Search Results for: blog birthdays and holidays

Birthday Parties and Holidays

Tonight Logan and I went to one of his friend’s birthday parties at Jungle Jim’s here in Utah. This little boy’s mother and I have been friends for several years and have watched each other go through the many struggles of single parenting. However, tonight I watched as her and her ex put aside all their differences so that they could both be there to celebrate their little one’s birthday. They stood beside each other as they took their son around to each of the different rides and laughed and joked with each other about how cute the kids were … Continue reading →

Birthdays and Holidays

As a single parent you never dreamed that you wouldn’t get to spend every single holiday with your child. Having to share birthdays and holidays can get rather complicated sometimes. No matter what you do, someone is left missing your child. For some of us this gets even more complicated because of when our children’s birthdays fall. My son happened to be born on his father’s birthday, causing things to be a little more difficult now that we’re divorced. According to the statute here in Utah the parent’s birthdays aren’t taken into account, so we are supposed to alternate just … Continue reading →

Does Your Baby Give Gifts On Holidays?

Since my daughter was born, I’ve had the joy of experiencing a number of holidays for the first time as a mother. There’s something about sharing big days with a child that make it so much more meaningful and exciting. Holidays we’ve shared so far include Halloween, where we laughed at how cute our baby looked in her costume; Christmas, where we bought our honey a myriad of presents, even though she wasn’t old enough to open them; and Easter, where we all cheered when we got a picture of our daughter smiling with her Easter basket. For those holidays, … Continue reading →

Letting the Holidays Drag You Down

What is it about holidays that seem to drag you down when you have been doing so well with eating healthy and exercising? I don’t know if you can relate but it seems every time there is a holiday or celebration, I fall. Not only did we celebrate Easter this past weekend but we also had two birthdays in our family to celebrate. So there was plenty of candy and cake. For some reason when we are enjoying a holiday I tend to overeat. During other times of eating, I keep my portions small. But it seems like there is … Continue reading →

A Family Important Events and Anniversaries Calendar

A friend of mine has one of those perpetual birthday calendars on her wall. You know, it’s the kind of calendar you can use year after year to remember people’s birthdays. She doesn’t use it for birthdays though, but for their family anniversaries. At first I didn’t understand. At my house we celebrate birthdays, and a lot of holidays, and our wedding anniversary. But that’s it for anniversaries. And I remember our wedding anniversary anyway. On my friend’s calendar she has all sorts of anniversary days marked: the day her children learned how to walk; the day they moved into … Continue reading →

Family Traditions: Celebrations for Holidays and Everyday – Elizabeth Berg

You may know Elizabeth Berg as the author of Talk Before Sleep, Joy School, Open House, or one of her other novels. She’s also the author of a non-fiction book called Family Traditions: Celebrations for Holidays and Everyday. It’s one of my favorite books on traditions, and one I often give as a wedding present. Family Traditions has many inspiring ideas for busy families. The book speaks to any family, even non-traditional ones. The introduction has a sentence that I love, “The most important thing is that we understand the need for celebration: It lifts days away from other days, … Continue reading →

Goodbye Birthdays, Hello Holidays

Okay, two more birthdays have come and gone and they are the last two of the year (at least as far as immediate or nearly immediate family goes). With each person another year older, presents unwrapped and currently occupying the living room, and finally the birthday goodies are almost gone, it’s time for me to start looking toward the holidays. With a smudge of birthday cake frosting still on my lips, I’m writing my list and starting to plan. Halloween is going to be easy. We already have most of what we need for costumes. A little candy and a … Continue reading →

Odds and Ends: Birthdays and Tailgate Parties

Do you have any parties planned between now and the onset of the holidays? Maybe you do a Halloween or Harvest party. We’ll get into those soon, but for now, here are a couple of tips for some other types of fall parties. Birthday Party Idea Instead of a typical, disposable party tablecloth, cover a table with poster board. Have all the kids sign it, adding various notes and doodles. Your child will have a great memento of the party. Another option is to supply a smaller piece of poster board or card stock, one that will fit inside a … Continue reading →

Murphy, Kitty, and Tabby: In Pursuit of the Perfect Birthday Card for Papa

Today is Feel the Love Day. It also happens to be Wayne’s birthday, which is one of the three times of year Team Pryor feels the heat to show their captain how much we revere him. And do we feel the heat! (Refer to Murphy, Kitty, and Tabby’s Dilemma: What to Get Wayne for Father’s Day.) Well, in an unusual move for me, I waited until the last second to get birthday cards. I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought I had them, but I didn’t. I think I had seen some a couple of months back, but … Continue reading →

“Basketball Chicken” and other Family Traditions

Strong, functioning families have their own traditions and special identifiers. I’m not talking just about holidays and birthdays here—but those little daily things—sayings, secret nicknames and language, and activities that are unique to your family that all help to identify and bond a family together. After nearly twenty years, our little family has all sorts of things that are unique to our family. Whenever a new person gets to know us well and becomes an “insider,” they are indoctrinated into our special sayings, the history of nicknames, created recipes, and other “secret” details. Since we’ve been through a divorce and … Continue reading →