Tag: Traditions
All This Talk of Family Holiday Traditions
While I always have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head this time of year, it is often combined with a heavy dose of reality that the holidays are lovely…and stressful…sweet…and incredibly frustrating. Getting everything done while still keeping that bit of magic from leaving the room in a fit of sugar-induced craziness is, [...]
Books to Recreate Traditions of Food, Handcraft, Celebrations and Stories
There is something so full of comfort, warmth and a sense of those who came before us that comes with celebrating the festivals of the seasons, creating home-spun handcrafts, telling the stories of gnomes, elves and little creatures of magical times gone by. For years, I had my wishbone out, hoping that somehow I would [...]
Mom-P-Inc – Is There Such A Thing as Planning Your Year?
Every year around this time I think that I should be in major life planning mode. Organization is the key to happy life, right? Well, I teeter on the edge of ultimate bliss and complete misery just thinking about how to change diapers, get dinner made and work at the same time. I know I [...]
Get Your YANA Christmas Crackers & Support Local Families
I‘ve made my own, even considered picking up the heavily discounted ones at Winners after the holidays. But, really, nothing beats Christmas Crackers for a good cause, which is why we here at OBE want to encourage all of you to score some cool crackers from the Comox Valley’s own YANA (You Are Not Alone) [...]
Family Traditions are Good for Your Health
Editor’s note: Ah, Friday. Time to wind down and get in that weekend head space. New columnist Erica Fyvie makes her debut on OBE this morning as she leads us back in time a bit to those moments in childhood that became the stuff of tradition in our families – inspiring us to create some [...]
Keepsake Crafts – Canvas Height Chart
Editor’s Note: Good Morning. As you work your way back into back-to-school mode, establishing some fun, creative and memorable traditions for this season is all about being able to take a look back from one year to the next. Today, crafting mama Vanessa Falle is on site with a tutorial for a gorgeous canvas height [...]
Books to Teach Kids About Chinese New Year
Editor’s Note: If you missed out on Rebecca’s morning post giving us a look inside the Waldorf classroom, you can read it HERE. Now, here’s Robin reviewing a cool collection of children’s books that help kids learn about Chinese culture and Chinese New Year. Have a great afternoon. Here’s Robin: I get sort of droopy [...]
Making Old Family Traditions Your Own
Editor’s Note: This morning Marcie Dumais is on site with a look at folding old family traditions into your very own new holiday traditions. It’s such a fun time of year to reflect, honor, laugh and enjoy. Creating those memories and reliving happy pieces of our childhood are some of the best parts of this [...]
Preserving Holiday Traditions with Sausage & Kraut
Tucked away in a kitchen cupboard is an old paper-bound cookbook. It’s nothing fancy, no spectacular photography, not even a professional print job. But, this book – The Wigilia – is one of my dearest possessions. When I was nine, my grandmother and I traded letters and tapes once a week for a month as [...]
Holiday Traditions Around the World & Global Giving
Editor’s Note: This morning Gayle Bates of the Comox Valley Regional District’s 5Rs fame talks a bit about looking at caring for the planet by getting to know the Winter traditions of people from different cultures all across the globe. Then, you can check out a few great spots to give gifts of planetary stewardship [...]
Homemade Holiday Treats – Baklava
It was my childhood Winter wonderland – this magical place where all things flour and powdered sugar, pecan tart and almond brittle converged and I knew I had caught a glimpse of perfection. To the average person, that place looked like my grandmother’s basement. But, to me, with it packed – literally – from floor [...]
Children's Books to Celebrate Thanksgiving
When I first got the invitation to join in the blog book tour for This Is The Feast by Diane Z. Shore, illustrated by Megan Lloyd, I wasn’t entirely confident as we here in Canada have long passed our Thanksgiving holiday. But, all it took was opening the package, personally sent from Shore, with a [...]
Time-Honoured Motherhood – The Blessing Way
Editor’s Note: It is with a serious dose of excitement that I introduce Deepa Upadhyaya as she debuts her monthly column BUMPS – Birth, Unity, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Stories. When talking pregnancy, there’s so much more than the process. As women it binds us, resonates to our very core, back countless generations and forward so many [...]
Family Traditions – The Gratitude Alphabet
I’m always looking for new ways to celebrate old traditions around our house. One of those oldies but goodies I remember fondly from childhood is sitting around the Thanksgiving table – staring down my brother for the rights to be the first one to dig into the fresh perogis – taking turns telling everyone what [...]
Books that Make Home Life Inspirational
I have a crush. Not really on a person, but a lifestyle – a way of being that is both simple and magical. It pulls together all of the homemade goodness of our childhoods with the purposeful parenting partnerships of today’s generation of moms and dads. It’s one of those things that I’ve been in [...]
Chinese Lanterns & Other Traditions
All he did was turn his lantern on. I had no idea why it could possibly be so cool, but the Chinese lettering and lovely art that glowed red through the paper hanging from the ceiling sucked me in and my pal Cliff, with his parents smiling modestly in the background, began to tell us [...]
Holidays Around the World – Kwanzaa
While relatively new on the holiday schedule, the North American celebration of Kwanzaa is rooted in the strong cultural heritage of people of African descent and their annual celebrations. Kicking off on December 26, 2007 the seven-day festival of “first fruits” (Kwanzaa’s definition in Swahili) honours seven principles or Kawaida: * Umoja (Unity) To strive [...]
Holidays Around the World – Winter Solstice
A Winter chill is in the air. The days are short. Vacation planning to warm February destinations is at its peak. And, by the end of next week, much of the world will be in the midst of mid-Winter celebrations that range from the simple placement of special gifts of food on Winter dinner tables [...]
Holidays Around the World – Hanukkah
For the next few days we’re going to spend some time checking out other holidays celebrated by children around the world this year. When I was a kiddo, some of the most memorable experiences I ever had included experiencing the different holiday celebrations of friends of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds. Giving your kiddos the [...]
Pumped Up Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkin carving is one of THE great family rituals around here. Me, I’m the pumpkin patch lover. In my estimation, there is nothing as fun as an afternoon running around the farm, picking out the perfect pumpkin and soaking up that harvest energy. My husband is the pumpkin carving master, the maestro of glowing squash, [...]
Starting Family Holiday Traditions
It’s Thanksgiving Eve around these parts and alongside the onset of the holiday season comes the nearly compulsive desire by practically everyone I know to pull out some utterly fantastic family tradition that is yet to have been test driven. I sooooo love the day dreams in my head of cozy holidays during which the [...]
