey’ after we were on the road for 2o minutes!  Well, after a few years of complete havoc, Joe and I had the prep and trip down to a science.  Here’s a few fun ideas on how to take the stress out of traveling with your ‘bunchkins’ this holiday season.

For the younger babes……

~Food! Stock pile some great snacks. Goldfish, crackers, raisins, Cheerios (my fav)

~Beverages! In moderation of course, keeping pit stops to a minimum.

~Security blankets or toys!  It’s gonna be ugly if you’re two hours from home with out ‘Thomas Turtle!’

~Puppets, use these for an impromptu puppet show

For the older kids……..

~ABC Game, its a race through the alphabet! Use the first letter of a word, title or licence plate.  You must go in order and a letter can not be reused by another player! First one to ‘Z’ wins!

~Count Santas, Stars, Reindeer………anything to celebrate the season, the person to get to 10 first wins!

~Sing-a-longs….Oh yea! The older kids love this! We mix it up by changing the words.  ’One the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me scalding hot cup of tea!’ You’ll be surprised how creative you can get!

~ Scavenger Hunt, this requires a bit of prep, give each person a list of items to find while driving……Red pick-up truck, Nativity Scene, Cow, Speed Limit 45………you get the idea, mix it up with really crazy stuff and easy stuff!

~Story telling, kinda like mad-libs, this requires a stop watch or a time keeper & a bag of words………one person starts the story, every 30-45 seconds the story teller must stop and some one else fills in the blank with a word drawn from the bag…….then the story teller continues for another alloted time frame…….Don’t think you can pull it off? Buy a book or two of mad libs!

For the Adults

~Strong coffee

~Lots of Patience

~Christmas Spirit

~Sense of Humor!

You probably notice I didn’t list iPods, Gameboys, DVD players…… It’s easy to stick your kids in front of electronics and keep them quite, and yes it does give you a break too. Yet, remember the road trips you took as a kid? It was just you, your family, and the open road.  You survived, your parents survived and you spent time together!  I even bet you have some pretty fond memories of those road trips….wouldn’t it be great to share those with your kids?!

There’s a part of me that misses wild ride each Christmas morning.  Even though it was hectic and hair raising at times to pack up the kids, once we got on the road it was fun!  If your traveling this week, pack up your tolerance, humor and your smiley face and enjoy the ride. Be safe out there!

“The outdoor Christmas lights, green and red and gold and blue and twinkling, remind me that most people are that way all year round”– kind, generous, friendly and with an occasional moment of ecstasy. But Christmas is the only time they dare reveal themselves.”
– Harlan Miller

It’s a family tradition to ‘check out the lights’.  Right after Thanksgiving it begins, the search for great holiday lights.  With the sun setting at 4:30 pm there are a lot of opportunities to search out great light displays.   My son is still young enough that he enjoys the thrill of the hunt, my daughter at 17 believe it or not hardly ever turns down the challenge and I have to say even my husband is a good sport.  It’s pretty typical for me to shout out, “let’s take the scenic route home……there’s gotta be cool lights”

We search out the most outrageous light displays.  Living in a rural area of Connecticut we get to see some really fun  exhibits!  There’s a barn down the street that follows the roof lines with icicle lights, blue and white ……. no rhyme or reason to the layout of colors I think Dave just pulls them out of the storage box and hangs them up, three white strands, one blue, one white, two blue, one white……… Joey loves catching the tractor one town over,  every once in a while theres a bonus, Santa’s sitting on the Tractor!  Ashley’s favorites are the houses that go all out! The more outrageous the more she loves them.  Her idea of a perfect light display usually includes lights framing every window, lit dancing hippos,  inflatable characters, and of course a LED candy cane lights lining the walk way.  Joe usually is drawn to anything he knows I would find tacky, threatening to do the same to our house next year……..he loves to try and get my goat.   Then there’s me, I love the classic holiday decorations, simple spot light on the front door with a beautiful wreath. Sometimes a tree finished off with some white lights……my family finds those houses boring!  I will admit I do enjoy thebright, over the top displays. I appreciate the work, planing and electric bills those homes put forth for our enjoyment.

Each year on Christmas Eve, before we head out to my Aunt Trudy’s for a traditional meatless Polish Christmas Eve celebration, we visit Hubbard Park in Meriden CT.  The display doesn’t change much from one year to the next, although somehow we find something new each year.  Funny I can’t imagine not going there before I dig into my fried fish or perogies.

I’ve been a touch under the weather the last few days, so I’m also behind in some of my last minute shopping! Still as I trek home tonight from shopping for the stocking stuffers, I’ll take the scenic route.  Who knows maybe I’ll find a dancin’ inflatable Tigger……..or Santa in a grass skirt under a palm tree…. No matter what I find, its sure to bring a smile to my face.   Take the time to drive home the scenic route this week and enjoy the sites!

Growing up in New England, the Yankee Swap is a holiday staple.  I couldn’t imagine a holiday without participating in at least one swap!   I found it fascinating that the Yankee Swap’s origin dates back to the Civil War.  Legend has it the Yankees & Confederates ’swapped’ prisoners as a game to ease the overall mood, leading to the phrase ‘Yankee Swap’!  Now how it translated to gifts is still I’ll never know!

Yankee Swaps are very popular at office parties and they usually come with a dollar limit.  After purchasing one or two Yankee  Swap gifts its easy to run out of ideas!  Fear not friends I’m hear with a fresh new list!  Each one of these gifts you should be able to complete for $10 to $15 ……………

~Deck of playing cards, bag of microwave popcorn, instant hot cocoa all inside a fun holiday bowl! Lable it “Emergency Snow Day Fun!”

~Chia Pet…..this one may put you a touch over $15.00 but its a great throw back to your childhood! It will clearly get a good chuckle!

~Daily quote calendar…..take a red sharpie and highlight your birthday, along with a list gifts you would like to receive! Who knows, maybe when the recipient comes upon your birth date they’ll remember you!

~Large measuring cup, fill it with a few of  your favorite recipes and a few non-perishable baking/cooking needs (vanilla, cinnamon, or other spices) if budget allows throw in some measuring spoons.

~ Refrigerator magnets and local take out menus! All hidden in a recipe box! (get it?)

~ Photo frame, finish it off by inserting a funny holiday cartoon, again…great gift with a little laugh.

~Box full of canned sardines, pickled herring, garlic stuffed peppers …….. and a box of Altoid Mints (peppermint flavor!)

How you wrap your gifts is really important, it can take the fun to the next level! You can have the silliest, more ridiculous gift, but if you’ve wrapped it to the nines, people will be fighting over it! It really is a lot of fun watching people battle over your gift!

In the Davenport house we participate in two annual Yankee Swaps each year with our families, one on my side the other on Joe’s.  A few years ago we put a spin on our Swap…..the White Elephant Yankee Swap.  This swap requires NO shopping, the challenge is to find something to re-gift! We’ve gotten some real beauts, and have had great laughs. Here’s some of the classics.

~mismatched coffee mugs (clean of course)

~4′ light up santa clause (honest to God it had to be from 1950!) This one keeps popping up every few years.

~A box of souvenirs! Gosh, these were funny…coasters, mini statues, shot glasses, snow globes…….the tackiest stuff you can think of!

I’m already digging around the garage, storage closets, and the basement for my white elephant gifts! I wonder what I did with those plastic place mats my great aunt gave me a few years ago…….oh and there’s that tuxedo apron my husband got as a grab bag gift……….wonder what else is kicking around!

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:

the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

~Burton Hillis

A happy family, all wrapped up in each other….yeah, that is the best gift of all!  But, lets be honest everyone likes to open a gift, not only children!  If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you know that the gifts from my Prince leave something to be desired in their wrapping!  In last years Holiday Blog I poked a little fun at his wrapping talents, thank goodness he is a good sport……he didn’t punish me with no gifts, just horrible wrapping of the gifts!   No  matter where I am celebrating the holidays I love guessing which gifts are from who based on their presentation, I find this sometimes as much fun as receiving gifts!

For many of you the holiday shopping is just about complete and the wrapping is now ready to begin.  I still have some shopping left to do but Wrapping Central will be set up in my dining room tonight and the fun will begin!

This holiday mix up the red and green traditional wrapping paper with some of these unique gift wraps!  Here’s a bonus most of these ideas are less expensive than traditional wrapping paper !

~stock pages from the newspaper (I love to use the Wall Street Journal)

~sheet music, holiday music is my favorite….mass produce this wrapping paper by running it off on a copier! Larger gifts will require assembling multiple sheets.

~maps, new or old! Neat idea for someone who loves to travel

~movie or play posters

~children’s finger paintings on newsprint, I promise grandparents will love this one!

Consider some different options for tying off your gifts.  Use some of these alone or in conjunction with traditional ribbons.  The layering will give your gifts visual depth and excitement …….

~Twine, colored string, jute or natural yarns …..use alone or layer this over a thicker ribbon

~ scarves, the thinner ones work best

~men’s ties……this is a fun way to boost up a shirt gift!

~ wire garlands

Keep thinking outside of the box, no pun intended!  I have found over the years the more festive and beautiful a package is, the more the recipient takes their time opening and enjoying the gift!  I think I’ll go rummage around in my storage room for some cool wrapping materials, you never know where ideas blossom from…..