February 8th, 2010 01:06pm
Holiday of love, or of dread?
When I was a kid, Valentine’s Day was a holiday to look forward to. It was a treat to wake up on Valentine’s Day to see what surprises were left for us at our place on the kitchen table. While most mornings were littered with pleas from us to wait “5 more minutes” before we got up, Valentine’s Day was treated much like Christmas – we were up before the sun. At the table there would be three places set with a little chocolate box, some candy hearts, a Valentine’s Day card, a Pez dispenser, and a new pair of Valentine’s Day socks. Sometimes there would be a little trinket, like a heart shaped glass bead on a chain or a little box with some gold coins on it. But always, there was the surprise of small treats that meant the world for us. After a breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes, we would grab our bag of homemade valentines for our classmates, excited for a day when we received at least 30 new valentines. At the end of the day our bellies would be full of candy and cookies, and our teeth coated with the sugar of little confectioner’s hearts that had messages of “Be mine” and “XOXO”. Then we would read through every single valentine to see if there was some hidden message between the lines of Garfield proclaiming his love for lasagna on a folded piece of pink paper that the cutest boy sent out to every girl in the class.As adults, Valentine’s Day gets much harder. (more…)
Dear friends and family,
I think mythical creatures are a part of every kid’s childhood. The tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, mischievous leprechauns…. I remember waking up on Christmas morning, astounded by all Santa had been able to fit into his sleigh. My dad would always wait to light the fire, and us kids would ooh and aah over the boot print left in the ashes. Santa would always leave us a personal letter addressed to each of us, telling us how we’d been such good kids, and giving us pointers on how we could help our parents more. He’d always thank us for the Cob feed and carrots we left for the reindeer, and could never quite finish the eggnog we left him, complete with crumbs in the bottom of the glass. One year he left us a piece of the sleigh – a red piece of felt with bells sewed on. We believed with all our hearts. 
Do you have a holiday list that is larger than your budget? The holidays are not a reason to go into debt, or a time of dread. Here are a few tips on keeping your bank account intact, and still enjoying what is supposed to be a wonderful time of the year.
Life seemed to start when my daughter was born in February of 1998. I was 20 years old and I knew nothing about motherhood. 3 years later and I also became the mom of a son. But when I look back at all that now, I can see that this was only the prologue. Life changes, and mine certainly did when I became a divorced mom with two kids to raise.