Holidays

Get in the holiday spirit and decorate your home with these three simple crafts!

Learn how to spend special occasions alone and still enjoy them. There are many things you can do to celebrate and get everything and more out of your birthday, New Year's Eve, and other holidays. With these fun tips, you'll be alone but not lonely.

I love crafting my own Christmas gifts, and this year, the folks on my list will be receiving these cute, easy-to-make candy cane Santa sleds. If you'd like to make some sleds of your own, follow along with these step-by-step instructions and process photos.

Get in the spirit of the holidays by crafting this adorable little snowman! This is a timeless handmade decoration that your family will adore for years to come.

November 5th is National Donut Day in the United States! This article includes celebration ideas, scrumptious donut photos, fun facts, and a raspberry jam-filled donut recipe with a step-by-step photo tutorial.

This article includes 10 printable project sheets plus a variety of graphics to use in making crafts for the Year of the Ox, Chinese New Year. Use these easy and inexpensive ideas to celebrate the Chinese New Year with children or students.

I don't know about you, but I never get tired of Christmas songs that celebrate the birth of Jesus. In this article, I list my 10 favorites (videos included) and provide some background information about each.

This article shares ideas for making Thanksgiving more festive and less lonely when you are celebrating by yourself or with only those in your household. Holidays may look different some years, but we can find ways to enjoy them just the same.

This article lists five simple tips to simplify your Christmas shopping this year. Start with a plan and begin as early as you can. Pick out a day to do the majority of your shopping. Keep a list of the people that you want to buy gifts for and stores that you can get them in.

This article includes templates for printable Year-of-the-Ox envelopes that children can color and put together to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

This article includes six printable activity sheets to help children learn about the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac. Children can learn to write the character for ox, draw pictures, and read a brief fact sheet.

This article contains two easy-to-use printable templates for lantern crafts that children can make for the Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox).

This article includes an original poem I wrote about Halloween as well as some Halloween history and some information about how the holiday is celebrated in Australia.

This article includes six quick and easy templates to print out and color as a craft project for the Chinese New Year: Year of the Ox.

This article includes 15 printable templates for several different easy Year of the Ox cards to craft. Each card includes an image of an ox and the phrase "Happy New Year" written in English, Mandarin, and pinyin.

The global coronavirus pandemic that can cause COVID-19 has many people rethinking how they will celebrate Halloween in 2020. Learn more about ways you can safely celebrate Halloween while slowing the spread of the virus.

This article includes step-by-step instructions for making a spooky Halloween candy tray so that the kids can pick up their own bag of sweets on trick-or-treat night.

October 14th is a National Dessert Day in the United States! This article includes celebration ideas, scrumptious inspiration photos, fun facts, and an original sticky toffee pudding recipe with a step-by-step photo tutorial. Happy National Dessert Day!

This article identifies questions you may want to consider when deciding whether you are going to let your children trick-or-treat during the pandemic.

Learn how to turn an empty Tide Pod detergent container (or similar container) into an adorable Halloween luminary using just a few simple, cheap supplies.

This article is an exploration of Halloween from it's Iron Age origin to its present-day popularity. Journey into the past and learn how trick-or-treating, dressing up in costume, and more of your favorite Halloween traditions came to be.

The 25th of September is World Dream Day. This is the ideal moment to think about your dreams and ambitions in life.

What should you do this Halloween season to stay safe and have fun?

Learn how to create your own one-of-a-kind party invitation "books" that will entice guests to attend your spooky soirée.

Spice up the season with these four unique DIY decor crafts! This article includes step-by-step instructions and photo galleries to guide you along as you make a witch hazel gnome, a spellbinding picture frame, a deathly hallows wreath, and a spooky tree.

Get in the spirit of Halloween with this beautiful spider-web picture frame craft. This article includes step-by-step instructions and process photos to help you along.

Find out what Christmas was like in America in the 1920s. What activities were popular, what gifts did people exchange, and how was it different from Christmas now?

Christmas time can be stressful, so I have five rules that I try to follow to help keep stress at bay and create a happy, fun-filled, pressure-free holiday.

This article highlights five simple ways to maximize your children's safety if they plan to trick-or-treat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article discusses some ways you can celebrate the Yom Kippur holiday if you are unable to attend services or cannot have a large family gathering to break your fast.

September 16th is a National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day in the United States! This article includes celebration ideas, scrumptious inspiration photos, fun facts, and my original cinnamon-raisin bread recipe with a step-by-step photo tutorial.

Madeira typically hosts her wine and flower festivals in different months, but in September of this year (2020), they'll be celebrated together for the first time.

Did you know that August is National Coffee Month? As a coffee lover, I celebrate my favorite caffeinated beverage every day, but August is a great time to get creative and share my coffee connoisseurship with all of you other coffee lovers out there. Let's raise our mugs to National Coffee Month!

Creating a candy hunt for your children instead of trick-or-treating allows them to find candy safely. However, between getting costumes together, hiding candy, and working, you may not have time to make clues. These ready-made clues will help make your candy hunt a snap to put together.

This article explains how to plan a socially-distant candy hunt for Halloween. Your children can collect candy in costume in their own home (or yard if you have one) this Halloween.

This article contains 16 printable coloring pages for the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac. The sheets have Chinese characters along with their with pinyin (phonetic) counterparts.

Every year around the Fourth of July, animal shelters across the United States take in many more dogs and cats than usual. Here are 7 easy ways you can keep your pets safe and comfortable when those fireworks go off.

Looking for something unique to say instead of "Merry Christmas?" Let us count the ways! This article lists more than 150 funny, sweet, clever, and sarcastic alternatives to this classic but overused holiday greeting.

Australian Christmas songs are often playful, reflecting the humor of the land down under. Enjoy listening to the samples featured here. I've also provided the meanings behind some common Aussie slang terms to help you interpret the lyrics.

Some children have food allergies, dietary sensitivities, or picky taste, and others simply aren't fond of sweets. This can make Halloween tricky. The following is a list of the miscellaneous items I have made, grown in the garden, or accumulated at sales that can be offered to trick-or-treaters.

There was always an assortment of candy in my Easter basket growing up, but what I remember even more fondly are the non-edible, experience-based gifts they contained. The following are some examples of non-candy items I have included in my own children's Easter baskets.

This is an easy picture frame craft for elementary-age students to make for their moms for Mother's Day or another special occasion. Younger children may need some help tracing, cutting, and folding.

Have you ever made a May basket? They are fun and easy to make, and they bring joy to the neighborhood! Enjoy this forgotten tradition of welcoming Spring on May 1st!

Take a look at what the annual haunted house exhibit looks like at the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas. Every year around Halloween, the museum opens its haunted house exhibit. It is spooky fun!

A centuries-old tradition practiced at sunrise on the day Christ's resurrection continues to be observed today. Do you think the sun dances for His son on Easter morning?

This article is a series of reflections based on my experience on and around Easter 2020 during the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Easter is celebrated each year during the month of April. Where and when did it all begin? This article includes some background and fun facts about the holiday as well as a description of the Christian meaning of Easter with examples and illustrations.

This one goes out to all the people who think that Passover is only for Jews and meat-eaters. In this article, I'll show you how to veganize a traditionally non-vegan feast, and we'll also discuss the importance of Passover for believers in Yeshua. Bonus vegan Passover recipes are also included!

This article lists 13 creative ways to turn ordinary Easter eggs into special ones once you've dyed them. Why settle for simple, colored eggs when you can adorn them with jewels, textures, ribbons, and patterns?