November 20, 2008

Christmas Celebrations

Dominique Thoughts christmas party games

Christmas is coming around again. In fact it is only 3 weeks away. Time really flies when one is busy.

When I think about this festival that we celebrate the 1st thing that

: Image by Dustin C Oliver via Flickr

comes to mind are the Christmas Party Games that we had when we were much younger.

We used to gather at grandma’s house and everyone would fly in to meet up and catch up with the rest of the family. Food was a big draw and it still is at all our family functions. Christmas Party Games were the highlight for all the youngsters. We use to play Monopoly and card games. Now since most of us have our own kids we need to incorporate them into the family traditions.

For the younger kids/toddlers I feel that we could try out pictionary this year. It is a game that I feel does help them build up their speech and vocabulary. I certainly do not want them to indulge in hand held electronic games like gameboys or PSPs. Even though these devices are highly entertaining they are firstly not educational, 2nd bad for their vision and 3rd rather antisocial. I for one am a parent which will not allow my child to own/have access to a PSP. I rather him be playing traditional games with us as a family.

Another game which I would like to play this Christmas is Mahjong. It has really been a while since I last played this traditional chinese game. This game is certainly suitable for us and the older relatives.

What christmas party games will you be having at your christmas gathering this year?

Dealing with holiday stress

It has been 3 days since we returned from our trip to HK and I am still feeling a bit zonked out.

I’m not suffering from timelag due to change in timezone and not really jetlag but really of being overwhelmed that Nov is nearly over and that that is still so many things to be done to get ready for Christmas.

While being on holiday I was stressed out by the boys eating habits, all the walking and carrying that had to be done. Every single day was exhausting for me. Now that we are back home I have to read just Roy back to sitting in his carseat and get the boys back to their normal routine.

To cope with the stress on being on holiday these are some tips that I apply

Set aside a quiet time each day ( normally before the kids are awake) to do some reading. For me it is normally browsing through my google reader feeds.

Getting meals/snacks as and when throughout the day as it is impossible to sit down and have a full meal out with the boys.

playing at the playground with the boys.

drinking lots of water to stay hydrated and prevent myself from falling ill