This is a biggie! I can’t wait! The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

Good weather permitting! It’s beach time baby! Actually, even if it’s not good weather we’ll most probably still head to the beach and walk on the rocks or build sand castles or something. There is no Lose situation when you’re at the coast really… The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

Today we’ll take 5 minutes out of our day to make a call to someone who cannot be with us to celebrate the holidays. I have a pretty good idea who each of the kids will be calling The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

It should be a good time to get each of the kids to write a prayer now that they’ve cleaned, crafted, reflected and donated their way through the holidays. All I know at this point is that their prayers will start with “Dear God” and end with “Amen”. How they choose to fill in the blanks is up to them. The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

tearfund.org has the most amazing Nativity Play script for either Narrated or Dialogue versions of kids plays. I’ll be using their version as the basis for our family puppet show today. Narrator enters the stage INTRODUCTION: (THIS INTRODUCTION COULD BE ‘PERFORMED’ BY A MEETING LEADER OR BY THE PERSON PERFORMING AS THE NARRATOR) We are about to enjoy a story that has been told and retold for two thousand years. The Nativity reveals something very special about God – that he w

This blog series has been one of the best for me personally so far. I have learnt so much from my friends, about their religions and way of life. The friend who I’ve asked to share his story in this post is honestly one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. I remember, very clearly, 20 years ago when my then boyfriend, now husband, was admitted to hospital over the Christmas holiday period while we were stationed at one of the Sun International properties where we used to wor

Today is the day that we take a drive to see what the rest of our town looks like all lit up and dressed for Christmas! The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

For as long as I’ve been living in Johannesburg, our Christmas fare has been pretty much standardised year-on-year. I simply make all our favourite food! And good food never goes out of fashion. Christmas Eve, celebrated with immediate family living in town or visiting from other cities or countries join us around our dinner table. The headgear alternates between reindeer antlers to halos to Santa hats, depending on my mood. It is compulsory for anyone attending dinner at our

Preetika Ajoodha My friend Preetika Ajoodha was born and raised in Johannesburg Fordsburg into a Gujarati Hindu family. She is one of few remaining people who really love LONG phone calls and will always volunteer to call you back – she works for a major Telecomms network which apparently affords generous privileges in this regard. This is Preetika’s story about how she celebrates the holidays: I strongly believe that religion in any household is led by the mum in the home. I

Being nice isn’t difficult. We just forget that sometimes. There really is something gratifying and fulfilling about knowing you did something for someone with no strings attached. Giving is a gift in itself. We could all do with a bit of kindness in our lives and heaven knows there are a lot of people who are in desperate need of faith in humanity. Being ‘nice’ may not change the world but it does change the world you find yourself living in. Here’s a 100 ways to just be Nic

We have always used the holidays to give the message to our kids that if you don’t make room for good to enter then it can’t. It works well to get the kids into the ‘spirit’ of giving and thinking about other people who may benefit from toys and clothing that they don’t need or value anymore. The activity also makes them more aware of other people around us in the world they co-inhabit. The kids are quite good at the clearing process and even clean up their rooms at the same

Until 3 years ago, we didn’t have a front wall at our house. It was quite refreshing actually, especially during the Christmas holidays when the Carolers come around and sing at our front door while we are settling down to have dinner. Here are some song words to my favourite Christmas Carols: Away in a manger Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep

Okay, this is the superficial kind of gifting list. You’ve worked hard this year to make sure that those closest to you have enough money to buy you the kind of gift you would like to receive. Have you started leaving those advertising brochures and magazines open in strategic ways to get the best return on your labour? I really don’t have anything on my list as of yet. Admittedly, I’m a late starter when it comes to gifting. I blame being raised in a deadline orientated crea

I’ve always been curious about how the faithless approach Christmas and the December holidays in general. Is Christmas not a rather confusing time for atheists? I mean, not being invited to a Christmas party because if you don’t believe then it doesn’t exist? Do their children not get presents as their parents have rejected any religious sentiment associated with the period? Do atheist kids kindly excuse themselves from participating in school Christmas concerts? Are atheists

It’s time to write letters to Santa today. As a parent I will always endeavour to use the opportunity as some sort of moral lesson for the kids but inevitably they will jump straight to the wishlist bit… I then ‘post’ the letters for them but I actually keep them in a big Memory Box for when they are older. Here is a lovely printable version that you can download: Free Letters From Santa Claus Here are some electronic resources to get your letters to Santa (you’ll get an emai

This story, now campaign, really touched my heart. Given the 16 Days of Activism period we are now in, this is a very real and relevant example of how abuse destroys lives – long before death is even an option. The deadline for the appeal was last night but, again, this is a story that must be heard. Related articles on this blog: What type of activist are you?

I’m not quite sure exactly what we’ll be making today but it’s likely to be one or two of the following: Christmas crackers made from old toilet roll tubes, gift wrap and florist ribbon Cardboard loop decorations to hang on the walls Lanterns made from cardboard and cellophane Salt dough decorations to hang on the tree (painted) Pack gift boxes for the old age home The main pic is from the Advent Calendar I made this year.

Last week I posted Christmas with a capital C which is how I sum up my approach to this religious event. In the article I wondered how other people regard and enjoy the overall December holiday period. My husband is not religious. I don’t think he’s an Atheist but committing to a religion, or spirituality in general, is not, and never has been, a priority for him. In fact, whenever we are asked to complete forms requesting “Religion: Father” on any forms, we have inserted jus

I was born Catholic and have remained Catholic ever since. Celebrating Christmas in the Catholic tradition is all I’ve ever known. I love it this way. Working in corporate for many years we were always debating what type of message to put out over the December holiday period; is it Merry Christmas with a capital C or Xmas? Is it about the holiday period in general so that all religions are included in the message? The bigger the corporate the bigger the debate I suppose. The

I was trawling through my Twitter timeline this morning and came across a fun tweet WITH a call-to-action! I couldn’t resist and so followed the links into the mystery of what lay beyond. Turns out that #blogsecretsanta (the hashtag used on Twitter) is very simply a Secret Santa concept for blogger and other online enthusiasts around the country – gifting and surprises, 2 of my favourite things combined. Apparently this spontaneous happiness factory has been going on for quit