Bedtime! And tomorrow is Christmas!

I was talking to some Mom's online about how excited the kids are about Christmas. It is so hard to get them to go to bed on time. I don't have a problem getting mine to go to bed, but instead - getting them to sleep past 6 am Christmas morning! The rest of the year, though, we do have a routine that seems to work.

1) Set a bedtime and keep it. 8:30 means 8:30 - not 9pm or 9:15.
2) Drink of water and small, light healthy snack no later than 1 hour minutes before bedtime.
3) Bathtime needs to be 45 min to an hour before bedtime.
4) Brush teeth 15 minutes before bedtime.
5) Stories and tuck in up until bedtime.

Routine is the key.

We have set bedtimes on school nights, but tend to be more lenient on weekends. On Christmas Eve, we have a 11 pm deadline. (because Santa won't stop until you are asleep) Maybe if the bedtime is later they will sleep in? Don't count on it!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Paying it forward

This year our family has decided to give presents to another family instead of each other! There is a retired gentleman in the town I work who now has the task of raising his granddaughters. His wife has passed away and he is on his own. Certainly not a task he was expecting to do in this stage of his life. His daughter just dropped them off one day. They are 8 and 3 years old. He applied for food assistance from Social Services, and they gave him $100 a month. We are looking forward to seeing the little girls faces, and to help out this struggling Grandfather.

It is nice to help others. Businesses should do more of it during the holidays. Like, Robeez who will donate a pair of soft sole shoes to K.I.D.S. with every soft sole purchased through December 23rd and link to: http://www.robeez.com/EN-US/seasonofgiving.htm