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Nov
21
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 Regression back to our teenage selves is not uncommon during family holiday gatherings. We enter a relative’s home as an adult, but somehow once we’re seated at the table (and barely before the turkey has been passed around) we’re behaving like we’re 30 years younger. Oh, those familiar smells, faces, and conversations — coupled with lots of memories — make for a tricky recipe.
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Archive for the ‘Family Holidays & Vacations’ Category
Blog Posts by Barbara Greenberg
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Dec
10
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Family holiday traditions help you build some annual activities your children can enjoy each year and anticipate ways they can be creative in their level of participation. As your children mature, they can take a more active part in some of these traditions. Here are some examples of holiday traditions you may wish to start with your family.
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Jul
07
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I have come to the conclusion that my current life stage could be titled, “Juggling for Dummies” or “The Idiot’s Guide to Managing Life in the Sandwich Generation.”
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Mar
11
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Despite loving a good snow storm that shuts everything down, I have now joined the group of Northeast dwelling sufferers of SAD — Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is simply too white and gray out there. One snow day was perfect; the added bonus of many, a tad bit too much. When offered the choice of “fight” or “flight” recently, I didn’t even have to think about it – I resolved to get out of town as soon as I could. Either that or dig a hole like the one that Punxsatawney Phil, the groundhog, lives in and retreats for another several weeks. Both pose problems, however, namely the fact that as moms or caretakers it means we will now need to oversee and supervise (micro-manage?) from remote locations. But thanks to cell phones and computers, this is all just a button away.
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Jan
08
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***Warning! Mature content. If you’re under the age of 10, please contact an adult before reading further.*** It seemed to mark some kind of milestone – a point of no return – that one went through on the path to adulthood. 2009 marked my older son’s first Christmas without … Santa Claus. It was, as was so aptly put in the movie, The Polar Express (which my 6 year-old insisted on watching some 35 times this season), the “end of the magic”.Â
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Dec
18
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Anyone who grew up watching Little House on the Prairie remembers the show where the Ingalls children find a tin cup, a peppermint stick and a shiny penny under the tree in the cold log cabin in Minnesota. In flapping night dresses and sleep bonnets they dance merrily around the fire as Pa plays his fiddle. Laura and Mary don’t necessarily love the plain tin cups, but they feel special knowing the cups mean they don’t have to share anymore. The intrinsic value goes far beyond the cost of the tin. Things have not changed all that much from those pioneer days.
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Dec
14
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Here we are, in the last and craziest month of the year, when everything seems to move at warp speed. Everyone’s running around like a bunch of squirrels on espresso (as is our national tradition), buying Christmas and Hanukkah presents, going to parties, checking our budgets twice — and trying to keep it all together.  I’m definitely not immune to this manic pace — I’ve had a few crazy days in the last few weeks myself, believe me — but it’s nothing compared to how I used to be. You see, a few years ago, I figured out the secret of slowing down the holidays and not losing my mind. While I can’t follow my own advice as much as I’d like, here’s the holiday game plan that I try to stick to each year:
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Jun
18
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So I’m writing out the checks like they are going out of style. Summer piano lessons, summer swim lessons, summer tennis lessons, summer art class, summer drama club, summer soccer camp. I’m justifying all this layout of cash by promising myself that I appreciate the opportunities that this area offers and that this is a great time to introduce the kids to things they can try and maybe learn to love for a lifetime. Right? Who am I kidding? This is summer vacation, isn’t it? Who really gets the vacation if I’m still on a schedule and if I’m spending these glorious hot summer days, sweltering in some parking lot waiting to shuttle my kids to the next fun scheduled activity?
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