The Saturday Post: Thanksgiving carol edition

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One of the radio stations in my city started playing Christmas music this past week. Which is ridiculous. That station is not allowed to be played in my house. Not yet.

I love Christmas music. In my house, though, Christmas carols are forbidden until the day after Thanksgiving. At the very earliest—if we really cannot wait—they're allowed Thanksgiving night, once all the Thanksgiving festivities are done and over.

With too much rush to get from Halloween to Christmas, Thanksgiving is fast becoming a forgotten holiday. Except for the turkey.

Perhaps part of the problem with Thanksgiving's appeal and popularity is the lack of Thanksgiving songs and carols. There is one, though. And I think it should be shared with grandkids and big kids alike. I'm pretty sure all will enjoy it. Except for the turkey.

It goes like this:

 

Celebrate the season. The Thanksgiving season. Thanksgiving Day will be here and gone far sooner than we all might hope. Especially for the turkey.

Happy Saturday!

The Saturday Post: Scrooge McDuck and Halloween spending edition

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After seeing the infographic below on how much folks spend on average for Halloween, I'm feeling much like Scrooge McDuck in terms of my Halloween preparation. Not only have I not bought my Halloween candy yet, I've not even purchased a pumpkin for carving or set out the most minimal of spooky decor.

Of course, I do have an excuse, having been in the desert with my grandsons for the past week. Take a look at these numbers and let me know in the comments how you fare...if you dare.

Courtesy of: CashNetUSA It's Economic

A little scary, isn't it? Prepared or not, I hope you enjoy this last Saturday of the Halloween season.

Brave chickens

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My girls — No longer this crazy but now twice as brave.
 

The spookiness of the season seems to be taking its toll on my grandsons.

Mac, who's 16 months old and has been sleeping through the night for quite some time, has awakened screaming in the middle of the night for more than a week now. After ruling out illness, teething, earaches and pains, the only logical reason may be nightmares attributed to spider and ghost decor, plus viewings of Mickey's House of Villains at Bubby's side.

And Bubby, who loves those cartoons of Donald and Mickey braving scary places and villains in his current favorite DVD, doesn't fare as well with his own made-up tales. Megan said Bubby asked for a flashlight a few evenings ago and for Megan to join him in a spooky storytelling session. Only, once Bubby started telling the spooky made-up tale he hoped to share, he declared, "No, I gotta stop! It's too scary!" Megan tried to convince him that as he was the storyteller, the degree of spookiness was completely up to him, yet Bubby refused to go on.

Megan's concerned a bit by Mac's fears, chuckles a bit at Bubby's. I told her to consider what a chicken she was as a child. This is the daughter who, all the way up until leaving for college, would literally run to and from the bathroom if she had to pee in the middle of the night and who used a night light up until she got married. Heck, I'm pretty sure she still uses a night light—disguised as two baby monitors she swears she can't yet give up, for the boys' sake, of course.

Megan is a chicken. Her boys clearly take after her.

In so many other ways, though, Megan is far from a chicken, and brave far beyond what I ever expected of my chicken little girl. She was the first daughter to go far away to a college where she knew no one, a place seven hours from home. She also was the first to move far away from the family home after college to make her own home with her husband. And she was the first to bravely run an official half marathon race—a challenge she asked her sisters to do along with her, for their first times, in just a few weeks.

Her sisters accepted the invitation and will fly to the desert the first weekend of November to run 13.1 miles with Megan. Which shouldn't surprise me as my girls—typically so very different in so very many ways—are very much the same when it comes to bravery in the face of challenge and opportunity.

My youngest, Andrea, has from day one done crazy, daring acts that forever live in family lore. Things like the time she unexpectedly jumped from our boat while no one was looking, right into the cold waters of a mountain lake where we vacationed, just to shock us all. Or touched her tongue to the frozen wrought iron stair railing to see if it really would stay stuck to it (it did). And like yesterday, when she flew off—alone—on yet another solo vacation to parts of the country she's not yet seen.

My oldest, Brianna, may not (yet) take vacations on her own, but she regularly stares down fear and faces challenges of other sorts. One example: This weekend she is riding a bike down Pikes Peak. Yes, you read that right. Early tomorrow morning, Brianna and a friend will, starting at the summit, hop on bicycles—not motorcycles—and pedal down the 14,000-foot-plus mountain. For fun. Crazy, crazy, crazy. And brave, I must admit.

How that happened—how my daughters ended up brave in so many ways—I have no clue. They definitely didn't get it from me. They didn't get it from Jim, either, to be sure, as we're both rather chicken-like in myriad ways of our own.

So when it comes to Bubby and Mac being scared—whether at Halloween or of harrowing acts in the future—I'll continually advise them to look to their mommy and aunts as role models on how to be brave, how to feel most any fear yet do most anything anyway.

For models of bravery are what my daughters have been to me, and what they will always be.

Regardless of how long they use a nightlight.

Today's question:

What about Halloween used to (or still does) make a chicken of you?

Friday field trip: MacDonald's Ranch

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My awesome friend and fellow grandma blogger Connie from Family Home and Life lives surprisingly close to my grandsons. So when I needed suggestions of things to do in the region during my recent visit with Bubby and Mac, Connie was clearly the one to ask.

She came through with flying colors, giving me ideas and links galore. One in particular was a sure-fire hit. That was MacDonald's Ranch.

MacDonald's Ranch offers an old-fashioned ranch experience for kids of all ages. There's no shortage of fun—though this mountain mama did feel there certainly was a shortage of shade to keep her from that blazing desert sun, a scorcher even this late in the year.

Despite the heat, Megan, the boys, PawDad and I visited MacDonald's Ranch one day last week while Preston slaved away at work. The fun began the moment we walked through the gate, as old-time farm equipment, hay bales and more immediately captured Mac's and Bubby's attention.

First up of the big attractions: a horseride for Bubby, on a horse far bigger than the one he rode last time we visited a ranch.

Next up was the petting zoo, where Bubby and Mac hand fed baby goats and their parents, admired peacocks, and pet the miniature horses...but not the donkeys (thankfully). Gramma and PawDad led the boys through the pens as Mommy cringed, shuddered, and refused to roam among the animals.

Megan did volunteer to go through the hay maze with Bubby, though. After a bit of wandering and misturns, Bubby decided the best way to get done with the maze was to scale the walls and go out through the in door.

The pumpkin patch was the primary reason for visiting MacDonald's Ranch, and Bubby's goal was to get the best. pumpkin. ever. With the patch about a mile from the main area, though, a hay ride to the patch was required—a bonus if ever there was one.

After the short hayride, the plentiful pumpkin patch beckoned. Mac and Bubby were off and searching in no time. With so, so many pumpkins, making the final decision on which to claim as their own was a tough one, narrowed down only by the requirement that they must be able to carry on their own whichever pumpkin they wanted to take home.

They tested the weights of several here and there. Once the choice was made, both boys proudly carried their spoils on the hayride back. From there, it was time for lunch with Daddy, time to show him the ever-so-perfect pumpkins his ever-so-perfect pumpkin pickers chose.

Bubby did come away with the best. pumpkin. ever. As did Mac.

'Twas a perfect autumn outing indeed.

Interested in visiting MacDonald's Ranch? Find details here:

MacDonald's Ranch • 26540 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85255 • (480) 585-0239

Today's question:

Where do you typically get your pumpkins for Halloween time?

Halloween fun: Simple spooky spiders

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Doing projects together are one of the primary orders of business when I visit Bubby and Mac, as I did this past weekend. I like to have most of the items with me in my Grandma Bag, so I set out last week to accumulate ideas and came across this spider craft on Pinterest.

After tweaking just a tad, it turned out as easy and inexpensive as could be. Plus, our simple spooky spiders had just the right amount of creep factor to make it festive fun for four-year-old Bubby.

simple spooky spiders.JPG

WHAT YOU NEED:

Rock bodies — one per spider, about silver-dollar size

Wiggly eyes

Long pipe cleaners/chenille stems — four per spider

Black marker/Sharpie for drawing mouths, if desired (Bubby desired)

Craft glue

Hot glue gun and glue, for use by adult only

WHAT YOU DO:

 1. Glue desired number of eyes on spider bodies, using craft glue.

2. Line up four pipe cleaners per spider...

...then twist together a few times in the center to connect them.

3. Give twisted legs and rock bodies to an adult (preferably a grandma) to attach legs with hot glue on bottom center of rock body, glopping the glue at the spot legs are twisted together. Let dry a few minutes before next step, to ensure legs are good and stuck and glue is no longer hot.

4. Use black marker to draw spooky—or smiley—spider mouths on each spider, if desired.

5. Bend each spider leg into creepy crawly position.

6. Sit back and appreciate your handiwork.

Mac, at 16 months, didn't care much about creating his own spider, which was fine with me as I'm pretty sure there'd be more wiggly eyes in his mouth than on the spider. He did, though, get quite a kick—and harmless scare or two—out of the completed spiders Bubby placed among his "collection of scary things" on the living room window sill.

Simple. Spooky. Success.

Today's fill-in-the-blank:

One of my favorite Halloween projects to do with kids is _________. (Links are welcome!)