Do you put out milk and cookies for Santa? How about a little change from tradition this year. Maybe Santa would like a ginger ale and cyrstalized ginger. Or something like ice cubes and water and peach pie, a little summery treat at the start of winter. What ideas can you think of?

Did you send Christmas cards this year? Its nice to get them too. Here is a little bit about Christmas card history:

"The sending of commercially printed Christmas cards originated in London in 1843. By 1822, Christmas greetings were so popular in the U.S., the postal service had to hire sixteen extra mail carriers. "

This came from the WonderKorner site.

Its kind of late to start sending cards now. The mail carriers need at least a week for delivering Christmas cards. There are so many being sent they have trouble keeping up.

Christmas carols, poinsettias, the Christmas tree with all its flashing lights and ornaments, decorated shopping malls and sparkling drifts of snow those are my favourite things at Christmastime.

I still have a golden angel from when I was a very little girl. She used to play Silent Night but her music box wore out. Its still my favourite Christmas carol.

Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight, Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavely hosts sing alleluia; Christ the Saviour, is born! Christ the Saviour, is born!

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light Radiant beams from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Seasons Greetings

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada and Veteran's Day in the US. Most people were very young or not even born when the old World Wars happened. To us, it can't have the same meaning as it would for our grandparents. So, we wear a little red plastic poppy and spare a couple of minutes of silence to those young men who fought a war and never came home again.

Is candy really the best part of Halloween? I think the best part is really dressing up in a costume and being out late at night, long after dark, trick or treating. It was exciting to be out in the dark, sometimes feeling your way around cars to walk up a driveway to the house where warm lights and candy are waiting.

My brother and sisters came along with me, we went out as a group. That was a lot of fun. We would all yell "trick or treat" together at each door. It didn't matter if we were cold, or if some of the candy was stuff we didn't like or how far we walked around the neighbourhood, it was all so much fun. I liked the dark especially. Halloween just wouldn't be the same in the daytime.

Happy haunting to all of you. Trick or treat!!!

One birthday a year isn't really enough. Birthdays are such a lot of fun they need to be multiplied and spread out over the whole year. That's why I think the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland had it exactly right.

There are three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays in a year. That's a lot of cake and ice cream you're missing out on. Of course, some days are school days and some days are party days for other kids or even Christmas and Halloween. So you can cut out some of the unbirthdays. Still, that leaves you with several possible unbirthdays.

I'm not sure what people do on unbirthdays. Maybe you have to walk backwards all day or wear your clothes inside out and backwards because its the opposite of what you usually do on a birthday. Maybe you make three wishes, write them on a piece of paper and hide them under your pillow until your real birthday comes along. Maybe you try something new like flying a kite, phoning your Grandparents by yourself or making the biggest sandcastle anyone has ever seen. Or maybe you just call your friends and have a lot of fun at the park.

So what will you do with your unbirthdays this year? What kind of adventure can you plan?

This was posted to a newsletter I wrote for BackWash Kids Sandcastles and Dreamcatchers - Exploring, discovering and creating for kids. Build sandcastles, catch dreams, smell all the roses in your world.