Advice for the Seasonally Challenged

It’s no secret that the holidays can be a busy and stressful time for everyone. Santa is lucky enough to have his elves and Mrs. Claus to help him get everything done but the rest of us are left with the little comfort we can gain from quick conversations with friends in passing at the mall. In order to help my readers in need, this month I have transformed this page into an advice column with answers to your toughest seasonal questions.

Dear Laura,
My daughters swear that the only things they want this year are Zhu Zhu pets, those battery-powered fuzzy hamsters that run on a plastic track. Every toy store is sold out and I don’t want to disappoint. What’s a mom to do?
Desperately Driving to Every Toy Store Within Fifty Miles

Dear Desperately,
When all I wanted was a Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas 1983, my mom swore she wouldn’t get into a fist fight at Toys R Us about it. Instead, she painstakingly sewed Mary Ellen, a homemade doll that vaguely resembled a Cabbage Patch Kid but without the plastic head, vague baby powder scent or Xavier Roberts signature on its rear end. At the time (and for many years afterwards) I was delighted. In retrospect, maybe it was a tad disappointing to not have the real thing. But, as an adult, I can now see her point. So, to make sure your girls are happy on Christmas morning, surprise them with a real hamster and all the necessary accessories. Sure, it will be a messy, smelly, and expensive winter but your girls will be happy. We hope. Let’s just hope that next year they don’t come out with Lu Lu Pets, battery-powered lions who chase after prey on a plastic track.

Dear Laura,
My holiday to-do list is a mile long. Make cookies, set up the tree, decorate the house, shop, wrap, send out cards, the list goes on and on. How am I ever going to get it all done?
Frazzled Franny

Dear Franny,
I would love to tell you some helpful hints to make your holiday less stressful, but if you’re like the rest of us, you’re not going to sleep well until you’ve done all of those things and done them well. So you have to make four dozen cookies for the cookie exchange? Everyone’s going to know if you use Pillsbury refrigerated dough. Have to decorate the house so it looks like a page from Martha Stewart Living? Start buying as much holly as you can get your hands on and I don’t want to hear any excuses about your son’s allergies. Suck it up. Do you really need six hours of sleep? Think of the uninterrupted time you will have to shop online from Midnight until 3 a.m. You’ll get it all done eventually, Franny. And everyone will think you’re perfect.

Dear Laura,
Do you have any tips to make a holiday party fun and easy?
Hostess with the Mostest

Dear Hostess,
My parents’ house is the hub of all the family activity during the holidays so my mom and dad are often entertaining and cooking for a crowd. At Thanksgiving, the turkey was golden brown, the crowd got along famously, and they even planned a neighborhood scavenger hunt between courses. When I asked my mom for the secret to her success, she had a few tips:
- Have your spouse do the dishes while you’re cooking. It will keep him focused and helpful instead of reading the paper on the couch and asking “Can I help?” every few hours.
- Go to the bathroom before the guests come. Then you won’t have to uncomfortably wait in line for the powder room while the food gets cold and the guests get lonely.
- If you are inviting guests who may get into an argument and cause a scene, designate a third guest as the “hall monitor” to keep their fighting limited to the basement rec room.
My mom is available for private party consultations if you would like more tips. This weekend though, she will be busy setting up a fake holiday party at her home so the local paper can get photographs for a feature they’re doing on cookie exchanges.

Dear Laura,
I don’t know what to get my four-year-old niece for the holidays. She has every toy in the toy store, her bookshelves are packed, and clothes just seem boring. Any ideas?
Aunt Who Doesn’t Want to Gift a Pair of Pants

Dear Aunt Pants,
A few years ago, Santa loaded his sleigh to the very top with toys for our house. He brought trains, cars, dolls, books, and everything else on our kids’ lists. The living room looked like a page from “The Night Before Christmas.” A few days later, the kids were bored again and we were wondering what, if anything, we could have bought to keep them occupied for more than a few days. Coincidentally, on the same day, our washing machine died and we had to dip back into the savings account to buy a new one. After the friendly delivery men installed it, we were left with a giant cardboard box. And that’s when we discovered the perfect gift. Our kids played with that cardboard box until spring. They painted it, cut out doors and windows, and moved half their possessions inside. It was a clubhouse, a restaurant, a school house, and a backyard shed. Auntie, get yourself to an appliance store and ask for directions to their dumpster. Your niece will not be disappointed.

Dear Readers,
Whether you’re racing around like crazy to get everything finished or taking things calmly and rationally, I hope all of you have a happy and safe holiday season. While I love to joke about making sure everything is picture perfect, you don’t have to be the perfect shopper, hostess, or chef to make sure you and your family have an enjoyable season. After all, if kids can have endless fun with a cardboard box, you can have a truly happy holiday with refrigerated dough, generic knock-off toys, and a dysfunctional family. However you decide to celebrate this year, do it with peace and joy.
Laughing Laura at her Laptop

People...People Who Read People

I have been a faithful subscriber to People magazine for at least 8 years now. I am slightly ashamed to say it but the truth is, I love People. I like to know what’s happening in Hollywood (have you seen George Clooney’s new girlfriend?), what happens behind the scenes of my favorite tv shows and movies (Jon Gosselin needs to get a life!), what celebrities do with their kids (People had a photo of Suri Cruise wearing high heels!), and all the gossip, blatant self-promotion, and Britney Spears psychotic episodes that fill the pages in between.

I know it’s ridiculous. I consider myself very well-read. I’m college-educated and what’s more, I’m a writer. But everyone has a guilty pleasure and mine is People. It takes my mind away from my daily routine and transports me to a world of fluff and nonsense.

The members of my book group share a guilty pleasure that takes them away from their daily routine: the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer. These women are major Twilight fans. They inevitably spend a few minutes of each book group meeting reliving their favorite parts of the books, discussing when the next movie will come out, and sharing fan websites they’ve discovered. One time, they selected iron-on t-shirt transfers based on whether they belong to “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” No one has actually shown up to book club wearing their t-shirt but I have a strong suspicion that it’s only because the shirts are crumpled at home in a laundry pile.

When the first book in the Twilight series appeared as one of our book club picks, I voted for the group to read it. It wasn’t like the types of novels that I usually read, but I’d heard lots about it in People and just had to see what all the fuss was about.

In case you have been living under a rock, the books chronicle the love affair between Bella, a shy but beautiful teen and the elusive but gorgeous classmates that catch her eye at school. I’m not spoiling anything by telling you they turn out to be vampires. When Bella begins to fall for one of them, a lot of drama (and possibly blood-letting) ensue.

To be honest, I don’t know how it all turns out. I couldn’t bring myself to finish the book. Vampires just aren’t my thing. But, according to my research in People, they are actually quite “the thing.” There’s another series of books that have been turned into a popular HBO show called “True Blood” and more books, shows, and movies are on their way.

(People research also indicates that pirates are now out. Just thought I should let everyone know.)

The books that I do enjoy share one major similarity: they are all based in reality. To me, a good story is something that could actually happen in the real world. I’ve read and enjoyed everything from Pride and Prejudice to The Namesake to so-called “chick lit” and just about everything in between. All of the books I like feature plots that could actually happen in real life.

A few years ago, I was on a young adult kick and read The Princess Diaries. Mia, a nerdy San Francisco teen, discovers she’s actually the ruler of a small nation called Genovia. Far-fetched? Yes. Could it actually happen? Yes.

Could a young boy find out that he possesses the ability to become a powerful wizard and travel to a magical boarding school to learn his craft well enough to destroy the dark lord who has vowed to kill him? No. I’m not a Harry Potter fan. Also, I don’t like Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, or any of their movie adaptations.

My husband, an English teacher, has spent many hours explaining to me that it doesn’t matter that these stories are not real. He has told me to look beyond the plot and try to take the lessons and relate them to the real world.

Harry Potter, he explains, is essentially an unlikely hero who is burdened with greatness. It’s a classic storyline that has been repeated in books for centuries, he tells me. I just can’t do it. All those Quidditch matches just get in the way.

Maybe that’s why I like People so much. It is entirely possible that Robert Pattinson (the star of the “Twlight” movies) is dating co-star Kristen Stewart. In fact, People has the photos of them canoodling to prove it. It is also entirely possible, per a sidebar in People, that there was tension on the set of “New Moon,” the newest Twilight movie to be released this month.

Is it possible that I will go to the theater with the book group and see “New Moon” when it comes out?

Maybe.

I better wait and read the review in People before I decide.

A Letter in Today's Mail

Dear Eb,
Miss you so much! Can't take one more minute of this. Miss you.
Love you,
Mackenzie

TMI

Here's a link to my column for the October issue of MV Parent. It's all about getting too much information.

http://www.mvparentonline.com/articles.php

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

I decided that I can't continue with the Pros and Cons about the first day of school. I've spent all day agonizing day over what to write today and I realized it all boils down into one...

Con: I hate when things change.

Pro: Eventually I'll get used to everything being different. And, at the very worst, I'll have plenty of time to seek professional counseling to help me get through it.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

My latest MV Parent article came out today. This month, I hired a co-writer to help me out. Luckily she's a good writer with a good sense of humor and the only difficulty of working with her was that she was overly concerned about hurting someone's feelings. Still, I would definitely hire her again.

You can read the finished product at http://www.mvparentonline.com/articles.php.

T-Minus Eight Days...

I know from my Facebook friends that I am not the only mom counting down until the first day of school. Only eight more days of whining, arguing, and the constant moaning, "I'm bored."

The first few days of school will inevitably be peaceful and relaxing for us moms. But, I wonder if I will still be as happy after a week or two.

In order to figure this out, I have decided to come up with a list of Pros and Cons about the first day of school. Each day, I will post a new entry listing a positive thing about the kids going back to school and a negative thing.

I thought of today's Pro and Con at lunch...

Con: I will have to eat lunch alone.

Pro: Actually, I learned that a few old friends of mine are free to keep me company during lunch. It turns out that Kelly, Dylan, Brandon, Brenda, Steve, Donna, and David are available every day from 11-1 on channel 68. Good thing we got a tv for the kitchen. Those guys will make me feel like I'm eating at the Peach Pit every day. And, as far as I know, none of THEM has a peanut allergy so we can eat whatever we want.

I Couldn't Make This Up if I Tried

It's not just me who's in the holiday spirit. This morning, I was doing some chores upstairs but ran down to switch the laundry. As I was coming down the stairs, I heard Sister Bear singing to herself in the living room. What was she singing? "Frosty the Snowman." Next thing you know, Brother Bear will be singing for me to "Have a Holly Jolly First Day of School."

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Yes, I know it’s August but the other day, my own little Brother Bear insisted that I read him The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas. Sister Bear wandered in during the reading and when it was done, she burst out in “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” and Brother and I enthusiastically joined in. If it wasn’t for the thermometer’s declaring that it was 93 degrees outside, I could have sworn it was December.

In The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas, Santa Bear discovers that the citizens of Bear Country have been focusing more on shopping, decorating, and baking and less on the spiritual and meaningful parts of Christmas. He threatens to cancel the holidays until he visits the Bear family tree house and sees that Mama, Papa, Sister, and Brother really do know the true meaning of Christmas.

Maybe reading the book is playing tricks on my mind, but despite the heat and humidity, it really does feel like the holidays around here. There are only seventeen summer days left until the kids head to school and Christmas arrives at this Bear family’s tree house. I’ve been waiting eight years for this particular first day of school when Brother Bear, the youngest in our family, starts full-time kindergarten and I’m anticipating it the same way I used to wait for Christmas when I was a child.

The way I figure, this Christmas will be chock full of gifts for Mama Bear. When Brother starts kindergarten, I’ll be free from the chains of “staying home.” Uninterrupted chores, lunch with friends, a stolen moment with the television, an afternoon at the farmer’s market, the opportunity to supplement our measly income…the possibilities seem endless. Without a child in tow, I can finally accomplish, without interruption, those chores and errands that have bugged me for eight years.

I have stayed home to care for our children since the day Sister Bear was born eight years ago. “Staying home” for me meant a steady stream of part-time paid jobs, working nights and weekends when Papa Bear was around to care for the children. During the day, it meant playgroups, swim lessons, trips to the library, Mommy and Me classes, and eventually, a few mornings of preschool. It meant playdough on the kitchen table, storytime on the couch, arts and crafts, bike rides, sledding, and any other kind of fun I could improvise. I think I’m a pretty fun Mama Bear. Just the other day we went to the splash playground and I was out there with the kids making up relay races and games in the sprinklers. For eight years, we played together, laughed together, watched Nick Jr. together, and tried desperately to entertain each other during long cold winter afternoons.

And there were many long cold afternoons. Staying home can be boring, annoying, thankless, and tedious. While my part-time jobs did a lot to save my sanity, at home with the kids, there never seems to be time to think or plan or dream. Instead, my daydreams are often interrupted with a request for more apple juice.

I wonder if things are about to change. With the cubs in school for six hours every day, will I find time to get some peace of mind?

For all my talk of watching TV and browsing at the mall, I know I’m kidding myself. Somehow my part-time jobs will start to become closer to full-time and we will use our extra income to fix things around the tree house instead of our much talked-about tenth anniversary celebration. Brother Bear’s teacher will surely ask for help in the classroom and there will inevitably be sick days for all. Half of my friends still have little ones at home so unless I plan to head to their house for PB&J, a leisurely lunch with stimulating conversation is probably not going to happen.

Santa Bear might be on to something. This Mama Bear needs to stop making a list and checking it twice. Instead, I need to focus on the simpler things. When the kids are at school, I really will try to set aside a few minutes for quiet thought. After all, I have a lot to think about after the last eight years. I spent all that time raising two smart, happy, self-assured, and thoughtful children. And just because the kids are in school doesn’t mean my job is done. Instead, I hope that from now on I can meet those challenges with a clearer mind and a new perspective. It will be kind of like having a white Christmas.

New Restaurant Coming Soon!

When we were in Clinton, NJ last week for vacation, we noticed a new restaurant was coming to town. The sign says its called "Antnee's Portugese BBQ and Texas Weiner." It's located next door to my favorite Chinese food place, which is called "Bo Bo Kitchen." I wonder if they have a Zagat guide to Clinton, NJ yet. If they do, I'm putting in my name to do some reviews.