SUBJECT: Thanksgiving with Sharon

Happy Thanksgiving week! This post is fiction. It's based loosely on personal experience but is about 95% made up. For those of us who come from untraditional families, the holidays can be a little... special. Please enjoy an email exchange between me, my dad, my husband and my sister regarding our plans for Thanksgiving.
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TO: Lydia
FROM: Dad
DATE: Monday, November 24 7:30am EDT
RE: Can’t wait to see you

Hi Lydia. Just wanted to touch base about this week’s visit. I hope to arrive on Wednesday evening and plan to leave early Saturday (probably before breakfast - at say 5am). Does that work for you?

TO: Dad
FROM: Lydia
DATE: Monday, November 24 9:17am EDT
RE: Re: Can’t wait to see you

That sounds great. We’re all looking forward to seeing you. The kids can’t wait. They’re already fighting over who gets to sit next to you and if we should drag you out to that Festival of Lights things on Friday. Do you expect to be here in time for dinner on Weds?

TO: Lydia
FROM: Dad
DATE: Monday, November 24 9:20am EDT
RE: Re: Re: Can’t wait to see you

Yes for dinner on Weds. I’m shooting for 5pm but you never know with traffic. I’ll be in touch from the road so you have an accurate ETA. Are you still planning to make Thai food? Sharon and I can’t wait. She’s heard all about your spring rolls.

How to Make a Legend of Korra Costume (when you suck at making things)

This past Halloween, all three of my kids decided that they HAD to be something extra special. Something so special, in fact, that it was not possible for me to buy them costumes because they did not exist. Because apparently costumes this geeky are not manufactured for children. Which means I was faced with making three separate costumes. Which means I wanted to cry because I'm not actually very good at making things.

Here's who they wanted to be:

• 5 year old girl wanted to be Korra from Legend of Korra.
• 9 year old boy wanted to be the Hunter from the new(ish) video game Destiny.
• 11 year old girl wanted to be a Weeping Angel from the "Blink" episode of Doctor Who.

(If you want to see the Hunter or Weeping Angel costumes, check out this post right here.)

How to Make an Awesome DIY Weeping Angel Costume (when you're bad a making things)

So last Halloween I promised my Facebook friends that I would blog about my 5 year old's desire to be Korra (from Legend of Korra) because I would have to make her costume and I suck at making things and maybe I would crap it up so badly that it would be funny. Then my other two children decided to be obscure characters for whom kid costumes did not exist. And my oldest daughter of course chose something from Doctor Who.

Two Life Hacks to Make Buying Kids' Holiday Gifts Easier

I'd like to pretend that I can ignore the holidays for a few more weeks, but sadly I have to start thinking about them EVEN THOUGH IT'S STUPID AND I DON'T WANT TO. Why? Because 2 weeks ago (right around Halloween) the books arrived in the mail. Do you know the ones I'm talking about? The Toys R Us and Walmart and Target Christmas catalogues filled with crap my kids don't need and don't actually want. You know what else in now in full swing? The commercials. There are now more advertisements for useless, expensive, stupid than my small brain can handle.

I thought I'd share two ways I make the whole nonsense about Christmas shopping a bit easier and less expensive. I've written about all this stuff before, but not really here and in one post. So here's my tips - or "hacks" as we bloggers are now required to call them - all in one spot.