LilSugar

How Do You Celebrate the Holidays: jessie

LilSugar — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:00:24 -0800

The holidays are finally here! A few lilsugar readers shared their holiday plans, traditions, and pastimes with us. Thanks to jessie for today's read!

jessie is a stay-at-home mom and mother of three. She and her husband Mike have been married for 12 and a half years and live in Oregon with their children, Jimmy, 9, Jason, 7, and Isabella, 5. Since they moved from Indiana last February, this will be their first Christmas without extended family.

lilsugar: What is the most magical part of the holiday season for your family?
jessie: Everything about Christmas is magical to us. Every time any of us sees or hears anything Christmas related it never fails to make us smile.

lilsugar: What is the hot wishlist item in your household this year?
jessie: The Wii.

To get jessie's recipe for sand tarts and find out if her kids still believe in Santa, read more.

lilsugar: Please share your family's favorite holiday recipe and the story
behind it.
jessie: I actually found this recipe in Guidepost. My whole family LOVES it. I've passed the recipe on to my Mom and sister and they have shared it, too.

Sand Tarts
2 sticks butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour (sifted)
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter, add vanilla, and stir. Sift flour and powdered sugar together and add to mixture, then add pecans. After mixing all ingredients together, form into long rolls, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Slice into thin cookies and place on a cookie sheet. (I use parchment paper) Preheat oven to 300°F. Bake for a 10-15 minutes. Roll cookies in additional powdered sugar and cool. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

lilsugar: Do your children still believe in Santa?
jessie: Jimmy does not, but he knows that if he wants gifts to say "yes" he does. And, Jason and Isabella do believe in Santa.

How Do You Celebrate the Holidays: macgirl

LilSugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:00:09 -0800

The holidays are finally here! A few lilsugar readers shared their holiday plans, traditions and pastimes with us. Thanks to macgirl for today's read!

macgirl is the proud mama of two sons, Dylan, 9 and Grayden, 11 months. She and her husband own an Apple authorized service and sales business. Since the techs are both fairly geeky, she says there's always a lot of gaming going on in their house. And, this year they added to the excitement by moving into their dream home.

lilsugar: What is the most magical part of the holiday season for your family?
macgirl: The holidays are nice as things slow down and we get a little bit more time off and can take a break from the daily grind. This year is especially magical as we are in our new home and ready to start our own traditions. One of the things we like to do on Christmas day is just have an open house invite. Food and drinks are served all day long and people can come and go as they please. It's a nice way to take away some of the pressures of having to be places by specific times. Our guests seem to enjoy it.

To hear about the hot items on macgirl's family's wishlist and a favorite festive recipe, read more.

lilsugar: What is the hot wishlist item in your household this year?
macgirl: Well, we cheated a bit and bought the big family gift on Black Friday. A nice flat screen Samsung TV for the living room. The boys have wishlists of their own though. Dylan is hoping to get a PSP and Grayden loves the Elmo Live. I'm sure I'll regret that one soon enough, but he just gets so excited when we visit Elmo at Target.

lilsugar: Please share your family's favorite holiday recipe and the story
behind it.
macgirl: My husband makes these amazing Apple Pancakes. They are so rich and heavy you can only eat a few before you think you're going to die.

1.5 cups self rising flour
1/2 sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 apples peeled and grated
1tsp butter

Mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Beat the egg and milk
together and then pour into the flour/sugar/cinnamon bowl. After you
mix the dry and wet ingredients together stir in the grated apple.
Make them on the small side as they are incredibly dense and filling.

lilsugar: Do your children still believe in Santa?
macgirl: Dylan actually asked me a few weeks ago if Santa was real. I asked him what he thought and he got a bit flustered and said, "I just want to know the truth." It broke my heart a bit that he's growing up. Luckily I get to start this whole process over again with Grayden.

How Do You Celebrate the Holidays: schnappycat

LilSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:00:41 -0800

The holidays are finally here! A few lilsugar readers shared their holiday plans, traditions and pastimes with us. Thanks to schnappycat for today's read!

schnappycat is a stay-at-home mom to 11-month-old, Evan, but in a former life, she worked in corporate marketing, She now fills her spare (barely there) time as a competitive synchronized figure skater. She and her husband Dave are both proud University of Michigan grads and remain true to their roots, even though they live outside of Denver.

lilsugar: What is the most magical part of the holiday season for your family?
schnappycat: I have always thought the anticipation of Christmas was magical. There is something beautiful and exciting about the few days leading up to the big day, with the preparations, traditions, and discussions about the fun things to come. I especially find myself in a state of perpetual breathlessness on Christmas Eve, eager to have morning come, but at the same time savoring each moment of anticipation. This year, I think this will be especially true because I’ll also be looking at the holiday through my son’s eyes. It will be lovely!

To hear more about her holiday and get a festive peanut butter brownie trifle recipe, read more.

lilsugar: What is the hot wish list item in your household this year?
schnappycat: Evan is still too young to know what the hot toys are this season and I prefer to keep my house “Elmo free” as long as possible. But my husband and I have talked about breaking down and buying a Wii for us. I’m a bit technologically inept, so I’d also love a Flip camcorder to easily record and upload videos of Evan.

lilsugar: What is your family's favorite holiday recipe?
schnappycat: Since this is our first holiday with a child, we are still creating new traditions to share with our son. One dessert that my husband and I have made during the past few holidays is a Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle. Sadly, there is no great story behind this tradition, but it’s certainly a delicious addition to the season. I plan to continue including it in the holiday festivities each year. Hopefully Evan likes chocolate as much as his mom!

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle
Ingredients:
1 (21.4-oz) pkg. chocolate brownie mix, chocolate peanut butter brownie mix, or peanut butter brownie mix (any type of mix is acceptable)
1 (5.1-oz) pkg. vanilla instant pudding
½ c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. whipping cream, whipped
3 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-½ c. coarsely chopped peanut butter cups candies (Reese’s or other)
Garnish (opt.): additional peanut butter cups candies, sliced

Brownie Preparation:
Bake brownies as indicated on box. Cool completely. With sharp knife, cut brownies into ¾-inch pieces.

Pudding Mixture Preparation:
Combine vanilla pudding mix and milk in a large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add peanut butter and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Gently fold in ½ of whipped cream. Set remaining whipped cream aside.

To Complete:
Place ½ of brownies in bottom of 3-quart trifle bowl. Top with 1-¼ cups chopped peanut butter cup candies and ½ of pudding mixture. Repeat layers with remaining ½ of brownies, 1-¼ cups chopped peanut butter candies, and pudding mixture. Pipe or spoon reserved whipped cream over trifle. Garnish, if desired.

Yield: Approximately 12 servings.

Notes:
*This dessert is best served after chilling in refrigerator overnight. The flavors mix together the longer it remains in the refrigerator.
*Since this is layered, it probably doesn't matter if brownies and candies are more or less liberally layered.

lilsugar: Do your children still believe in Santa?
schnappycat: Evan has no concept of Santa yet, and was a bit confused and scared as to why he was forced to sit on a strange bearded man’s lap at the mall. Next year will probably be much more Santa focused. I’m looking forward to him getting excited about Santa!

How Do You Celebrate the Holidays?: meandtheo

LilSugar — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:00:47 -0800

Why wait to celebrate? This month a few lilsugar readers will be sharing their holiday plans, traditions and pastimes with us. Thanks to meandtheo for helping us kick off this festive feature!

Prior to parenthood, meandtheo and her husband vowed to travel the world and spend time enjoying one another. They lived in Europe and taught at an international school before settling down in San Francisco to start a family. They are now the proud mom and pop of Stella, 1. meantheo is a former kindergarten teacher turned stay-at-home mom and she said there are plans to give her daughter a sibling!

To see what makes the holidays special for meandtheo and her family, read more.

lilsugar: What is the most magical part of the holiday season for your family?
meandtheo: "The most magical part of the holidays for us is getting to be with all of our family and friends. We are transplants to San Francisco from Colorado so every year no matter where we are in the world we head "home" for the holidays. All of our family (my husband's and mine) and friends from back in the day are there and we get to spend good quality time with them. We always stay for at least a week and my mother-in-law hosts a holiday party for all of our friends and their families. We spend the time playing with nieces and nephews, laughing with old friends and staying up late catching up with our families. I wouldn't trade this time for anything. It is so special to us and I am so happy to take Stella back this year so she can really enjoy the holiday season with everyone. She made the journey last December but was just over two months old; this year she will start to understand what makes it so "magical"."

lilsugar: What is the hot wish list item in your household this year?
meandtheo: "The adults in the family rarely exchange gifts...the loot goes to all the kids. This year I am planning on giving Stella the Kettler Air Happy Bike, which our neighbor has and leaves parked in the driveway teasing poor little Stella...she heads for it every time we walk past their house, now she will have her own!"

lilsugar: What is your family's favorite holiday recipe?
meandtheo: "Monkey Bread...we have monkey bread every Xmas morning (yes oh so nutritious). after all the gifts have been opened and we sit down to our Xmas breakfast everyone is looking forward to the monkey bread that my mother-in-law has to make four loaves of...
The recipe is as follows:
2 Cans of BUTTERMILK Grands biscuits, 1 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tbs cinnamon, 1 full cup of butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar. Mix one cup of sugar & the cinnamon - dip cut up biscuit sections in this and arrange in a heavily greased bundt pan. Pour remaining cin sugar mix on top. Melt the butter and add the last 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar - bring to a light boil. Pour over biscuit pieces. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
*If I make it I always layer in a can of Apple Pie filling with the biscuits before baking, as well.*"

lilsugar: Do your children still believe in Santa?
meandtheo: "Stella is just starting to understand who Santa is, so the simple answer is yes."

Are You Attending Multiple Thanksgiving Celebrations?

partysugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:00:39 -0800

This year, my older brother and his buddies decided to plan an epic golfing weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. He knows how important Thanksgiving is to me, so he's heading to my parent's house this weekend. My family will feast with him on Sunday and then celebrate as we normally do with my grandfather on Thursday. How about you?

Source: Flickr User *clairity*

Ask a Party Planner: Should I Date Outside My Religion?

TresSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Conventional Wisdom is a different kind of advice column. Your questions will be answered by people from all walks of life rather than by advice experts. If you have a question you'd like answered on Conventional Wisdom, you can submit it here.

This week, a party planner offers advice to a woman unsure about a new love interest. After you read her answer, be sure to check out our Group Therapy group where I found this question.

Today's Question:

I'm a single 32-year-old woman and I am under immense pressure to get married from my family and community. I have been single for two years since my last relationship, and four months ago I met this guy and started dating him. We quickly got close and we really care for each other. He wants me to be his girlfriend now, however there a few issues with us - he is only 28 and from another religion. If this goes anywhere, then we are sure to face opposition from both our families. We are from cultures where our families mean a lot to us.

We have talked about this being a long-term relationship, but we have yet to figure out if we will end up married since it's obviously too early. I'm wondering if I should date other guys while we figure this out. I really don't want to, but my friends warn me to not put all my eggs in one basket, especially when he is four years younger than me. I also worry that our religions will come between us in the future.

What should I do? Date other guys, or be his girlfriend and see this through?

Signed, Unsure

To see the party planner's answer, read more.

Dear Unsure,

It seems like there are two issues here: first, his age, and second, your religions. Let's discuss.

I think you should not worry about his age. Twenty-eight is old enough to be in a serious, committed relationship if that's what he wants. Like you said, it's early in the relationship, so you can't predict whether you two are going to get married. But there is only one way to find out - by dating him exclusively.

As for the religion issue: this is something to seriously consider. But I think you need to figure out if you're willing to date someone with a different background - is it worth it to you, not your family, to work through the inevitable obstacles (like choosing how to celebrate holidays, or how to raise kids)? As for your family, I think that they will be more supportive than you think. If you're happy, they should be happy for you too. And you say this guy really values his family, so I think it's great that you found someone who thinks his family is important - just like you do.

If you really like this guy, it's worth giving it a chance. Good luck.

Signed,
A party planner

Lil Links: Everyone Is Irish on St. Patty's Day

LilSugar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:00:40 -0700

Get your Irish on today! - Alpha Mom
Michelle Obama goes on the road to meet military families - Cookie
Julia Roberts had breastfeeding time built into her Duplicity shooting schedule - Celebrity Baby Blog
Harry Connick Jr. and his daughters take a holiday in St. Barts - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Will you tell your baby you did IVF to conceive? - CafeMom
Second-generation female condom approved - Health
Prince William remembers his mother - ParentDish
Pippi stool for kids - Inhabitots
Will your kids be embarrassed by you? - The Poop
How do you deal with bullies - Momversation
5 steps to going green for your family - Fit Pregnancy

Holiday Survival: Keep Track to Keep the Pounds Off

FitSugar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0800

Generous pours, savory hors d'oeuvres, and sweet nibbles make it difficult to leave a holiday party knowing how much you actually consumed. The eating and drinking is drawn out through the entire night, so you may not notice when you've actually eaten enough to make a full meal. And when you have three holiday parties in one weekend, those unaccounted for calories can really add up.

Combat holiday-related weight by tracking what you consume at each event, even if you don't usually keep a food diary. Once you put it in writing on one piece of paper, the glasses of bubbly champagne, bacon-wrapped prawns, and to-die-for truffles form a big picture of the calories you've consumed. Even if you think you escaped most of the tempting goodies and stuck by the crudités, write it all down.

Next time you're headed to a holiday celebration take a peek at your diary from the previous party. If you didn't eat as well as you would have liked, it will motivate you to do better, and if you ate healthily, it will encourage you to do the same at your upcoming event.

Source

Burn Some Holiday Calories

FitSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:30:00 -0800

For me, the holidays are all about eating, drinking, and general merry making with friends and family. All that celebrating can add up to gaining at least five unnecessary pounds. That is no way to ring in the New Year. If you can't make it to the gym, you can maximize the calorie burning potential in your holiday chores. I have made a little chart to help find some ways to burn those extra holiday calories. All the calculations are based on a 130 to 140 pound woman.

To see how you can burn it up, just read more.

Activity	Calories burned
Go shopping. After each store, instead of lugging your bags around, walk back to your car. The extra trips back and forth will burn more calories.	1 hour burns 207 calories.
Wrap gifts.	30 minutes burns 48 calories.
Vacuum, dust, wash floors, scrub the bathrooms, and do other house cleaning to get ready for guests.	1 hour burns 191 calories.
Drive to the Christmas Tree Farm, hike around to find the perfect tree and cut it down.	30 minutes burns 100 calories.
Decorate the tree, and go up and down the ladder to decorate your house with lights.	1 hour burns 250 calories.
Light holiday baking.	1 hour burns 159 calories.
Shoveling snow from your driveway and walkway by hand.	1 hour burns 374 calories.
Take a walk around your neighborhood to deliver holiday cards.	1 hour burns 207 calories.
Nature hike before dinner.	30 minutes burns 190 calories.

Source

6 Ideas For a Recession-Proof Valentine's Day!

DearSugar — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Valentine's Day is marketed to the masses as a day to spoil your significant other with roses, candy, and gifts, but at the end of the day, this holiday is really about appreciating the people you love. Since so many of you are watching your pocketbooks a little more closely these days, I thought I'd give you some ideas on how to celebrate this day of love without breaking the bank. If you have any ideas to share, please do so in the comments below! Source

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