Holidays

How do I effectively Explain Easter to Children?

As my kids get older and are ready to learn more in depth about Jesus, I find myself scrambling to explain and worried that they don’t “get it.” Explaining Christmas is so much easier than Easter right?!? – babies, sheep, angels, stars. It’s pretty much all about love and presents: things your kids can relate to. Sure there’s the nasty part where Herod kills the baby boys, but that’s not an essential part of the story and you can leave it out if you want to.

Easter, on the other hand, is much tougher. You have the joy and celebration of Palm Sunday and the even bigger joy and celebration of Easter one week later. But in between, there is betrayal, denial, torture, pain, and death. How do you explain all this to children?

By Mary Bockert, ago

What’s Next?

“What’s next?”

I heard Annora say that throughout Christmas and I was getting a little annoyed. I kept reminding myself that she is a little one and the excitement has been building for quite a while…just breath mom…

By Mary Bockert, ago

December MUST Do’s in the Toledo Area!

I’m THRILLED!!! I had a lot of people respond to my November calendar of events in the Toledo, Ohio area so I decided to give you a good snap shot of what we plan on doing the month of December and you can pick and choose what you think your family may enjoy. I have toddlers and preschoolers but I must say this list is for ANY AGE! I have also included all links to the event pages along with the Toledo Parent link (which is where I get many of my monthly ideas).

By Mary Bockert, ago

How to NOT Break the Bank for Thanksgiving

One thing I have learned as a stay at home mommy is how to budget and save for the best bang for my buck. Holidays can be overwhelmingly expensive if you don’t plan things out. We aren’t hosting this year (and never have) but I came up with a list of important to-do’s to help cut the costs of hosting Thanksgiving in your home.

1. Create a meal plan

Get the idea in your mind of you want your table to look like when the guests arrive. Do you want mashed potatoes and gravy or sweet potatoes with brown sugar, carrots or green bean casserole, or all of the above? Once you have decided on what the “feel” of how everything should be and what the menu consists of, get to work writing it down. Remember, Uncle Joe does not need to go home with a HUGE plate of leftovers!

By Mary Bockert, ago